CI5: The New Professionals

CI5: THE NEW PROFESSIONALS is a show I wasn't aware of until I saw it pop up on a streaming site. It turns out to be written by Brian Clemens as a successor to the popular 1970s show, obviously made on a lower budgeted and slightly dumbed down in comparison to the original, but not without merit. The new cast is headed by a shouty Edward Woodward taking over the Gordon Jackson role, but the young actors are pretty bland in their roles. You do get action-focused stories with plenty of shoot-outs and explosions, and guest stars that include Don Warrington and Michael Brandon. Some of the storylines are better than others, a riff on the old 'missing kidney in the bathtub' urban legend being one of the more amusing in the show.

This Nineties update of a Seventies show is very enjoyable, although not as good as the original.The new cast take a few episodes to fit into their characters and Edward Woodward,excellent as he is, never matches the inventiveness of Gordon Jackson's Cowley.The first few episodes are very similar to the old series but the new crew develop a different and original style as the series progresses.Later episodes are more in the James Bond mould but boast impressive action sequences and an excellent score by Hywel Maggs and Chris Winter.As with the old series no one watches the Professionals for the writing but the spectacular action and the enjoyable interplay between the characters.

Whilst not as good as the old series this is considerably better than anything currently showing on British tv.The scripts vary in quality but when they work they are superb.The new CI5 is far more in the mode of the CIA and the new cast and characters are more plausible and free of the "loose cannon" attitudes that reduced the old series to caricature. The cast work hard to breathe life into their characters and the action sequences are superior to most movies(although they were needlessly cut for UK transmission).

Apparently, CI5 is no longer hiring members from the police or armed forces, and has started recruiting at modelling agencies. The plot-lines are ludicrous, the scripts are laughable and the cast, supposedly portraying the dangerous, highly-trained peak of global law enforcement, have all the menace of rice pudding and are about as attractive. A pathetic attempt to relive the original series of "The Professionals", this latest series is totally lacking any drama, suspense, wit or talent. George Cowley would eat this bunch for breakfast.

This series probably tries to capture some of the spark that BUGS had - two beefcake male leads, a spunky female sidekick, hi-tec gadgetry, and an added bonus of around-the-world locations. Well, the scripts were weak, the leads had to struggle with piss-poor dialogue and ludicrous situations - and the worst of it is - they were expected to take themselves seriously. Something that should have been a seventies send-up that ended up like a seventies remake.