The BEST Episodes of The Professionals
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Feb 28, 2021
Network: ITV1
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
#1 - Private Madness, Public Danger
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired Dec 30, 1977
Charles Nesbitt, an expert on chemical weapons, threatens to contaminate the water sources of London with a lethal hallucogenic drug and in order to back up his claims, plans several small 'demonstrations' in warning to the local authorities - including CI5.
7.41 
#2 - The Female Factor
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired Jan 6, 1978
An Iron Curtain agent is using a young girl to extort secrets from, and ultimately destroy the career of, a future British Prime Minister, unaware that the girl is the long-lost daughter of a well-known local prostitute.
7.13 
#3 - Hunter/Hunted
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired Oct 7, 1978
Cowley assigns Doyle to test a brand new high-tech laser beam rifle. But the rifle is stolen from his flat and the thief decides to 'test' it on Doyle, sending him on a cat-and-mouse chase around London.
7.12 
#4 - A Man Called Quinn
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired Jan 30, 1983
A former colleague of Cowley's who is now a patient in a mental hospital reappears in London, going on the run when he believes that the KGB have drugged him.
7.12 
#5 - Killer With a Long Arm
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired Jan 20, 1978
CI5 become aware that an assassination plot on a group of visiting Greek Royals is being planned using a rifle that has a range of over two miles. But they must find out who is the gunman and what is his target - before it is too late.
7.09 
#6 - Discovered in a Graveyard
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired Dec 5, 1982
Whilst investigating a bombing plot Doyle is shot and left for dead in his flat, and as the hospital fights to save his life, he seems unable to decide whether he wants to live or die...meanwhile, Bodie goes on a chase to find Doyle's assailant.
7.06 
#7 - The Ojuka Situation
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired Jan 23, 1983
A sacked former African Head attempts to get reinstated in office using the help of the British Government, but the plan is sidetracked by one particular civil servant who now wants him dead.
7.06 
#8 - Involvement
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired Sep 28, 1980
In the midst of a shoot-out during a drugs smuggling investigation, Doyle meets and falls for Ann Holly, only to discover that CI5 suspect her of being closely linked to the scam herself.
7.03 
#9 - Mixed Doubles
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired Dec 7, 1980
Bodie and Doyle are undergoing intense training in preparation for an assignment where they are protecting a foreign official...at the same time, two potential killers are receiving similiar training to prepare them for the assassination of the same official.
7.03 
#10 - The Acorn Syndrome
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired Sep 7, 1980
The daughter of a British Government engineer who is working on a defence protect is kidnapped, and the only way she will be safely returned is if he agrees to betray secrets to enemy agents.
7.03 
#11 - First Night
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired Oct 21, 1978
CI5 are left to dig deep when an Israeli Minister is kidnapped, and the only clues to his whereabouts are a shadowy photograph and a coded tape message.
7.03 
#12 - The Purging of CI5
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired Oct 27, 1979
CI5 and their agents find themselves under attack from a vendetta of bombings and assassination attempts. Bodie and Doyle are on a chase to find out who the perpetrators are before they end up as the next victims.
7.00 
#13 - Servant of Two Masters
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired Dec 15, 1979
Bodie and Doyle are shocked to discover that Cowley appears to be selling nerve gas to a group of East Germans in order to line his own pockets, and are assigned by his rival Plumb to track their boss's every move.
7.00 
#14 - Wild Justice
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired Sep 14, 1980
Bodie's mental state is called ino question when he becomes obsessed with a local Hell's Angel motorcycle gang, gradually sending him further and further behind in training. Is he cracking up?
7.00 
#15 - The Gun
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired Nov 9, 1980
A drug addict is murdered by a pusher who then hastily discards the gun, only for it to be found by a young boy-who then accidently shoots his friend in the process. The pusher then goes in search of the boy in an attempt to retrieve the gun and at the same time has to try to avoid his own people who are in pursuit of him.
7.00 
#16 - Kickback
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired Dec 20, 1980
Bodie and Keller, an old acquaintance from his days in the SAS, go undercover in order to trap a would-be assassin by posing as hitmen offering to do the job themselves - in order to fake the killing. But Keller turns out to have an ulterior motive.
7.00 
#17 - The Untouchables
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired Jan 16, 1983
Bodie is offered the opportunity to clear up all his gambling debts by a foreign diplomat - who in exchange wants to have some vital secrets from CI5.
7.00 
#18 - The Rack
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired Oct 14, 1978
A suspect being held under CI5's supervision is found dead in his cell - apparently after a fatal blow administered by Doyle. A public inquiry ensues and an influential lawyer calls for CI5 to be shut down. It's left to Cowley in fighting to save the organisation he founded.
6.97 
#19 - Take Away
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired Oct 12, 1980
A team of Hong Kong police join CI5 in London to help crack a local heroin supply and protection racket. It's down to Bodie and Doyle to expose a scheme to smuggle drugs to the US by teams of Triads and European agents.
6.97 
#20 - Fugitive
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired Sep 21, 1980
A CIA agent is murdered in London, prompting CI5 into launching a fake arms deal with the terrorists who were responsible for the killing. But the gang uncover the plot in time, taking Bodie hostage and using him as their meal ticket to escape the country.
6.97 
#21 - Need To Know
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired Oct 5, 1980
Cowley finds himself under suspicion when a former colleague of his is arrested for being a double agent. So just how deeply involved is the CI5 Chief?
6.97 
#22 - Black Out
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired Oct 19, 1980
CI5 discover that a possible terrorist attack is being planned, and the only clue they have in solving it is a German girl who is found collapsed in a church and suffering from amnesia.
6.97 
#23 - Blood Sports
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired Oct 26, 1980
CI5 move in to protect the daughter of a South American President after his son - and her brother - is assassinated on the field of a polo match.
6.97 
#24 - Lawson's Last Stand
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired Nov 28, 1982
Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lawson has gone missing without trace...and is armed with vital military secrets from NATO. Can CI5 seek him out before he tells all?
6.97 
#25 - Cry Wolf
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired Jan 9, 1983
A young woman contacts the police, saying she is being stalked and is in fear for her life, but they think she is making the whole story up.
6.97