A gang of mercenaries execute a daring bank raid and escape using a light aircraft. The mercenaries sell themselves to the highest bidder as 'a private army' and are soon plotting their next job. CI-5 are on the case, and it turns out that Bodie has a personal score to settle with one of the gang.
From the moment the show starts, with Laurie Johnson's compelling theme tune and the unforgettable sight of a car plunging through a plate glass window, you know this is an action show; back in the late 70's this was one of the shows that was compulsory viewing for teenage lads such as myself. Teenage girls watched it too; apparently Shaw was a heart-throb amongst the ladies.
This is only the sixth episode of a show that was to run to five series and fifty-odd episodes. However the main characters are already fully formed and the show's style and pacing are very much the same as they were in later episodes.
An obvious difference between these early episodes and later ones is that Bodie and Doyle were driving BL cars; later episodes used Fords.
Yes you can tell it is the 1970's; boy, they don't make trousers like that any more....
This episode is interesting because there are scenes involving aircraft and two well-known actors play bad guys. Geoffery Palmer ('Jimmy' in the Fall and Rise of Reggie Perrin etc) and David Suchet (later to become 'Poirot') both do a pretty good job.
If you watch carefully the aircraft scenes betray a certain lack of budget; we see the engines start on the plane, we then glimpse the same plane (there can't be two with that paint job...?) with the engines off. The plane takes off over the home counties and is then 'pursued' by RAF jet fighters (Jaguars I think) meant to be flying just over 2000 ft but that are actually up to 20000 feet over somewhere that looks more like Scotland... we then see a different plane altogether in a long shot and no, we don't see any crashed plane even though there is meant to be one.... so yes, it is a bit cobbled together from stock shots in places but really it doesn't matter.
It is also possible to criticise the motorcycle scenes; the bikes change completely from one shot to the next, and so do the police cars, but again it doesn't seem to matter! Shaw and Collins were apparently not Clemens' first choice for Doyle and Bodie; Collins was eventually chosen to play alongside Shaw in part because they had worked together previously in an episode of 'The New Avengers', (but as bad guys!). Originally Shaw was (amazingly) to play Doyle alongside Anthony Andrews as 'Bodie'. They did right to change this; Anthony Andrews is a fine actor but I just can't imagine him in this rough-and-tumble role.
I've seen nearly all the 'Professionals' episodes over the years (apart from one that is considered too racist or something and has never been broadcast in the UK) and this one is pretty average.
This isn't a terribly sophisticated series, but then again it doesn't often take itself too seriously, either. Although there is often violence, the versions that are currently shown on ITV4 have been edited in minor ways for daytime viewing. For me it is all a trip down memory lane, so maybe I view it through rose-tinted spectacles, but it was one of the better action series on TV at the time.
From the moment the show starts, with Laurie Johnson's compelling theme tune and the unforgettable sight of a car plunging through a plate glass window, you know this is an action show; back in the late 70's this was one of the shows that was compulsory viewing for teenage lads such as myself. Teenage girls watched it too; apparently Shaw was a heart-throb amongst the ladies.
This is only the sixth episode of a show that was to run to five series and fifty-odd episodes. However the main characters are already fully formed and the show's style and pacing are very much the same as they were in later episodes.
An obvious difference between these early episodes and later ones is that Bodie and Doyle were driving BL cars; later episodes used Fords.
Yes you can tell it is the 1970's; boy, they don't make trousers like that any more....
This episode is interesting because there are scenes involving aircraft and two well-known actors play bad guys. Geoffery Palmer ('Jimmy' in the Fall and Rise of Reggie Perrin etc) and David Suchet (later to become 'Poirot') both do a pretty good job.
If you watch carefully the aircraft scenes betray a certain lack of budget; we see the engines start on the plane, we then glimpse the same plane (there can't be two with that paint job...?) with the engines off. The plane takes off over the home counties and is then 'pursued' by RAF jet fighters (Jaguars I think) meant to be flying just over 2000 ft but that are actually up to 20000 feet over somewhere that looks more like Scotland... we then see a different plane altogether in a long shot and no, we don't see any crashed plane even though there is meant to be one.... so yes, it is a bit cobbled together from stock shots in places but really it doesn't matter.
It is also possible to criticise the motorcycle scenes; the bikes change completely from one shot to the next, and so do the police cars, but again it doesn't seem to matter! Shaw and Collins were apparently not Clemens' first choice for Doyle and Bodie; Collins was eventually chosen to play alongside Shaw in part because they had worked together previously in an episode of 'The New Avengers', (but as bad guys!). Originally Shaw was (amazingly) to play Doyle alongside Anthony Andrews as 'Bodie'. They did right to change this; Anthony Andrews is a fine actor but I just can't imagine him in this rough-and-tumble role.
I've seen nearly all the 'Professionals' episodes over the years (apart from one that is considered too racist or something and has never been broadcast in the UK) and this one is pretty average.
This isn't a terribly sophisticated series, but then again it doesn't often take itself too seriously, either. Although there is often violence, the versions that are currently shown on ITV4 have been edited in minor ways for daytime viewing. For me it is all a trip down memory lane, so maybe I view it through rose-tinted spectacles, but it was one of the better action series on TV at the time.
