1.'Old Dog with New Tricks', 2. 'Long Shot', 3. 'Where the Jungle Ends', 4. 'Killer with a Long Arm', 5. 'Heroes', 6. 'Private Madness, Public Danger', 7. 'Female Factor', 8. 'Everest was Also Conquered', 9. 'Close Quarters', 10. 'Look After Annie', 11. 'When the Heat Cools Off', 12. 'Stakeout', 13. 'Klansmen', 14. 'Rogue'.

As I saw these episodes when I was a kid, in order that sentimentality should not cloud my judgment for this review, I thought it might be a good idea to view this DVD package with an American friend who had never seen "The Professionals" before. We both agreed that "Female Factor", "Everest was also conquered" and "Close Quarters" were simply excellent in all respects and my friend has become an instant Professionals fan. This is TV entertainment at its best. I must add though that other episodes such as "Killer with a Long arm" and "Rogue", we found quite unconvincing and at times silly. Overall though, a thoroughly enjoyable DVD package and one which I would recommend to anyone who likes action and adventure, untouched by the PC department.

'YOU'RE NOT COPS' 'NO, WE'RE WORSE...MUCH WORSE'
Review date: 2003-05-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

In 1977, THE PROFESSIONALS burst onto the small screen. They were basically ITV's answer to BBC1's popular STARSKY & HUTCH series, as they too were a crime-fighting duo, the difference being that Bodie and Doyle fought terrorism and foreign agents / traitors who were a threat to national security. The first season was considered to be very violent by critics, but of all the episodes I've seen so far, it was certainly exciting. It is true about the violence. In 'Killer With A Long Arm', a cop lies in a pool of blood after being nailed by a shotgun; 'Heroes' features several men being shot and blown up by a bazooka; Bodie is stabbed in 'Klansmen' and he pumps loads of lead into a Russian spy in 'Female Factor'. Nevertheless, it has some top episodes such as 'Private Madness, Public Danger' in which a radical nutcase threatens to poison London's entire water supply and 'When The Heat Cools Off' which centres on Doyle re-investigating a murder case.

Of course, there are the rumours about Messrs Shaw and Collins not getting on during this season's filming. They don't seem to have a great deal of chemistry in the first two episodes, with MS sporting a very posh accent indeed, but after about four or five episodes, they start to build up their camaraderie. Still got to see 'Where The Jungle Ends' (a Sweeney-like ep. in which the lads chase bank robbers) and 'Close Quarters' which is supposed to be one of the best earliest eps.

The Professional Touch
Review date: 2003-05-01 Rating: 10 out of 10

The Seventies were a time of late afternoon action on TV, with the Sweeney, the New Avengers and just such series showing how un-PC the World was then. In the same way, Bodie and Doyle burst onto screens running around having punch-ups and skidding about in Capris screaming "let's go" a lot, with Cowley shouting at them to "get after them" or similar. The plots on most of the episodes in this, the first series, are also very complex, and require a fair amount of figuring out, meaning that it is most certainly not just a matter of braun over brains. These two aspects are mixed superbly, and the scripts also allowed ad libbing between Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw (who go together better than apple pie and custard). "The Cow", as he is affectionately dubbed by his two best operatives, also works well with Gordon Jackson showing his supreme ability at being stern and authoritative after his calmer role in Upstairs Downstairs. Highlights of the series include a collection of Bodie's old SAS colleagues carrying out a series of bank robberies as "employees" for a corrupt businessman. This shows some of Bodie's emotional side, which is excellently executed by Lewis Collins. Another excellent display of talent comes in the episode Long Shot, where the superb Roger Lloyd-Pack (of Only Fools and Horses fame) is playing the emotionless assassin Ramos, determined to do away with Cowley. Of course, the day is saved in the end, though, because he went up against the best of the best, the elite, THE PROFESSIONALS.

From British television's Golden age.
Review date: 2002-08-17 Rating: 10 out of 10

Feeling just as fresh as it must have done nigh on 25 years ago, The Professionals represents everything conspicuously lacking in much of today’s British drama series. Quality acting, high-octane action, and writing (as George Cowley would say) ‘as tight as a Scotsman on Burns Night’ are what make the tales of CI5 the very paragon of the genre. Regrettably, in an era of vapid long running serials based in the mundane surroundings of hospitals, police stations and pleasant English villages, it would appear the sense of adventure the likes of Brians Clemens brought to the small screen have been steamrollered by the needs of producers (no doubt under pressure from anxious Channel bosses) to worship the perfunctory pillars of populist television.
There is little doubt in my mind that The Professionals should be regarded as a classic example of the television art form. Whilst it could be argued that the characterisation of the central characters (particularly the pseudo-gay relationship of Bodie and Doyle) is sadly neglected, it is done so for one very deliberate, very worthwhile reason – to keep the tempo of the stories as pacy and punchy as possible. CI 5, at the end of the day, is not a place for sensitive characters of an indecisive disposition. It is an organisation designed to combat the most ingenious plots aimed at toppling civilised society, and as such it needs men who don’t consider there lives of great importance. This is not to say that the characters do not generate pathos. Indeed, the very fact that the programme rejects all the pretentious trimmings of most other dramas adds to the characters’ charms. Moreover, we get to like them through their work as a team, the acting of the central players (Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and most notably the superb Gordon Jackson) and their apparent infallibility. Just the way Cowley removes his glasses reeks of unimpeachable authority.
At its core however, The Professionals extols the virtues of imaginative screenwriting. Through a careful mix of comic book action and gritty realism the series had an uncanny ability to keep an audience on the very edge of its seat; particularly in these early episodes, in which the fears of a British nation very much aware of terrorism and organised crime, are expertly exploited. Plotlines of the likes of Private Madness, Public Danger, Close Quarters and Klansmen, in which Clemens took the brave decision to make Bodie a racist, were either uncomfortably close to home (Klansmen has never been aired on terrestrial television) or uncannily prophetic. The reassurance of the entire series though, was that thanks to a combination of British wit, cunning and ingenuity, the criminals never won out.
Bizarrely then (considering it attracted audiences of over 14 million), The Professionals has often been the subject of criticism..The Guinness Book of classic British television states “it’s difficult to find anyone with a kind word to say about The Professionals”. Well I hope I have gone someway to redress the balance. In a world of flawed, socially retarded television detectives this sort of escapist entertainment is the very thing British television needs to produce once again. Buy the first season on DVD and enjoy a piece of television drama from its halcyon days.

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