History Series / TheProfessionals

There was a {{Revival}} (''[=CI5=]: The New Professionals'') on Creator/SkyOne in 1999, which was not warmly received, to put it politely. Not even having Creator/EdwardWoodward take over the Cowley role could save the show from being a pale shadow of the original. Lasting for just one season, it is available on DVD, but only in Australia/New Zealand.

* BerserkButton: Do not--repeat do not--attempt to harm Doyle in any way when Bodie is around. Just to clarify; in "The Female Factor", one man shoots Doyle in the leg. Bodie empties an entire clip into him. In another episode Doyle is abducted by a gangster. When Bodie catches up to him - he looks genuinely terrified of Bodie's expression.

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:When a friend of Cowley's from [=MI5=] is arrested for spying for the Chinese, Cowley falls under suspicion. The KGB decide to snatch the man and interrogate him for what he knows about the British and Chinese, while putting the blame for the snatch on the Chinese and Cowley. Turns out the whole thing has been arranged by Cowley to draw out TheMole, who will be called in to interrogate Cowley's friend. As the scheme involves Bodie and Doyle (who are not in on Cowley's plan) being stunned by KnockoutGas, they're not happy.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: In "The Madness of Mickey Hamilton", a [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds grieving widower]] blames medical staff for his wife's death and his daughter being permanently crippled/dying due to an accident during childbirth, and goes on a killing spree.

* SpiritualSuccessor:
** The short-lived 1984 Australian series ''Special Squad''. And in the late 1990's a revival series, ''[=CI5=]: The New Professionals'', was produced for Sky One. It starred Edward Woodward as Cowley's successor and had a British/American pairing for the two agents, but was not a success.
** ''The Professionals'' is itself something of a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/TheNewAvengers''. Both were created by Brian Clemens, and ''The New Avengers'' is noticibly more of a [[TheSeventies Seventies]] ActionSeries than a [[TheSixties Sixties]] SpyDrama. ''The New Avengers'' actually resembles ''The Professionals'' more than it resembles ''Series/TheAvengers1960s''. Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw even guest-starred in an episode together.
** The series can be seen as ''Series/TheSweeney'' but with spies instead of cops.

** In "Wild Justice", a [=CI5=] psychiatrist worries that Bodie has a DeathWish due to recent erratic behaviour. Turns out he's seeking revenge on a biker gang who killed a friend from his Special Forces days. [[spoiler:Cowley ends up putting a gun to Bodie's head to stop him committing murder and destroying [=CI5=] in the process.]]

* HomoeroticSubtext: Two [[AccidentalInnuendo 'hard men']] in tight pants who have no issue [[HoYay/TheProfessionals camping up their relationship for a laugh]]. Famously parodied in ''Series/TheComicStripPresents'' skit "The Bullshitters" when Bonehead and Foyle resolve their burning sexual tension before the final shootout by getting [[ShirtlessScene shirtless]] and snogging each other while rolling around in a pile of gravel.

* FictionalCountry: Averted with Communist bloc countries (presumably because no-one cared if the DirtyCommunists took offense during the ColdWar) but South American or Arabic countries have names like [[BananaRepublic Mata Alpa]] or [[{{Qurac}} Murani]]. Zigzagged in "The Ojuka Situation", involving the former ruler of the fictional African country of Betan, who's being chased by agents of an unnamed country that's implied to be South Africa.

** In "Hunter/Hunted", Doyle receives a [[YouGotMurder package in a plain brown wrapper]]. Knowing he hasn't [[AluminumChristmasTrees mail-ordered anything from an adult bookstore]], Bodie and Doyle carefully cut open the package to find a stick of gelignite [[spoiler:harmlessly wired to ''Moriarty's Police Law'', a taunt against Doyle by a DirtyCop he put away.]]

''The Professionals'' was a British ActionSeries that aired for five seasons (1977–83) on Creator/{{ITV}}. The show follows the adventures of [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Criminal Intelligence 5]] ([=CI5=]) agents Ray Doyle (Creator/MartinShaw), William Bodie (Lewis Collins), and their boss George Cowley (Gordon Jackson). [=CI5=] dealt with serious crime beyond the capacity of the ordinary police, and were authorised to use any means--including illegal ones--in doing so (as lampshaded by the page quote.) Being a typical show [[TheSeventies of the times]], much of the action centres around girls, guns, car chases, and drinking, not unlike its inspiration ''Series/TheSweeney''.

There was a {{Revival}} (''[=CI5=]: The New Professionals'') on Creator/SkyOne in 1999, which was not warmly received, to put it politely. Not even having Creator/EdwardWoodward take over the Cowley role could save the show from being a pale shadow of the original. Lasting for just one season, it's available on DVD, but only in Australia/New Zealand.

Interestingly the two leads were cast precisely because they had ''not'' get on while working together on a previous project and creator Brian Clemens thought that this would give the onscreen relationship between Doyle and Bodie the edge he wanted. While they worked out their differences in fairly short order and became friends offscreen, they were good enough actors to retain the onscreen dynamic Clemens sought. However, they later fell out over Shaw blocking repeats of the series--not because, as was commonly believed, he was trying to move away from the typecasting the role had given him, but more prosaically because he didn't think that the repeat fees ITV were offering were good enough. Shaw finally relented after Gordon Jackson passed away and his widow ran into financial difficulties.

Interestingly the two leads were cast precisely because they had ''not'' get on while working together on a previous project and creator Brian Clemens thought that this would give the onscreen relationship between Doyle and Bodie the edge he wanted. While they worked out their differences in fairly short order and became friends offscreen they were good enough actors to retain the onscreen dynamic Clemens sought. However, they later fell out over Shaw blocking repeats of the series--not because, as was commonly believed, he was trying to move away from the typecasting the role had given him, but more prosaically because he didn't think that the repeat fees ITV were offering were good enough. Shaw finally relented after Gordon Jackson passed away and his widow ran into financial difficulties.

Interestingly the two leads were cast precisely because they had ''not'' get on while working together on a previous project and creator Brian Clemens thought that this would give the onscreen relationship between Doyle and Bodie the edge he wanted. While they worked out their differences in fairly short order and became friends offscreen they were good enough actors to retain the onscreen dynamic Clemens sought. However, they later fell out over Shaw blocking repeats of the series--not because, as was commonly thought, he was trying to move away from the typecasting the role had given him, but more prosaically because he didn't think that the repeat fees ITV were offering were good enough. Shaw finally relented after Gordon Jackson passed away and his widow ran into financial difficulties.

Interestingly the two leads were cast precisely because they had ''not'' get on while working together on a previous project and creator Brian Clemens thought that this would give the onscreen relationship between Doyle and Bodie the edge he wanted. While they worked out their differences in fairly short order and became friends offscreen they were good enough actors to retain the onscreen dynamic Clemens sought. However, they later fell out over Shaw blocking repeats of the series--not because, as was commonly thought, he was trying to move away from the typecasting the role had given him, but more prosaically because he didn't think the repeat fees they were offering were good enough. Shaw finally relented after Gordon Jackson passed away and his widow ran into financial difficulties.

''The Professionals'' was a British ActionSeries that aired for five seasons (1977–83) on Creator/{{ITV}}. The show follows the adventures of [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Criminal Intelligence 5]] ([=CI5=]) agents Ray Doyle (Creator/MartinShaw), William Bodie (Lewis Collins), and their boss George Cowley (Gordon Jackson). [=CI5=] dealt with serious crime beyond the capacity of the ordinary police, and were authorised to use any means – including illegal ones – in doing so (as lampshaded by the page quote.) Being a typical show [[TheSeventies of the times]], much of the action centres around girls, guns, car chases, and drinking, not unlike its inspiration ''Series/TheSweeney''.

Interestingly the two leads were cast precisely because they had ''not'' get on while working together on a previous project and creator Brian Clemens thought that this would give the onscreen relationship between Doyle and Bodie the edge he wanted. While they worked out their differences in fairly short order and became friends offscreen they were good enough actors to retain the onscreen dynamic Clemens sought. However they later fell out over Shaw blocking repeats of the series – not because, as was commonly thought, he was trying to move away from the typecasting the role had given him, but more prosaically because he didn't think the repeat fees they were offering were good enough. He finally relented after Gordon Jackson passed away and his widow ran into financial difficulties.

''The Professionals'' was a British ActionSeries that aired for five seasons (1977–83) on Creator/{{ITV}}. The show follows the adventures of [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Criminal Intelligence 5]] ([=CI5=]) agents Ray Doyle (Creator/MartinShaw), William Bodie (Lewis Collins), and their boss George Cowley (Gordon Jackson). [=CI5=] dealt with serious crime beyond the capacity of the ordinary police, and were authorized to use any means – including illegal ones – in doing so (as lampshaded by the page quote.) Being a typical show [[TheSeventies of the times]], much of the action centres around girls, guns, car chases, and drinking, not unlike its inspiration ''Series/TheSweeney''.

[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right - Martin Shaw as Doyle, Gordon Jackson as Cowley and Lewis Collins as Bodie.]]

''The Professionals'' was a British ActionSeries that aired for five seasons (1977–83) on Creator/{{ITV}}. The show follows the adventures of [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Criminal Intelligence 5]] ([=CI5=]) agents William Bodie (Lewis Collins), Ray Doyle (Creator/MartinShaw), and their boss George Cowley (Gordon Jackson). [=CI5=] dealt with serious crime beyond the capacity of the police, and were authorized to use any means (including illegal ones) to do so (as lampshaded by the page quote.) Being a typical show [[TheSeventies of the times]], much of the action centres around girls, guns, car chases, and drinking, much like its inspiration ''Series/TheSweeney''.

Interestingly the two leads were cast because they did ''not'' get on while working together on a previous project and the creator thought that would give the onscreen relationship between Bodie and Doyle the edge he wanted. While they worked out their differences in fairly short order and became friends offscreen they were good enough actors to keep the onscreen dynamic he wanted. However they later fell out over Shaw blocking repeats of the series - not because as commonly thought he was trying to move away from the typecasting the role had given him but more prosaically he didn't think the repeat fees they were offering were good enough. He finally relented after Gordon Jackson passed away and his widow ran into financial difficulties.

Jackson died in 1990 and Collins passed away in November 2013 leaving Shaw as the only surviving main cast member.

* Doyle is an [[UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers ex-policeman]] who dresses like [[Series/MiamiVice Sonny Crockett]]'s scruffy British cousin. He's got a worse [[HotBlooded temper]] than Bodie, and is more [[TheIdealist idealistic.]]

''The Professionals'' was a British TV ActionSeries made from 1977 to 1983. The show follows the adventures of [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Criminal Intelligence 5]] ([=CI5=]) agents William Bodie (Lewis Collins), Ray Doyle (Creator/MartinShaw), and their boss George Cowley (Gordon Jackson). [=CI5=] dealt with serious crime beyond the capacity of the police, and were authorized to use any means (including illegal ones) to do so (as lampshaded by the page quote.) Being a typical show [[TheSeventies of the times]], much of the action centres around girls, guns, car chases, and drinking, much like its inspiration ''Series/TheSweeney''.

There was a {{Revival}} (''[=CI5=]: The New Professionals'' in 1999), which wasn't warmly received, to put it politely. Not even having Creator/EdwardWoodward take over the Cowley role could save the show from being a pale shadow of the original. Lasting for one season, it's available on DVD, but only in Australia/New Zealand.

The main characters:

Not related to the 60s western film ''Film/TheProfessionals''.

!! ''The Professionals'' contains examples of:

** In "Blackout", Bodie brags about his accurate and expensive Heuer Manhattan watch, only to end up breaking it while smashing down a door to rescue a hostage. He broke his arm too, but was more angry about the watch. At the end of the episode however, he's happy to hear the lads at [=CI5=] (even Cowley!) have all chipped in to buy him a new watch. It turns out to be a cheap ''Superman'' watch.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: In "Wild Justice", Bodie and Doyle are undergoing a full evaluation--both physical and psychological--to determine their fitness for duty. Their boss Cowley mentions that a [=CI5=] agent costs more time and money to train than an airline pilot; they are regarded as highly-trained specialists who must be at the peak of their condition. A dispute arises with the psychiatrist on the evaluation team who thinks that Bodie is suffering from a death wish. [[spoiler:He's not; he's planning to murder someone to avenge a former colleague.]]

** In "Close Quarters", [=CI5=] is on a manhunt for a German terrorist group, but Bodie has been ordered to take a week off until his gun hand heals. While boating with his GirlOfTheWeek, he happens to recognise the terrorist leader hiding out an a river island and takes him into custody. Unfortunately his fellow terrorists see him being taken away and pursue before Bodie has a chance to call in backup.
** "Weekend in the Country" has criminals on the run after a failed ArmedBlag deciding to hide in the country house where Bodie and Doyle, plus their girlfriends, are staying. Our heroes are unarmed (despite Bodie carrying handgun, radio ''and'' handcuffs in "Close Quarters") but it still turns out to be MuggingTheMonster.
--->'''Cowley:''' Your weekend turned into a bit of a [[LampShading busman's holiday.]]

** Averted because those Browning Hi-Powers kept jamming when firing blanks! So you often see the slides on Bodie and Doyle's pistols lock back after they've only fired a few rounds; nowhere near the 13 plus one "up the spout" ammunition capacity of that pistol. Later on they changed to firearms that worked more reliably with blanks.

* BetrayalInsurance: In "Not A Very Civil Servant," a CorruptCorporateExecutive arranges for TheDragon to kill off an accountant who knows too much. Later the executive goes through the accountant's files and [[IMadeCopies finds evidence that he has been making copies of every document]] as insurance. When TheDragon asks how he knew to look in the first place, the executive reveals that he's been taking exactly the same precautions against his [[TheStarscream smarter underling betraying him]].

* BadassBureaucrat: Cowley may run a squad of {{Cowboy Cop}}s, but he's ''always'' done the paperwork to cover his backside. And as various powerbrokers who think they can use [=CI5=] for their own ends discover, Cowley knows the corridors of Whitehall better than any of them.

** In "Need to Know", [[spoiler:Cowley shoots a DoubleAgent InTheBack as he's 'trying to escape' (he ''was'' fleeing, but Cowley stopped Bodie and Doyle from chasing after him). In "Wild Justice" however [[spoiler:when Bodie is about to murder a criminal who killed an old war buddy of his in a case that has nothing to do with [=CI5=], Cowley is willing to put a gun to Bodie's head to stop him, because one of his agents committing murder could destroy [=CI5=].]]