Wednesday, November 4, 2020

THE PROFESSIONALS - "Stakeout" (1978)

"The Professionals" was a super cool British TV show that was on for five seasons from 1977 to 1983, and the Weird Wednesday part is unless you live in Europe, you most likely know nothing about it, and the only DVDs available are expensive and in a mode that you need an all-regions DVD player if you want to watch them.
CI5 were a group of highly trained individuals who worked on assignments so special, they answered to no one, hence the name "The Professionals."

"Stake Out" was episode number 10, and it aired March 3, 1978.
It's kind of funny that what was considered professional in 1978 would be viewed more as totally politically incorrect by today's standards! That's a big part of what makes it so much fun to watch!

Lewis Collins as Bodie was the one who had advanced military training and fighting skills. In 1964, Lewis was the drummer in a band called The Mojos, who released a song called "Everything's All Right," a song good enough that nine years later, it was covered by David Bowie!
Sadly, Lewis Collins passed away in 2013 at the age of 67 from cancer.

Martin (The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad) Shaw was Doyle, the ex-policeman and the one with the street sense of this real dynamic duo.

Gordon (The Quatermass Xperiment) Jackson is George Cowley, the only person Bodie and Doyle have to answer to.

The very swingin' soundtrack was created by Laurie Johnson, the man also responsible for the music in "The Avengers," "Thriller," and much more.

In "Stakeout," the boys are sent to a bowling alley to investigate some drug dealers, but stumble onto a much bigger and more deadly scheme.

 
Most episodes of "The Professionals" include a bevy of British birds, and this one is no exception!

Believe it or don't, but references to bowling have been found in ancient Egyptian diggings dating back five thousand years. The age of modern bowling dates back to 300 AD in Germany, and speaking of Germany, it's time for another shout out to Lord Litter for this marvelous discovery!

Despite being completely out of their element, Bodie and Doyle do their best to blend in!

If you take it seriously enough, bowling can be a very frustrating and challenging game!

In all the episodes I've seen so far, it's not often you find these two in an uncompromising situation like this!

And of course there is always a colorful cast of evildoers like these two characters!

Still trying to blend in, and still failing to do so!

Luckily, the boys get a break when they confiscate the camera of some perv in the bowling alley taking random pictures like this.

Okay, this has got to be one of the greatest story lines of all time, a miniature but very powerful atomic bomb hidden in a bowling ball bag!

There still might be hope, if we can just get the right wire clipped!

4 comments:

Randall Landers said...

Thanks!

EEGAH!! said...

Perfect!!

Lacey said...

Forr those of us a little more versed in 70s British imports, Gordon Jackson was also known as Angus Hudson, the butler in Upstairs/Downstairs, a sort of 1970s Downton Abbey.

EEGAH!! said...

I knew that I knew that face from somewhere, but none of his credits looked that familiar to me, but then I remembered that believe it or not, I used to watch "Upstairs, Downstairs," so maybe that was it. Thanx!

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