The Professionals at 40

[FourWheelDrift]

Just watching episode "In the public interest" one thing I always notice is the police cars (Rover P6s here and other cases Triumph 2000) in blue and white had lights and sirens but never had any police markings. When they used Rover SD1s they did have the orange stripes.

[billzeebub]

My favourite ever TV series. Originally got into it during the late 90s whilst at Uni. In those days it was on Granada Men & Motors in the afternoon. Used to come home after lectures and watch every day. Introduced many of my fellow students to the series. Have watched each episode so many times, never get bored of it. Some epic cameo appearances. As well as those already mentioned by others there was Geoffrey Palmer who appears in a couple of episodes from memory. Bob the Bookie from Jossys Giants fame is another who crops up and comes to mind immediately.

Lewis Collins was a handy musician/drummer before the Professionals and I remember there was a possibility he could have made it into the Beatles! He was certainly well known around the Liverpool music scene. His Dad, Bill was a music manager I believe. Lewis also was a Parachute Regiment reservist and qualified for the territorial/reserve SAS, but the decision was made that he was too well known to be operational. Who Dares Wins with Lewis is one of my favourite films. He would have been a sensational Bond who really could walk the walk.

Edited by billzeebub on Monday 1st January 13:03

[irocfan]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075561/trivia?ref_=tt...

[anonymous-user]

FourWheelDrift said:

Just watching episode "In the public interest" one thing I always notice is the police cars (Rover P6s here and other cases Triumph 2000) in blue and white had lights and sirens but never had any police markings. When they used Rover SD1s they did have the orange stripes.

That is one of the episodes with a connection to the James Bond movies. In this case Octopussy. The actor who plays police Chief Green appeared as the "Soviet Chairman" (Brezhnev) lookalike in Octopussy.
The second link to Octopussy appears in the series 5 episode A Man Called Quinn when Stephen Berkoff appears in a strong role.

[2172cc]

Got this one as well although its more like a comic inside .

[2172cc]

2172cc said:

simonr100 said:

2172cc said:

Every Professionals enthusiast should try and seek out a copy of this book although its not easy to find.


There's one on Amazon at present for £318!

Can you tell us a bit more- I am interested but there is no way I would pay £50 let alone £318

The book is a very comprehensive guide to the series and runs to 630 odd pages. Every episode is covered in minute detail with a full run down of the story line, list of actors, production unit , shooting schedule and locations. Far more info than is strictly necessary but interesting all the same. For sure it's not worth £318 but you get people that come up with these crazy prices on Amazon when a book is out of print. Can't remember how much mine was about 4-5 years ago as it was a Christmas present but certainly not in £10-20 bracket.

Edited by 2172cc on Monday 1st January 11:25

One on Ebay now: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Professionals-by-Bo...

[P5BNij]

techguyone said:

andym1603 said:

Ha anybody seen "The Klansmen"? This episode has never been shown in the UK as it is racist. it is not even in the box set.

That's unlikely UK wasn't terribly PC friendly when this was first aired.

It wasn't aired during the original run of series one in '78, but it is in the most recent box set which has the fully restored episodes across four separate volumes. Of the thirteen series one episodes it's production order was number ten so should have been shown on 10th February '78 but was pulled, it's slot that night was filled by 'Close Quarters' where Bodie gets caught up with a group of Baader-Mainhoff types, Gabrielle Drake plays his girlfriend in this one. Having watched 'Klansmen' to me it has a totally different feel to the rest of the series and doesn't seem to fit in.

Bob Rocca's book is fantastic, I read somewhere that he's doing an updated version at some point. Definitely worth having, but the four booklets in the newest box sets by Andrew Pixley are full of the same detail, probably more so I'd say. Interesting books in their own right, even without the dvds!

One of my favourite episodes is 'The Female Factor', some of which was shot close to where I used to stay in Hammersmith at the time, in the late Summer of '77, the scene where Bodie and Doyle find the body by the river is right outside the Blue Anchor pub, also seen in the opening titles of 'Minder'.

Edited by P5BNij on Monday 1st January 16:53

[andym1603]

FourWheelDrift said:

Collins hated to make Bodie behave the way he did in it. It's interesting to see the actor playing the real nasty piece of work in it is none other than Tony Booth, father of Cherie Blair.

It's all on youtube.
part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlgGHFNCTpI
part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biqQvrNjO_Q
part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4czw74NzY8
part 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twLd-pHuVEQ

Just watched the first few minutes and another reused actor, actor playing Helen also played Susan Grant in Cry Wolf.

Thanks for that. Just watched it for the first time. You can see why it was never shown on television.

[P5BNij]

''Alright Dave...''



Pudding bowl haircut and dodgy overdubbed voice aside, he drove a natty looking Jensen Interceptor!

[FourWheelDrift]

I always like the A180 rifle in Hunter Hunted. It's like someone said "So what can we add onto a standard AR10 to make it look different and special, what do we have in the scrap box?"

I think someone might have been a fan of WWI Lewis machine guns.

[LizzyD]

I loved the Professionals!
Doyle! Bodie! The Cars!

I've got all the paperback "novels".

Apparently an updated version of the book will be out in about 6 weeks:
https://twitter.com/CI5BDC/status/9474934138799390...

[Smiler.]

LizzyD said:

Apparently an updated version of the book will be out in about 6 weeks:
https://twitter.com/CI5BDC/status/9474934138799390...

That's a brilliant find.

[InitialDave]

Hopefully someone will post in the thread when it comes out (or an ISBN is mentioned). I know I'll forget by then!

[marcosgt]

Smiler. said:

LizzyD said:

Apparently an updated version of the book will be out in about 6 weeks:
https://twitter.com/CI5BDC/status/9474934138799390...

That's a brilliant find.

All profits to charity seems remarkably generous too!

I will look out for this!

M

[belleair302]

I like the fact that both actors were used in the New Avengers and the directors thought....these two like chalk and cheese may have an unusual chemistry. Numerous 'civil servant' actors cropped up all over the place after the Professionals. I also believe they inherited a car or two off of The Sweeney as Ford was busily promoting vehicles on TV. British Leyland said NO! Ford sales rocketed. Elstree Aerodrome was used on and off for some shoots. Parts of the Docklands too.

[Simes205]

belleair302 said:

I like the fact that both actors were used in the New Avengers and the directors thought....these two like chalk and cheese may have an unusual chemistry. Numerous 'civil servant' actors cropped up all over the place after the Professionals. I also believe they inherited a car or two off of The Sweeney as Ford was busily promoting vehicles on TV. British Leyland said NO! Ford sales rocketed. Elstree Aerodrome was used on and off for some shoots. Parts of the Docklands too.

Weren’t they produced by the same team?. The music certainly is.

[anonymous-user]

Simes205 said:

Weren’t they produced by the same team?. The music certainly is.

New Avenger and Professionals yes
Sweeney and Professionals no But when Sweeney production ended some staff went over to the Professionals

[droopsnoot]

Doofus said:

oobster said:

Was there not some story about how Shaw wouldn't allow repeats to be show for a good few years, denying some of the other cast repeat fees?

Or was that just a load of pish?

He vetoed repeats on terrestrial televison. ITV4 isn't 'terrestrial', apparently, so they can show it, and Martin Shaw can't stop them.

I'm sure I recall a TV interview with Martin Shaw launching something else (Judge John Deed perhaps) where the subject came up and he denied blocking it. I couldn't find it anywhere last time the subject came up. I've heard the story before, along with the one about James Bolam doing the same for the Likely Lads, Gareth Thomas and Blakes 7, and probably more. I'm always a bit surprised that these actors who, at the time, were pretty early on in their careers, managed to get themselves a contract that gave them so much power.

I didn't watch it when it was new, mainly because we didn't watch ITV, and perhaps the violence would have been an issue. I've watched some on the frequent repeats, though I must admit a lot of it is for the backgrounds, spotting cars and so on.

[P5BNij]

techiedave said:

Simes205 said:

Weren’t they produced by the same team?. The music certainly is.

New Avenger and Professionals yes
Sweeney and Professionals no But when Sweeney production ended some staff went over to the Professionals

There was a lot of migration between The Sweeney and The Professionals as their production schedules overlapped during 1977, stuntman and arranger Pete Brayham stepped in to help out on The Profs and stayed for quite a while, he also worked on Target at the same time, the BBC's attempt at a hard hitting Sweeney style series with Patrick Mower.

I've just been delving into Andrew Pixley's series 1 book again at work during a quiet spell, there are some interesting snippets about the car supply situation, with lots of back and forth stuff going on between Brian Clemens and BL. BL wanted their SD1 back sharpish but couldn't supply it's replacement in time (a blue Daimler Double Six reg'd HHP 826N previously used in the New Avengers episode 'Obsession'), it never actually arrived so the green Austin Princess was duly delivered instead. By October '77 the first Fords from the Brentford supplier had started to arrive and the BL stuff was gradually phased out.

[K50 DEL]

droopsnoot said:

Doofus said:

oobster said:

Was there not some story about how Shaw wouldn't allow repeats to be show for a good few years, denying some of the other cast repeat fees?

Or was that just a load of pish?

He vetoed repeats on terrestrial televison. ITV4 isn't 'terrestrial', apparently, so they can show it, and Martin Shaw can't stop them.

I'm sure I recall a TV interview with Martin Shaw launching something else (Judge John Deed perhaps) where the subject came up and he denied blocking it. I couldn't find it anywhere last time the subject came up. I've heard the story before, along with the one about James Bolam doing the same for the Likely Lads, Gareth Thomas and Blakes 7, and probably more. I'm always a bit surprised that these actors who, at the time, were pretty early on in their careers, managed to get themselves a contract that gave them so much power.

I didn't watch it when it was new, mainly because we didn't watch ITV, and perhaps the violence would have been an issue. I've watched some on the frequent repeats, though I must admit a lot of it is for the backgrounds, spotting cars and so on.

Again, I can't remember where I read it but I'm sure I remember reading that he blocked any repeats until Gordon Jackson's wife appealed to him as she needed the royalty money following his death.