The Professionals (TV series) The Professionals (TV series) The Professionals is a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mark1 Productions for London Weekend Television (LWT) that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon Jackson as agents of the fictional "CI5" (Criminal Intelligence 5, alluding to the real life MI5). "The Professionals" was created by Brian Clemens, who had been one of the driving forces behind "The Avengers". The show was originally to have been called "The A-Squad". Clemens and Albert Fennell
The Professionals (TV series) Comic Strip" TV series produced a spoof entitled "The Bullshitters", featuring two characters called Bonehead and Foyle in an episode called 'Roll Out the Gun Barrel". Bonehead and Foyle returned to TV screens in 1993 in "The Comic Strip" one-off "Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown" alongside 'Shouting George from The Weeny' (Jack Regan from "The Sweeney"), 'Spanker' ("Spender") and 'Jason Bentley' ("Department S"'s Jason King). Peter Jackson's 1987 film, "Bad Taste", featured Astro Investigation and Defence Service employees "the boys", a Doyle and Bodie parody complete with Ford Capri. In 1996 Nissan cars ran a popular comedy