The Professionals (1977)
The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.
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Episode 1 - Private Madness, Public Danger
Release Date: 1977-12-30Charles 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.
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Episode 2 - The Female Factor
Release Date: 1978-01-06An 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.
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Episode 3 - Old Dog With New Tricks
Release Date: 1978-01-13A gangster called Turkel devises a plot to free his brother from jail by taking hostage an important figure in authority. He is unaware, however, that the 'important figure' he has taken in is actually Cowley masquerading as the Home Secretary, with Bodie as his bodyguard and Doyle ready to pull the trigger on Turkel's brother.
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Episode 4 - Killer With a Long Arm
Release Date: 1978-01-20CI5 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.
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Episode 5 - Heroes
Release Date: 1978-01-27When a newspaper takes it upon themselves to irresponsibly publish a list of the names of witnesses to an assassination, it is left to CI5 to not only protect these people, but at the same time apprehend the killers before they strike again.
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Episode 6 - Where the Jungle Ends
Release Date: 1978-02-03A group of former comrades from Bodie's mercenary days reappear in England and in order to impress a top London gangster, carry out a violent raid on a local bank. It's left to CI5 to catch and stop the ringleader Krivas and his gang, reuniting Bodie with some of his old adversaries in the process.
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Episode 7 - Close Quarters
Release Date: 1978-02-10On leave from CI5 with a hand injury, Bodie takes a day trip with his girlfriend and finds himself face-to-face with the leader of a terrorist group. He captures him but then the rest of the gang arrive and trap Bodie and his girlfriend in a nearby vicarage, leaving him unable to alert his colleagues back at CI5 HQ. With barely any clues as to his whereabouts, Doyle and Cowley go on a chase through the countryside to try and locate Bodie.
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Episode 8 - Everest Was Also Conquered
Release Date: 1978-02-17A dying man's confession triggers the re-opening of a twenty-year-old case of police corruption, an investigation in which the main prosecution witness was murdered by the police officers who were supposedly trying to protect her. Somebody then decides to silence these officers, and sets about doing so.
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Episode 9 - When the Heat Cools Off
Release Date: 1978-02-24The daughter of a man inprisoned by Doyle six years ago when he was a Docklands policeman turns up, claiming to have new evidence which will exonerate her father. Doyle reluctantly agrees to reopen the case, but will his budding relationship with the girl cloud his judgement, and make even himself doubt whether he jailed the right man?
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Episode 10 - Stake Out
Release Date: 1978-03-03A CI5 agent is murdered, leading to the discovery of a man who is dying as a result of plutonium poisoning. This links CI5 to a further plot involving the imminent explosion of an A-bomb at the same bowling alley. It's left to Bodie and Doyle to try and de-activate the fuse before it takes them and the whole of London with it.
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Episode 11 - Long Shot
Release Date: 1978-03-10CI5 are assigned to protect a visiting American Ambassador from a renowned hitman called Ramos, who is hot on his trail. But after only one apparent assasination attempt at his life, Ramos appears to give up - only for him to turn up again at CI5 HQ itself.
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Episode 12 - Look After Annie
Release Date: 1978-03-17Annie Irving, an extreme left-wing preacher - and former flame of Cowley's - becomes the target of a hitman when one of her meetings comes to London. Cowley assigns Bodie and Doyle to protect her, unaware that the would-be hitman is right under his nose.
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Episode 13 - Klansmen
Release Date: 1978-03-24Members of a 'Keep Britain White' group go on the rampage in London, attacking the local black residents in an attempt at forcing them to leave the area...but two of the group members have an ulterior motive. Bodie is left seriously injured whilst Doyle joins the group undercover.