The Professionals is a British action drama television series created by Brian Clemens and produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television which follows the exploits of three agents of the fictional CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5) law enforcement department, which deals with crimes of a serious nature that go beyond the capacity of the police.
The series aired in the UK on ITV from 1977-1983. There are 57 hour-long episodes in five seasons.
The Professionals premiered in South Africa on TopTV's Fox Retro channel on Friday 7 May 2010, at 19h45. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 5 premiered on Fox Retro on Friday 17 August 2012, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast weekly, preceded by a repeat of the previous episode at 19h40. There are 13 episodes in the fifth and final season.
Synopsis
This series chronicles the lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley.
The mandate of CI5 is 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, came 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 assigns the toughest cases.
Seasons
Series exclusive to Fox Retro
Season 1 (13 episodes)
Premiere: 7 May 2010 | Finale: 23 July 2010 | Fridays, 20h30
Season 2 (10 episodes)
Premiere: 30 July 2010 | Finale: 1 October 2010 | Fridays, 20h30
Season 3 (10 episodes)
Premiere: 5 November 2010 | Finale: 31 December 2010 | Fridays, 20h30
Season 4 (13 episodes)
Premiere: 18 May 2012 | Finale: 10 August 2012 | Fridays, 20h30
Season 5 (13 episodes)
Premiere: 17 August 2012 | Finale: 9 November 2012 | Fridays, 20h30