Not a Very Civil Civil Servant (18 Nov. 1978)

Temple-Blake building firm stands trial for corruption following dishonest warding of contracts by local councillor Webb. Its nervous accountant is murdered to stop him confessing all and ... See full summary »

Director:

Anthony Simmons

Writers:

Brian Clemens (creator), Edmund Ward

Stars:

Gordon Jackson, Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Gordon Jackson	...	George Cowley
Martin Shaw	...	Doyle
Lewis Collins	...	Bodie
Maurice Denham	...	Sir James Temple
Bill Fraser	...	Col. Summerville
Robert Swann	...	Logan-Blake
Harold Innocent	...	Repton
Peter Woodthorpe	...	Councillor Webb
Tony Church	...	Minister
Lyndon Brook	...	Gillam
Derek Martin	...	Renshaw
Anthony Heaton	...	Singleton
David Hargreaves	...	Halloran
Linda Goddard	...	Jenny Burton
Andrew McCulloch	...	Bradford

Storyline

Temple-Blake building firm stands trial for corruption following dishonest warding of contracts by local councillor Webb. Its nervous accountant is murdered to stop him confessing all and jury members bullied into returning a not guilty verdict. Cowley is not happy and when Bodie and Doyle meet an under-cover fraud officer who posed as a workman to expose the company's use of sub-standard materials and got beaten up CI5 determine to bring down all concerned.

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Genres:

Action | Crime

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Details

Release Date:

18 November 1978 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Frithwood Avenue, Northwood, Middlesex, England, UK

Company Credits

Did You Know?

Trivia

Creator Brian Clemens initially rejected Edmund Ward's script on the grounds that he could not follow the plot. However London Weekend Television were not prepared to pay for another script so they ordered that the episode would be made despite Clemens' objections.

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Goofs

During the fight scene in the pub, Bodie is initially not wearing a vest under his shirt - his bare back can be seen. Later on he is wearing a vest tucked into his trousers.

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Quotes

[Cowley has accused the Minister of corruption and withholding details of a murder. The Minister believes that he immune from the law]
Minister: [unconcerned] What do you suggest I do?
George Cowley: Resign. But we live in a world without much honour, where politicians hang onto office like dirty glue, so I don't suppose you will - blame is for others.

User Reviews

A nest of thesps

The Professionals was a fair-to-middling 1970's TV actioner series concerned with the fictional government department, CI5 - apparently consisting of just 3 people - responsible for confounding the knavish plots of a variety of generic foreigners. It involved much thrashing about in a selection of British Ford motorcars of the day plus frequent running, shouting and shooting. At the top was veteran pro, Gordon Jackson, with a known face guesting in each episode.

This episode stands out on a number of counts: it is entirely domestic and seemingly smaller scale. It has quite an impressive complement of guest acting talent who acquit themselves well. It has a sharper more savvy script than usual dealing with corruption (government building contracts) in both usual and not so usual places. And the Ford Capri spends most of the time out of shot. This time the baddies are a very urbane very senior servant (Harold Innocent), a local councillor (played with great relish by Peter Woodthorpe) and an exceedingly rich landed Knight (Maurice Denham). The script additionally gives Gordon Jackson more interesting things to do such as insult and threaten a government minister. The cast also includes respected actors Lyndon Brook and Bill Fraser. All in all a considerably more ambitious production than usual and not a single Viva Zapata moustache in sight.