The Professionals: Difference between revisions

{{tropework}}

''[[The Professionals]]'' was a British TV action series made from 1977 to 1983. The show follows the adventures of [[Government Agency of Fiction|Criminal Intelligence 5]] (CI5) agents William Bodie, Ray Doyle, and their boss George Cowley. CI5 deals with serious crime beyond the capacity of the police, and are authorized to use any means (including illegal ones) to do so. Being a typical show [[The Seventies|of the times]], much of the action centres around girls, guns, car chases, and drinking. It was a major inspiration of the Japanese manga ''[[Appleseed]]'' and its sequels, such as ''[[Ghost in The Shell|Ghost in the Shell]]''.

* [[Do We Have This One?]]: [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Collins:Lewis Collins|Lewis Collins]], who played Bodie, actually ''qualified'' to join the SAS. He only remained an actor because his career made him too famous for covert operations.

* [[Ho Yay/Live Action TV/Ho Yay|Ho Yay]]: A long-time favourite for [[Slash Fic]] writers, even without [[Mr. Fanservice|Bodie and Doyle's]] tendency to [http://kiwisue.livejournal.com/69429.html?style=mine&mode=reply camp it up on occasion]. [[The Comic Strip Presents]] parodied this in "The Bullshitters", with 'Bonehead' and 'Foyle' resolving their burning sexual tension before the final shootout by [[Shirtless Scene|getting shirtless]] and snogging each other while rolling around in a pile of gravel.

* [[I Just Shot Marvin in Thethe Face]]: For "Professionals" their habit of [[Give Me a Sword|tossing loaded guns to each other]] is somewhat disturbing. On one occasion Cowley does this with a rifle, and when Doyle winces points out that he knew the safety was on. As a former soldier Cowley should have known that safeties can be unreliable.

{{quote| '''Bodie:''' "Permission to be admiringly insolent, sir. You're a brave old bastard."<br />

* [[Useful Notes/The Laws and Customs of War|The Laws and Customs of War]]: In "Mixed Doubles" both good guys and bad guys debate whether to use dum-dum bullets, despite the fact that the Hague Convention doesn't apply to civilian law enforcement.

* [[Not -So -Fake Prop Weapon]]: One episode centred around a gun used in a crime being dumped in the prop bin of a theatre company.

* [[Old -Fashioned Copper]]

{{quote| '''Cowley:''' "You hear me Mr Sutton? Names. A name. I don't suppose you fought in the war, Mr Sutton. No. I fought in several. The worst was against a... a barbaric race. But the British are nothing if not adaptable. We learned barbarism very quickly. We had a problem one day. Was the road ahead mined? We had prisoners but they wouldn't talk. So we bound them and made them lead the advance. They didn't think we would, not at first. But then the first man ahead was gone. Like that. An antipersonnel mine is a very nasty thing, Mr Sutton, very nasty. And then the second man. And the third. And ''then'' they talked. ''Then'' they knew we meant it. A shocking story. It shocked me at the time and it still shocks me. But it was necessary to save hundreds of lives, it was necessary. I'm willing to be shocked again if necessary. I'm going to hoist you with your own petard, Mr Sutton. I'm going to turn you into an addict. A crash course in addiction because we have access to the purest stuff. A craving, crawling do-anything-for-money junkie. Look at me Sutton. Look at me! Remember the road that was mined. Do you have any doubt at all that I intend doing what I say?"}}

** ("In The Public Interest") Bodie and Doyle go undercover when a gay youth counselling centre is attacked by masked men. [[Ho Yay/Live Action TV/Ho Yay|They don't behave any differently towards each other than they normally do.]]

[[Category:TheTV ProfessionalsSeries]]

[[Category:TropeLive-Action TV of the 1970s]]