'The Professionals' Was The Real McCoy

ShadeGrenade

Alongside 'The Sweeney', 'The Professionals' is probably the best-remembered British action series of the 1970's. It was created by Brian Clemens, and followed hot on the heels of 'The New Avengers'. Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins had appeared together in an episode ( 'Obsession' ).

I was not immediately won over by 'The Professionals'. I had the impression that Clemens had taken some left-over 'New Avengers' scripts, scrubbed out the names 'Steed', 'Gambit' and 'Purdey', and substituted 'Bodie', 'Doyle', and 'Cowley'. Certainly the Russian agents in 'The Female Factor' looked and sounded like they had come straight from that show. Even some of Laurie Johnson's incidental music sounded indistinguishable. I was not alone in my cynicism. A letter writer to 'The People' newspaper soon after its debut claimed that 'Gordon Jackson was badly miscast' and that the show was basically 'the poor man's Starsky & Hutch'.

The hit U.S. show starring David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser was declining in popularity in the U.K. as 'The Professionals' debuted. I recall my school friends suddenly raving about this new show and going silent on the subject of Huggy Bear's pals.

Despite initial misgivings, I stuck with 'The Professionals' and am glad that I did because it improved as it went along. The ratings went up in spite of tough competition from B.B.C.-1's equally violent 'Gangsters'. Later on it would be pitted against the popular private eye drama 'Shoestring'.

The premise was this; George Cowley ( Gordon Jackson ) is the head of C15, an organisation set up to combat terrorism. His top agents are Bodie ( Lewis Collins ) and Doyle ( Martin Shaw ). That was really all there was to it.

The show boasted lots of exciting action ( violent even by today's standards ), guest-stars such as a pre-'Not The Nine O'Clock News' Pamela Stephenson, one of the best theme tunes ever, a pair of personable leads, and some pretty good scripts. Particularly memorable were 'In The Public Interest' in which C15 investigates an ( unnamed ) city where a zero tolerance policy to crime has unfortunately given rise to massive police corruption; and 'The Rack' where C15's very existence is questioned, and Cowley has to make an impassioned plea to a court to preserve the anonymity of an informer. 'Heroes' had witnesses to a robbery coming under threat from the underworld when a newspaper foolishly printed their names. One episode - 'Klansman' - dealt with racism and was deemed too controversial to broadcast.

Shaw and Collins made a good team, and Jackson gave solid support in what was basically a thankless role. The show predictably drew complaints on account of its violence, but fans seemed not to mind. Yes, it took a simplistic approach to serious issues such as terrorism, and there was virtually no character development, but it managed to be good entertainment. It ran for five years in all, totalling 57 episodes.

'The Two Ronnies' did a funny parody called 'Tinker, Taylor, Smiley, Doyle' in which Ronnie Corbett's 'Doyle' got a new partner in the shape of Ronnie Barker's mild-mannered 'George Smiley'. And, of course, 'The Comic Strip Presents' gave us 'The Bullshitters'!

Though repeats were blocked for many years by Martin Shaw, 'The Professionals' is now to be found on 'I.T.V.-4' ( with heavily edited editions going out in afternoon slots ) and before that, 'Granada Plus'. Despite changing public tastes, its popularity has endured.

With the arrival of 'Life On Mars' on B.B.C.-1 in 2006, the genre of hard-bitten '70's crime telly was effectively exhumed. Viewers could once again see men being men, and women either being shot, beaten up or taken to bed. 'The Professionals' though was the real McCoy.

score 9/10

ShadeGrenade 20 August 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1932897/