The Professionals (TV series)
CI5 agents fight fire with fire.
The Professionals is a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mark1 Productions for London Weekend Television (LWT) that aired on the ITV network from 30 December 1977 to 6 February 1983. Created by Brian Clemens, the series followed the fictional CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), a law enforcement department authorized to use any means to handle serious crimes beyond police capacity. The show starred Martin Shaw as Ray Doyle, Lewis Collins as William Bodie, and Gordon Jackson as George Cowley, and ran for 57 episodes filmed between 1977 and 1981.
- field
- Television drama
- nationality
- British
- known_for
- Crime-action series featuring CI5 agents Bodie, Doyle, and Cowley
- episodes
- 57
- original_network
- ITV
- air_dates
- 30 December 1977 – 6 February 1983
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Crime thriller / Action / Adventure
- Runtime
- 50 minutes
- Creator
- Brian Clemens
- Starring
- Gordon Jackson / Martin Shaw / Lewis Collins
- Theme Music Composer
- Laurie Johnson
- Channel
- ITV
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- First Aired
- 1977-12-30
- Last Aired
- 1983-02-06
- Num Series
- 5
- Num Episodes
- 57
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Professionals was created by Brian Clemens, a driving force behind The Avengers, and was originally to be called The A-Squad. Clemens and Albert Fennell were executive producers, with Laurie Johnson providing the theme music. Sidney Hayers produced the first series in 1977, and Raymond Menmuir the remainder. The show's premise allowed for a wide variety of villains, including terrorists, hitmen, hate groups, and espionage suspects, with plots sometimes relating to the Cold War. CI5, led by George Cowley, used unconventional and sometimes illegal methods, as Cowley put it, 'Fight fire with fire!'
Reader's Guide
The Professionals became a defining British action series of its era, noted for its gritty portrayal of a fictional intelligence unit and the chemistry between its leads. The show's use of a fictitious force was less controversial than the portrayal of the real Flying Squad in The Sweeney. The early years featured varied plots and ongoing character development, but later series saw increasingly overused ideas, and both Collins and Shaw felt the show was becoming stale. The final series aired from November 1982 to February 1983, though no episodes were filmed after May 1981. The series is also remembered for its iconic cars, particularly the Ford Capri 3.0 S, and for the off-screen tension between Shaw and Collins, who later reconciled and became friends until Collins' death in 2013.
Did You Know?
- The show was originally to have been called The A-Squad.
- Anthony Andrews was initially contracted to play Bodie but was replaced by Lewis Collins due to lack of chemistry with Martin Shaw.
- Shaw and Collins had previously played villains together in a 1977 episode of The New Avengers.
- The first series used British Leyland cars, but reliability problems led to a switch to Ford vehicles midway through.
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