The Professionals (1977 - 1983) - "Anarchy, acts of terror, crimes against the public. To combat it I've got special men - experts from the Army, the Police - from every service. These are The Professionals." - George Cowley. The Professionals was one of British television's most popular and successful action series of the 1970s and 80s. At their peak in 1980 The Pros were earning as many as 17.6 million viewers. The Professionals began life in early 1977, provisionally titled The A-Squad, in an idea conceived by Brian Clemens, the then head of the independent TV company Avengers Mark I Productions. His aim was to create a rival for Thames television's hugely successful long-running police series The Sweeney. Bodie, Doyle and Cowley could have looked very different to how we remember them as. A number of very different actors were considered for the three central roles, with neither of the final chosen team being the original choices. The final three were more or less drafted in when the first choice stars either declined or were axed. Gordon Jackson (formerly the distinctly unmenacing Butler Hudson in Upstairs Downstairs) and Martin Shaw (whose first TV appearance was as a hippie in 1960s Coronation Street) were first to be cast. During the filming of the first episode, Old Dog with New Tricks Bodie was in fact played by Anthony Andrews. Unfortunately, old mates Shaw and Andrews spent much of the time cracking up with laughter - hardly a recipe for ensuring the renowned edgy banter between the two leads. Lewis Collins (best known by this time as Gavin Rumsey in comedy series The Cuckoo Waltz) was brought in to play Bodie, with Andrews being given the heave-ho. Collins and Shaw had previously worked together just months earlier in an episode of The New Avengers, and were cast alongside each other again thanks to the 'sparky, abrasive' on-screen partnership that they generated. In other words, they didn't particularly like each other! But with the central cast c
Season | From | To | Episodes |
---|---|---|---|
All Seasons | |||
Specials | 0 | ||
Season 1 | December 1977 | March 1978 | 13 |
Season 2 | October 1978 | December 1978 | 10 |
Season 3 | October 1979 | December 1979 | 8 |
Season 4 | September 1980 | December 1980 | 15 |
Season 5 | November 1982 | February 1983 | 11 |
Unassigned Episodes | 0 |
Season | From | To | Episodes |
---|---|---|---|
All Seasons | |||
Season 1 | December 1977 | November 1978 | 14 |
Season 2 | October 1978 | December 1979 | 14 |
Season 3 | October 1979 | December 1980 | 14 |
Season 4 | October 1980 | February 1983 | 15 |
Unassigned Episodes | 0 |
Season | From | To | Episodes |
---|---|---|---|
Season 1 | 0 | ||
Unassigned Episodes | 57 |
Name | Number of Episodes | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Brian Clemens | 17 | 01/06/1978 - 01/16/1983 | |
Ranald Graham | 5 | 12/02/1978 - 11/28/1982 | |
Roger Marshall | 4 | 10/12/1980 - 02/06/1983 | |
Christopher Wicking | 3 | 11/24/1979 - 12/05/1982 | |
Anthony Read | 3 | 12/30/1977 - 10/07/1978 | |
Don Houghton | 2 | 11/25/1978 - 11/03/1979 | |
Stephen Lister | 2 | 10/27/1979 - 12/20/1980 | |
Edmund Ward | 2 | 11/18/1978 - 12/27/1980 | |
Dennis Spooner | 2 | 03/03/1978 - 11/11/1978 | |
Tony Barwick | 2 | 12/12/1982 - 01/30/1983 | |
Ted Childs | 1 | 12/01/1979 | |
Paul Wheeler | 1 | 01/09/1983 | |
P.J. Hammond | 1 | 01/27/1978 | |
Douglas Watkinson | 1 | 12/15/1979 | |
Michael Feeney Callan | 1 | 12/08/1979 | |
John Kruse | 1 | 09/07/1980 | |
Michael Armstrong | 1 | 10/28/1978 | |
David Humphries | 1 | 01/23/1983 | |
Philip Loraine | 1 | 11/17/1979 | |
John Goldsmith | 1 | 11/10/1979 |
Name | Number of Episodes | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
William Brayne | 10 | 01/27/1978 - 01/16/1983 | |
Gerry O'Hara | 6 | 10/21/1978 - 11/21/1982 | |
Martin Campbell | 5 | 10/28/1978 - 11/30/1980 | |
Dennis Lewiston | 3 | 09/21/1980 - 12/27/1980 | |
David Wickes | 3 | 01/06/1978 - 10/21/1978 | |
Ian Sharp | 3 | 12/20/1980 - 11/28/1982 | |
Dennis Abey | 3 | 10/27/1979 - 12/12/1982 | |
Anthony Simmons | 3 | 10/07/1978 - 12/05/1982 | |
Christopher King | 2 | 11/03/1979 - 01/23/1983 | |
Phil Meheux | 2 | 10/26/1980 - 01/09/1983 | |
Douglas Camfield | 2 | 12/30/1977 - 10/12/1980 | |
Chris Burt | 2 | 09/28/1980 - 02/06/1983 | |
Ray Austin | 2 | 02/24/1978 - 11/11/1978 | |
Pat Jackson | 1 | ||
Pennant Roberts | 1 | 11/04/1978 | |
Ernest Day | 1 | 03/10/1978 | |
Roger Tucker | 1 | 12/07/1980 | |
Horace Ové | 1 | 01/30/1983 | |
Benjamin Wickers | 1 | 03/03/1978 | |
Tom Clegg | 1 | 12/02/1978 | |
Francis Megahy | 1 | 02/17/1978 | |
Raymond Menmuir | 1 | 02/03/1978 | |
Sid Hayers | 1 | 01/13/1978 | |
James Allen | 1 | 12/14/1980 | |
Peter Medak | 1 | 10/14/1978 | |
Dennis Lewistone | 1 | 11/17/1979 | |
Ferdinand Fairfax | 1 | 12/15/1979 | |
John Crome | 1 | 11/21/1982 | |
Charles Crichton | 1 | 03/17/1978 |
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