The Professionals 40th anniversary retrospective: Series 2
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- čas přidán 11. 08. 2018
- A look back at the second series of the hit 1970's British cop show The Professionals. We look at the external pressure exerted on the series over it's use of violence, the changes for the new series as it got a new title sequence and settled into a more recognisable format, we look at the plots of each episode, and explore how Martin Shaw fell out of love with the series, whilst his co-star Lewis Collins caused production to be delayed.
First off apologies for making everyone wait so long; I did say I would get it finished a few months ago and then of course University got in the way.
This version is a bit shorter than the series 1 video because I was making a version of this for University and the feedback they gave me was that the initial one was far too bloated! So I managed to reduce it from the 40 minutes of series 1 to half the length; the casualty of this was the episode review sections, and I am thinking of trying out a different format of videos to review Professionals episodes in more detail and in a more interesting way; here I felt that the mini-reviews led to too much editorialising, which may not necessarily be all that interesting to everyone. I've also tried to write the script so that someone who hasn't seen the series 1 video can still follow what's being talked about. (Without recapping the entirety of the previous video)
By the way, the Lego Fords in the sequence at the end were both built and animated by me. If anyone wants instructions to build them I will happily put them online somewhere.
At the very end I mentioned "The Professionals Revisited", which you can find more info about here: www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/2018/m... I went last year for the inaugural event and had a blast, so it's highly recommended if you're a fan and can get there.
Finally you can follow me on Twitter @Pros40th for more Professionals content; I did Live tweet the first two episodes of the first series as an experiment and it proved to be a massive pain in the arse to do, so I probably won't do that again. (At least not for every episode) - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Season 3, 4 & 5 are now essential! Finish what you started.
I used to look forward every week to staying up and watching this when I was a kid and still watching the re-runs on ITV4 today and the Sweeny all these years later. TV is shite these days.
Was allowed to stay up late to watch this as a kid. Still love it.
Good times the 80’s! I miss them. I was a massive fan of the professionals! So much I actually became an actor in the US. Thanks Bodie for the inspiration God be with you !🙏
Those were very creative times, I miss them too.
I found ci5 randomly on imdb a year ago and I've been watching it since. Amazing series
So sad Bodie is no longer among us. I wish they made a movie when all 'remakes' became fashion in the show industry. I grew up with these guys, great memories!
10/10. You are a true fan. God knows we could use them right now.
LOVE The Professionals
The stories are not only still relevant, the great acting, easiness and humour makes it still better than many, many other shows. Hadn't seen it for 40 years and did not expect too much. But within 5 minutes I was able too oversee the 70ties look and am as much fan again as I was at age of 16. They are simply very, very good.
The humour is usually spot on and well delivered, however what really impressed me is the tone of the show. It's very easy to let the humour become too big an element to the point that it undermines the stakes, or to go too far the other way and you end up with a melodrama which takes itself much too seriously and disappears up it's own arse. Across the whole series generally there's a great balance (occasionally they change the tone to fit the specific story) and it's done in a way that feels very natural; stuff like Lewis Collins putting the gun down and accidentally dropping it, and Martin Shaw pointing out (in character) that he nearly shot his foot off...There's loads of great little touches like that to their performances; even the scripted dialogue usually feels pretty natural; not always PC of course, but you have to view it through the lense of the time.
Another thing that I didn't mention here is the treatment of women in the show. I think by 70's standards it's actually fairly progressive; in the first series we had a lesbian couple whom Bodie was quite sympathetic towards, a pretty menacing female villain (Inge Helmut in Close Quarters), and in the second series we actually get the first female CI5 field agent on screen, Ruth Petiffer. (Diana Weston) Sadly she only appears in Rogue, Hunter/Hunted and First Night, and isn't given a whole lot to do other than drive Cowley around and help Doyle on a stakeout; she is at least shown as competent and unreceptive to Bodie and Doyle messing around and trying to hit on her. She's a good character and it's a shame that it isn't until later that we get a consistent third CI5 agent who gets deployed alongside Bodie and Doyle for the last two seasons.
@@edwardhunter7116 it's interesting what you said about the women... it's funny cos I hadn't watched this for decades and, I too was surprised that there seemed to be equal measure of typical patronising of the ladies (which was just the way it was back then, eh) but also as you say, there's a lot of empowerment for them, being villains etc. Nice pastiche, well done matey!
Brilliant, I love The Professionals
Bloody great show! Great choice of actors made this show rock!
I'm with you on that one! Martin, Lewis and Gordon were excellent but a fair few of the guest stars were on top form as well.
Edward Hunter Bloody oath! They all had the right look, the way they dressed , opening titles, the soundtrack all came together perfectly! Forget different ones saying that The Professionals is soooo dated!! If it was that dated, this show would be long forgotten, but it’s not!!!
Many of the plots are surprisingly still relevant today; the Temple Blake corruption episode feels extremely true to life; Cowley gives a great speech at the end where he mentions that: "We live in a world without much honour, where politicians hang onto office like dirty glue"; not a lot has changed on that front sadly. A Stirring of Dust reminds me a bit of the Sergei/Julia Skripal poisoning this year, in that it's about a former
Russian spy and his daughter being hunted by a foreign power. I also think that In The Public Interest is a great cautionary tale about Homophobia and police corruption, and how a moral crusade can end up becoming overzealous and twisted by individuals that abuse their power. I think it works much better than the episode "Klansmen" made for the first series which was much more heavy handed. (And ultimately was banned)
I think the reason people call it dated is because The Professionals isn't as fondly remembered as it's contemporaries on ITV like The Sweeney or Minder (It also never got as many reruns and the footage never got the remastered treatment until fairly recently); for me it's actually aged just as well if not slightly better than both those shows; the stories speak to what people were worried about at the time, be it facism, nationalism, drugs or terrorists, and these are all topical issues that haven't gone away. The show generally appealed to Right wingers at the time with it's uncompromising attitudes to terrorism, but I think you can still get just as much out of it viewing it from a more Left-wing perspective; there are a few episodes where Doyle is used quite well to offer a different perspective, and there are narratives that are more introspective and thoughtful than simple bodyguard missions or terrorist hunts; there's some excellent action as well of course but it is far from the endless series of mindless shoot-outs that it's often inaccurately remembered as; that's one of the things I wanted to try and set right with these videos. It wasn't a perfect series by any means, but out of 57 episodes there are only about half a dozen that I'd consider as really bad; (Stuff like Look After Annie and The Gun) the others range from average to brilliant.
Maybe a feature film version of The Professionals would go some way towards addressing the 'dated' criticisms, and update CI5's uncompromising tactics to fight against and suppress modern day terrorists.
Yes! The actors made the difference. To my opinion the New Profesionals are not fit to even hold a candle to them.
great thanks! i grew up with the series and know most of the scripts. fave episode: everest was also conquered. we taped and acted it out. i was 8 yrs old my brother 6 yrs old and sister 10. we met martin shaw in 1982. the best series ever for me and my dad still watches it at 88 yrs old since he got us into it. being brought up by just our dad he taught us about action and this was our fave series. keep it coming. as a quote from everest was.... "youve got to be mad to do this job or youd go insane". All the best!
懐かしい! 『スウィーニー』の次にハマったシリーズでした。コーレイ部長ことゴードン ジャクソン氏にとことん惚れた日々を思い出します。
Excellent series breakdown and super quality too (unlike the ITV4 copies lol). Thanks for posting.
that was wonderful, I was a young teen at the time and now enjoying these shows for a second time on CZcams aged 56
Brilliant retrospective. Loved it. Keep up the good work.
RIP Lewis my hero 😭 and Gordon Mr Cowley!.x
Amazing work with these retrospectives, hope you get around to completing the series.
Loved this show, the only drag in it, was often the Russian/KGB agents, Arabs and spies stories, which, I appreciate at the time, were still relevant, but pretty weak. The rest, any real criminal-linked stories were often spot-on and when the banter was right between Bodie and Doyle, that was a joy to the ear as well! Dated as it seems now, it's nostalgia of a forgotten era - in spite of which, I always preferred Collins to Shaw, who, went on to strength-to-strength in The Chief, Judge John Deed, Inspector George Gently and many other dramas. Collins should have moved on better in my view or as good as, but that didn't materialise. About the last, big, thing he did was the "Jack the Ripper" TV movie (1988) with Michael Caine, then sadly descended into that "straight-to-video" foreign action-movie ilk. RIP Lewis.
great show
I love this show the acting the cars I miss the realism of these shows.
Very favourite programe love Martin shaw
Soooooooooooooooooooo glad you chose to do series 2 man!!! great work!! would love to see you cover all the seasons!!!
That is the plan; the season 3 video is running a little behind due to another project that's eating up my time, but it will get there when it gets there.
Well done, Edward and thank you!
Best show ever made!! In my opinion anyway!!
I find you missed an opportunity by not doing a small review of each episode for season 2, as I find it the best season of the entire show. Episodes like Blind Run are just amazing even today. Great video tho, and I'm eagerly waiting part 3, 4 and 5. The Purging of CI5 and Mixed Doubles are up there with the greatest episodes in tv.
2:56 Cowley breaking that Scotch bottle was an unprofessional job...
You've done it again, brilliant!
Edward, thanks so much for putting together the stories on Series 1 and 2. I've gone through as many episodes as I could from what was available on YT, but I know there are gaps. When do you expect to release your synopses on Series 3 through 5? Look forward to seeing them.
It's Gut Instinct Grit well served by three excellent leads and loads of British top notch actors and production crew
Enjoying your vids, can't wait for your review of series 3 & 4 ;)
I think the best thing to do is to do one series at a time; because otherwise I will end up doing a massively long video for series 3+4 (series 4 alone is 15 episodes) and then a really short one for series 5. (Although I would also be covering what happened after the Professionals)
It wasn't because it was violent it's because it's the way the world was going even remember myself getting in trouble with the law but it was nothing to do with the professionals just love the professionals and all the actors
Do one for series 3 which I started watching again recently starting with Purging Of CI5 and then Backtrack.
Brilliant !!
Very nice footage well put together.. good job
one of my dream cars is that Ford Escort RS2000 as the base 1.6L version of that was sold in the PH at the time...
17.10 that's Bill, Jack Reagan's driver from the Sweeney😊
Am I the only one who wants to see more Professionals episodes rendered in Lego?
Would be time consuming, but if people wanted it I could maybe do a few more scenes...Kind of wanted each part to end with something different though.
Come one you cant leave us hanging!! Can you do season 3,4,5?
Great vid, lots I didnt know, professional geekery 👍
Excellent.best cop show ever
BUT A REALITY💥💥💥🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
I got them on DVD 😎
If that is the bluray quality of the clips, it makes it look like it was filmed yesterday with retro cars brought in.
If nothing else it takes me back to my late teens.
Lets go brandon
Great doc series 1 & 2 hope your working on season 3 for 2019? However I'm not sure there was a watershed in 1977/78? I was 7 and 8 years old during season 1 & 2, I never missed an episode, I remember it as Sunday Nights shown around 19.00 or 20.00 (7PM or 8PM) This was bath night and I was usually getting ready for bed when this was showing. as for the study of kids and violence on TV, It never made me a fighter or a trouble maker and I never had any problems with the law, In fact it taught me right from wrong. Keep up the good work.
Well, I had assumed that there was always a watershed; remember the infamous Sex Pistols interview where they swore at Bill Grundy live on air? That happened in '76 and Thames TV got in hot water as it was pre-watershed. Not sure I agree with the findings of Williams Belson; I get the feeling he was swayed by the prevailing moral attitudes of the time, and basically there was confirmation bias at play. The season 3 script is mostly finished, and I've started editing. Fingers crossed I can get it out before the end of the month.
@@edwardhunter7116 I remember that incident even if there was a watershed the programme was on before that as I used to see it before my bedtime at 21.00
Series 3 review please Ed...when will it be ready?
I was either 5 or 6 years old when it ran alongside starskey hutch. I flipped channels a few times then saw The Professionals. Objectively speaking it is a much better show.
Hard to find the series 2 full episodes on YT but some kind souls have uploaded many of the other series... Rekindling my childhood legends and cars lol
I own the remastered box set and boy does it look and sound great (like it was filmed yesterday) sliding over car bonnets in the scrap yard with my best mate ,arguing who's turn it was to be bodie...aaahh heady days...in with the bricks and mortar of my childhood.....as you would assume I'm a huge fan...I was too young to get to watch the sweeny although I would hear the intro in my bedroom...the professionals and minder were just great entertainment......only 3 channels back then but less was certainly more..
Dennis Spooner was a pretty great writer who worked on Dr Who as did lots of ATV writers
Great videos for both series 1 and 2. About time there was a review series like this for the show. Is there one for series 3? I'll be honest I slightly preferred your review of series 1 as I enjoyed listening to your thoughts on each episode.
One big improvement on Series 2 was the writing for Cowley. He was a bit too much og a stereo type in the first series. Became much more realistic as the series went on.
Anyway great work 👍
Are they on blue Ray? Looks so clean and not aged at all.
Great show loved the boys I'm British got the plot
Love 💘 one of the best shows ever lved all of them but bode oh my heart r.i.p. lovely scouser.
How do you have that high resolution, I watched them two years ago at old res and it looks fantastic in what you've got.
Hi..he is probably using the new dvd boxed set which has been painstakingly restored,..I myself own this set,whilst not cheap at around 50pounds...boy oh boy is it worth it...Looks like it was filmed yesterday. .a must for any fan lol..
RIP collins wap bodie for ewer
Didn't you do a Season One version of this too? I am sure you did, I can't seem to find it?
fine substitels !!
Are you going to cover the"CI5 The New Professionals" reboot?
Absolutely; I'm actually in the process of watching that series at the moment. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Colin Wells (Actor who played Sam Curtis) a few years ago and making a Professionals fan film with him and several other fans; he was very kind, generous with his time, and open about what it was like shooting on the show. The reboot was unfortunately a failure; (I don't think it was Colin's fault though) it was a little bit like the first series of the original run in 1977, in that they hadn't quite figured out the characters and there's an over-reliance on office scenes. There were some interesting ideas though, like making CI5 have an international remit, but they're on the whole not well executed. What really killed the series though was A) Lewis Collins turning down the offer to return in the series as an older Bodie leading CI5 as a successor to Cowley, (That would have really sold existing fans on the show a lot more) and B) The lack of a terrestrial TV deal in the UK, mainly because the series was made by David Wickes' independent TV/film company; Channel 5 were interested but turned it down in the end because they were being asked to pay exorbitant fees to broadcast each episode. Even if the reboot had been a great show in it's own right, it wouldn't have stood a chance being shown on Sky one and being cut to ribbons; it's a shame to see so much potential wasted, especially with Brian Clemens sadly passing away a few years ago.
Did you not mention Martin Shaw's insane hair?
Brilliant with a capital B..... Not sure why u only have 166 subscribers? Will you plz do the third and forth ps I own the plate UOO303T Which was a false plate I believe cheers
Well kids copy might just be old Mary weren't too far from the truth... Peace to All ☀️
Have they clocked Walker Texas ranger.... 🤗
Very uncomfortable capri s
15:30
One of my favourite episodes! But...it's an almost blatant rip-off / copy of episode 3 from the first season of Starsky & Hutch: www.imdb.com/title/tt0709503/?ref_=ttep_ep4 Even the plot twist in that show was copied! :-0 20:20 My other favourite.
'one' is pronounced *WUN* lurn it.
Amazing work with these retrospectives, hope you get around to completing the series.