Film Reviews 4U: The Professionals TV Series
Another hit series from the great Brian Clemens
Those of you around in the 1970's or who are interested in classic television will know who Brian Clemens and the Professionals were.
With the popular ITV Crime series the Sweeney coming to an end in 1978, ITV were looking for another fictional hit series to fill the slot. Cue Writer and Creator of the ABC Avengers and ITV "Thriller" Series Brian Clemens, who was asked to come up with a production to fill the television void that would be left by the Sweeney. Clemens had a string of hits in film and television to his name and could be relied upon for a quality product.
Whilst fictional Police dramas had filled the screens for many years since television became widespread in the 1950's, there was also a niche for programs featuring the unorthodox worlds of private investigation and espionage work. Series like Danger man, The Strange report and the Prisoner fell into that bracket.
The Avengers a series that Brian Clemens produced and also wrote for leading to the 1975 re-boot of the series as The New Avengers, perhaps brought Clemens into view as the writer for the Professionals.
With the Avengers, Clemens had left the production late on, but was brought back in to rewrite some episodes to finish the last series. A situation he would later see in the Professionals and had also done earlier in 'Thriller'.
Rather than create another clone of the Sweeney for ITV to counter the BBC's Z Cars, it was decided to go 'underground' for ITV's next venture. Something the BBC would come back with as a counter to the Professionals was in the 'Target' series starring Patrick Mower, although that only lasted for one series.
Target was of some merit, but lacked the triumvirate of the leading roles as the Professionals had. Its place was taken by Shoestring and later by Bergerac, which hit its stride as the Professionals bowed out.
Martin Shaw as Doyle with Lewis Collins as Bodie
Forming the Professionals
Martin Shaw was lined up for one of the lead roles with Anthony Andrews a friend of Shaw, slated to be the other male lead actor. Gordon Jackson, fresh off the role of Hudson the Butler in the popular ITV drama 'Upstairs Downstairs' took the role of George Cowley, who headed the fictional 'CI5' organisation that provided the hub idea Clemens originated for the program.
'CI5' were envisaged as an armed version of MI5, however it might be more accurate to compare CI5 to the some of the work of the real undercover SAS 14th Intelligence Company unit, in some ways as a yardstick. Also known as 'The DET' the 14th was a highly secret unit that works undercover inside the UK area.
The back story for the Professionals had Martin Shaw as Ray Doyle an ex Metropolitan Police Officer, Lewis Collins as William Bodie, ex Paratrooper and SAS Solider and Gordon Jackson as George Cowley, the former Army Major and then later mover and shaker in the Security Services, where he was approached to form CI5.
Cowley was an unorthodox operator who did not always care whose toes he trod on to get the job done and this added a good edge to the series. Gordon Jackson had enjoyed a varied film and television career and was in the film the Ipcress File with Michael Caine.
Brian Clemens had seen Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins appear in an episode of the New Avengers where they had not bonded as actors on the set, although sharing a connected role. This was the reason that Clemens gave the role to Lewis Collins, rather than use Anthony Andrews.
Clemens saw the friction between the actors as a thread to play on through the series.
Although Martin Shaw has said that later he and Lewis Collins became friends, they kept the slight antagonism going as a theme throughout some of the series episodes. Perhaps it only existed on that Avengers episode. Actually, this casting made the series really work in that respect, and worked better than if the relationship had been too 'chummy' between Anthony Andrews and Shaw.
In the ITV series Special Branch, the lead roles were initially antagonistic but then blended together and worked well although the lead characters changed around. The fact that Bodie and Doyle in the series often relied on each other to be in the right place at the right time for each other was another key part, which Clemens crafted brilliantly. The continuity of Bodie and Doyle from day one to the end also made the series work well.
At the time of production of the Professionals series, plenty of the 'unseen' people of the intelligence service and those in the civil service and government had served in WW2 with the forces, people like Airey Neave, Willie Whitelaw, Jim Callaghan, Peter Carrington, Dennis Healey and others - the 'old guard' was now engaged in a new war against the IRA, foreign terrorists and also those inside Britain looking to cause disruption such as student anarchists.
The heart of CI5 - Doyle, Cowley and Bodie
Brian Clemens - Writer and Producer
Brian Clemens had initially built the concept and written some of the Professionals episodes and then put out other themes and storylines for episodes to other writers, once the initial cloth of the series had been woven to establish the style of the series.
Clearly, Clemens knew what he was trying to achieve with his idea and then rewrote some of the submitted and farmed out scripts produced for ITV by the guest writers to bring them more into line with his vision.
We see famous writer's names from other productions crop up in the credits such as Ranald Graham and Ted Childs both veterans of the Sweeney series, amongst others cropping up as episode authors as well as Tony Barwick (UFO), Paul Wheeler (Bergerac), Dennis Spooner (Bergerac) and Gerry O'Hara to mention but a few.
A 1970's time capsule in one picture!
In production
Like The Sweeney, the Professionals came in for criticism for the violence used in it (often from campaigner Mary Whitehouse). Although fairly tame by today's standards, the action reflects the world that these characters would have operated in in real life, the driving scenes were sometimes a bit wild, to put it mildly.
The Professionals centred mainly on Bodie, Doyle and Cowley, with a few 'colleague' characters like Murphy that reoccur throughout the programs. With program themes ranging from close protection, surveillance, finding those who want to remain unfound and preventing crimes, or detecting crimes the series episodes kept the three very busy over the three years of production.
Famous guest actors
Like the Sweeney and Fawlty Towers, many successful actors of the day wanted to get a part in an episode, the Professionals was no different, some familiar faces of the day included: Pamela Stephenson (Hazel, Not the nine o'clock News), Trevor Adams (Reginald Perrin), Geoffrey Palmer, Del Henney, Carol Royle (Hi-de-Hi, Bergerac), Art Malik (Bergerac, Jewel in the Crown), Derek Francis (Heartbeat), Nick Brimble (Sweeney), Tony Caunter (Sweeney, Eastenders), Arthur Treacher (Sweeney, Eastenders), Keith Barron (Duty Free, Take me Home), David Suchet (Poirot), Roger Lloyd Pack (Only fools and Horses, Morse) Maurice Denham (Edgar Wallce mysteries), Michael Kitchen (Foyle's War, Morse), Larry Lamb (Triangle), Michael Coles (Edgar Wallace Mysteries, The Sweeney), Stanley Meadows (Victim, Edgar Wallace Mysteries), Morris Perry (Special Branch, The Sweeney) and many others.
The Bodie and Doyle Ford Capris
The cars also stars
Like the Sweeney, the cars in the series featured heavily, with Doyle first driving a Ford Escort RS2000, Bodie had a V6 3 Litre Ford Capri and Cowley a 2.8 Granada, later Bodie graduated to a Gold Ford Capri S.
Sundry other stock 'Euston films' type Fords turn up, a couple of 'coke Bottle' Mk3 Cortinas in Blue and White (likely off the Sweeney roster along with an apple green Escort 1.3 can be seen in the episodes.
It is quite fun to spot the then current vehicles of the era, most of which are now memories and very few preserved for today's classic vehicle operators to enjoy. The street scenes are fun to look at for those old makes and models long gone to a rusty valhalla.
Often very run down parts of London were used for the filming locations, many now long redeveloped, we see old factory units and industrial units now likely long gone, so it is interesting to see old London as it was.
There was no shortage of lairy driving!
The cars though have survived!
The episodes themes
The premise of the series was that CI5 took the jobs outside of the remit of MI5 or the Police. They often acted on the instructions of the government or from MI5. The episodes are well written and varied. They, like much classic television of the time do stand up well even though now half a century old.
After the series ended Martin Shaw felt that the series had limited him professionally in what he was offered, this can often happen when you are in a successful series, it can be a double edged sword, although Lewis Collins seemed well enough at home in the film 'Who dares Wins' in 1982 which was very good and was made after the Professionals series ended.
Martin Shaw was later cast in the Inspector Dalgleish series taking over from Roy Marsden and later played the lead in the George Gently television series, which was successful.
Whilst a famous series can result in typecasting, it is often a price that actors pay, John Nettles who liked to work in Shakespeare had success in Bergerac, later for many years in Midsomer Murders, Mark Williams a fellow Shakespearean actor found great success with the Fast Show comedy series, but later also found success in the Father Brown series, whilst success can be a double edge sword for some actors, it can lead to other great things.
Often those chance role offers can lead to many other avenues opening up.
Lewis Collins did want to get into the real life SAS but it was felt that his face was too well known, he later went to America where he enjoyed success.
Doyle's Ford Escort RS2000
Rare then, commanding high prices on the classic car market now
The series in retrospect
Looking back half a century on at the Professionals, if you grew up in the 1970's you'll see a lot that you recognise like Skol Lager, the fashions, the 1970's! how different things were and looked then. I suppose it is a nostalgic retrospective exercise to review this series but it does show how much things have changed.
The remastered DVD complete Series is available on Amazon as a box set. This is well worth a watch!
The film restoration is great, the colours are good and the whole production is really good. It is of its time, this is how it was and it is a world long gone but for which we sometimes yearn for.
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