TV SERIES · 1977– · UK
The Professionals
19 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
19 Interesting Facts About The Professionals
Interesting Facts (15)
- #001
Martin Shaw (Doyle) blocked TV repeats of the series for many years and disowned it soon after it ended. He blamed his failure to agree repeat fees with the makers, London Weekend Television, though it was also said he didn't want to be typecast by the "hard man" image the show gave him. In the mid-1990s, when it was quietly pointed out that Gordon Jackson's (Cowley) widow could use the income from repeat fees, he dropped his objection.
- #002
Klansmen (1978), in which a Ku Klux Klan-style group harasses black people, was banned in the UK for its racist content and never aired.
- #003
In the unofficial pilot Old Dog with New Tricks (1978), Bodie carries a Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver and Doyle a Walther PPK automatic. By Private Madness, Public Danger (1977), both had switched to the 9 mm Browning semi-automatic, the standard British military sidearm of the day. In the third season Bodie uses a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum and Doyle a Walther 9mm, and in Mixed Doubles (1980) both use Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum revolvers, while Cowley carries a Colt .38 revolver throughout. All three use assorted small arms, mainly Armalite and FN FAL rifles and Uzi, Ingram and Sterling submachine guns, and in Wild Justice (1980) Bodie and Doyle use prototype SA80 assault rifles, which the British Army's S.A.S. hadn't even tested yet.
- #004
Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw first worked together on Obsession (1977), Shaw as a disgruntled R.A.F. officer and Collins as a mercenary not unlike Bodie; at one point Collins's character even tells Shaw they make a good team and should work together again someday.
- #005
The show's original title was "The A-Squad."
- #006
As late as 2018, ITV4 in the UK was still showing old, unrestored telecine versions, even though restored versions had come out on blu-ray and DVD years earlier, broadcasting the originals in a 12:9 ratio cropped top and bottom to fill a 16:9 screen. Presumably the restored masters will become available for broadcast once the home entertainment license for them runs out.
- #007
We're never told exactly how big CI5 is or precisely what its powers and responsibilities are, but we meet agents with three-digit call signs, and since Cowley is a Major, that implies a staff of between one hundred and one hundred and twenty. Its work seems largely confined to the UK, though at least once Bodie carries out a spy swap on the Cold War border between East and West Germany. Over the show's six-year run, at least thirteen CI5 agents were killed in the line of duty.
- #008
'Old Dog with New Tricks' was shot in June 1977, the first episode filmed, but for unknown reasons it aired fourth. After seeing it in July 1977, London Weekend Television, the franchise holder that commissioned it, green-lit the rest of the season, and filming began right away; other ITV companies snapped it up on the strength of that episode too, sensing a big hit.
- #009
Unlike Doyle and Bodie's on-screen friendship, Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw had very little time for each other; Shaw says both were pretty aggressive toward one another.
- #010
Martin Shaw said he only took the role of Ray Doyle because he didn't have many other offers.
- #011
Doyle was originally meant to be a blond, blue-eyed man in a suit. Martin Shaw argued Doyle would never wear a suit and turned up on the first day of filming in jeans and a T-shirt, despite being warned the earlier director would send him home for it; he also had his perm cut.
- #012
As Martin Shaw has often admitted, he and Lewis Collins didn't like each other and never got along during production. But ten years after the show ended, Shaw invited Collins and his new family over for dinner, and he says the past was quickly forgotten and the two got on very well. Sadly, Collins moved to the US soon after, so it was the last time they saw each other, but Shaw said he was glad they had parted as friends.
- #013
The show's popularity spawned several merchandise lines during and just after its first run: thirty-eight episodes were novelized in fifteen paperbacks between 1978 and 1982, seven hardback Annuals came out between 1978 and 1984, there were several die-cast models of the cars (some with little agent figures), and a 'crimebuster set' with a toy gun and holster, an ID, a toy radio and so on.
- #014
Bodie's first name, it turns out, was William.
- #015
Cowley was meant to be merely 'Northern,' not Scottish.
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #016
Brian Clemens planned to write two or three opening episodes and then hand over to other writers, but the scripts came in uneven and lacking the energy and pace the show needed, so he rewrote nearly ten scripts for the early episodes and took a hands-on approach to filming. On later series, with the format established and writers and directors familiar with the show, he stepped back behind the camera.
Characters & Cast (3)
- #017
Originally conceived as Britain's answer to Starsky and Hutch (1975), the show was a big hit in the UK and many other countries, especially in much of the Middle East, where audiences loved the action and the glamorous but masculine leads.
- #018
Anthony Andrews was originally cast as Bodie but was replaced after three days of filming when it was decided he lacked chemistry with Martin Shaw, which was making Shaw unhappy. Lewis Collins had auditioned at Pinewood Studios for a small part as an army sergeant in the show, and the casting team, thinking he might be a good alternative to Andrews, recommended him to the producers.
- #019
Tommy Boyle and Peter Finlay auditioned for Doyle.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work