The Professionals 

Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative... See full summary »

Creator:

Brian Clemens

Stars:

Gordon Jackson, Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins

Cast

Series cast summary:
Gordon Jackson	...	George Cowley 57 episodes, 1977-1983
Martin Shaw	...	Doyle 57 episodes, 1977-1983
Lewis Collins	...	Bodie 57 episodes, 1977-1983

Storyline

Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie was a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, came to CI5 from the regular police force, and was more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship was often contentious, but they were the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.

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Plot Keywords:

violence | anti hero | tough guy | action hero | two man army | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime

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Details

Official Sites:

distributor's official site for individuals Distributor's official site for professionals

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 December 1977 (UK)

Also Known As:

Los profesionales

Filming Locations:

Beckton Gasworks, Beckton, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

London Weekend Television (LWT), Mark 1 Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min (57 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the 1984 Libyan Embassy siege, crowds of protesters surrounded the British Embassy in Libya, chanting, "Down with CI5!", unaware that it was a fictional organization, and the name of the British Secret Service is actually MI5.

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Goofs

William Bodie and Raymond Doyle refer to each other as "Bodie" and "Doyle." Agents that have been paired together would be more informal than that and be on a first-name basis.

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Quotes

[scene-setting voiceover from Season 1 opening titles]
George Cowley: Anarchy, acts of terror, crimes against the public. To combat it I've got special men - experts from the army, the police, from every service - these are The Professionals.

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Alternate Versions

The Season 1 episodes were originally shown with an opening title sequence which included scenes of Bodie and Doyle on an assault course, intercut with a stopwatch. However for repeats and DVD release, the more familiar Season 2-5 title sequence which started with car crashing through a plate glass window was retro-fitted onto the Season 1 episodes.

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Connections

Referenced in Ashes to Ashes: Episode #3.8 (2010)

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Soundtracks

In Pursuit
Written by Laurie Johnson
Performed by The Laurie Johnson Orchestra

User Reviews

HARD CORE

I remember watching this British TV show when I was stationed in England in the 70's. I remember it was (in a way) similar to Starsky and Hutch but much more hard core. Two guys ( counter- terrorist agents type) would fight crime. Very fast moving and explosive. (I learned quick that British TV was much more liberal than regular TV shows in the states-I missed it alot).