The Professionals Episode Reviews – DVD set one


Jo:
I think its about time we moved on to the next episode, wouldn't you agree, folks? Since it was Heroes last time, by my calculations *g* that brings us up to Private Madness Public Danger. And as I clearly have nothing better to do with myself this bank holiday Monday (other than clean and bake, as I have been doing!) I'll kick us off.

Here goes:

Our opening character turns out to be today's Big Bad, Nesbit, sporting a Doyle-esque perm and living in what looks a terribly dingy little hole. You can tell this is the Baddie by the ominous background music, and the weaponry he is secretly hauling around as he gets in some target practice. He then turns up at the World Chemicals Sport Club and there meets a young girl who is watching water-skiing. She gives him some keys, he gives her drugs. Clearly trouble is afoot (well obviously it is or there wouldn't be a show, but still *g*)

Wonder how shocked the original viewers were about this girl wrapping a belt around her arm and preparing to shoot up.

After the credits we stick with Nesbit as he heads into World Chemical Products itself to interfere with a coffee machine. It is actually quite worrying how easily he gets away with this (and okay, its only TV, but imagine if this happened for real!). Nesbit makes a getaway, as a secretary fetches coffee for her boss. Cut to a board meeting, and Mr Miller turns up late, totally off his face, and dives out of the window.

CI5 make their first appearance of the day. Bodie and Doyle are getting in some shooting practice of their own, silently playing little games, competing ... until they are interrupted by Cowley who sends them off to investigate the events at World Chemical Products (despite their protests). Very cute. Half the staff at World Chemical Products are now off their faces, and the source is quickly tracked down to the coffee machine.

Susan the heroin addict pays a visit to Nesbit's dingy hole to retrieve her keys, but also to scream at him for what he's done. Its all so much bluster; there's nothing she can do. He throws her out. Back at the office, Doyle and Bodie already know she is the only person with keys to the coffee machine. Nesbit, meanwhile, phones a friend to deal with Susan: this guy, too, is unable to argue against Nesbit, his supplier. Doyle drives like a maniac over to Susan's (in a snazzy little blue car) and they see the heroin supplier coming out. Breaking in, Doyle, ex of the drug squad, quickly spots that she is high, and ... ouch, tastes the heroin, instantly realising that it is uncut and deadly. TV convention, I know, but annoying nonetheless.

As Susan is loaded up into the ambulance, there's a wonderful little exchange. Doyle: 'I'm going crazy.' Bodie: 'Won't get any argument from me.' Doyle realises that the man they saw coming out of Susan's house was a pusher, Eric Sutton, and takes off to look for him. Old connections are tremendously useful in CI5.

Doyle goes off and intimidates a whole bar full of people, and in a nice bit of misdirection hauls one fella off into another room for a 'private chat'. Out of sight, it becomes obvious they know one another - the other man, Benny, appears to be an undercover cop, who complains about his own operation being messed up but agrees to find Sutton for Doyle. With Doyle otherwise engaged, that leaves Bodie to deal with Susan, who is critically ill in hospital. Cowley tells him about the demand made to the PM, and you've gotta love the way the two of them interact.

Nesbit attaches a target to a tank floating in a reservoir (used for water sports) and then fills the tank with his drug - ADX. Poisoning a reservoir is still a terrifying idea today, so the threat is a tremendously menacing one. Cowley is onto the idea, though, and has to call in outside forces to begin checking on all reservoirs - CI5 doesn't have enough active agents to handle it internally. The agent sent to the reservoir Nesbit has already picked as his target is very familiar - he was later reincarnated as Burnside in the Bill. With the reservoir taken care of, Nesbit then cleverly distracts a barmaid and injects more drugs into a barrel of beer. Expect more bloodshed.

Betty gets in on the action, contacting Doyle with a message from Benny, and then informing Cowley of another demonstration by their Friendly Neighbourhood Poisoner. It is already too late to prevent it: the drugged drinkers are leaving the pub, and scenes of carnage on the roads ensue. Cowley is dismayed.

Doyle and Benny find Sutton at Benny's favourite bust, a strip club, timing their entry perfectly with curtain down, and a dressing room full of 'birds in a very singular state of disarray'. Bodie'd be disappointed to have missed out.

Cowley and Doyle interrogate Sutton, and the Cow in particular is very menacing. Doyle seems shocked by the lengths his boss is prepared to go to, but backs him up without question. He looks great - I like that outfit: blue shirt and black trousers. Meanwhile, Bodie is handling Susan remarkably well. Both Susan and Sutton come up with the same name: Nesbit.

As they all head for Nesbit's, they have a deadline to work to: 5.30 or a reservoir somewhere gets a gallon of ADX released into it. The three of them converge on Nesbit's but the canny crook manages to escape, shooting out their tyres. Cowley have to call in for a lift, and to report Nesbit's car - love how he automatically looks to Doyle for the registration, not even attempting to remember it himself. It is now 4pm. Doyle spots a waterski in Nesbit's workshop, and Bodie remembers that Susan also had one. Now, neither looks to me like the waterskiing type, but apparently that was how they met. The World Chemical Products Sports Club is on a reservoir - our intrepid heroes speed over there on a hunch, with fingers crossed. The agent later known as Burnside tells them that no one has been near. Cowley wants to leave; Bodie and Doyle want to check further and take off against orders, inciting Cowley's wrath. Nesbit is in the bushes watching and very cleverly steps on his radio: now he will never know if the PM makes the announcement or not. In despair, he shoots past them and a chase through the woods ends with Bodie shooting him in the shoulder.

Doyle realises that Nesbit wasn't shooting at them and spots the target on the ski ramp - it is linked to a timer on the oil drum filled with ADX. Bodie and Doyle are in a highly insubordinate mood and angrily haul Nesbit out in a boat to sort it out, leaving Cowley fuming on the bank. He radios in and asks for a hotline to the PM, then promptly leaves the man hanging on waiting while he stops to see what is happening. Bodie just dives in to find the bomb; Doyle stops to take his shoes off before joining him. Being right on top of the bomb, Nesbit is spooked enough to tell them how to disarm it and there are some tense moments before Bodie gets it disarmed. They then get a good chewing out from the Cow for disobeying orders although a warming shot of whisky takes the edge off. For Bodie, at least, who gets several mouthfuls to Doyle's one.

Ah, there are lots of lovely moments in this one. Just about every scene the lads are in together is a gem: they bounce off each other so well. And the scenes with Cowley are equally well done, demonstrating the differing dynamics between the characters. Overall, one of the better episodes, and one of my favourites.

Birgit:
I agree with everything, Jo. Wonderful ep. My favourite scene in this one (apart from the clingy wet trousers at the end) is Doyle and Benny arresting Sutton. Watch Doyle's face when Benny says "but he's not the police."

And: "Then why the handcuffs?"
"You look lovely in silver."

Great poetry, that. What did the interviewer say to Martin Shaw last week? Camp and kitsch. Yup. And I love every minute of it!

Karen:
Oddly I was just watching this one when this e-mail came through.

I get a bit distracted by Bodie's jacket as it sorta shimmers on my dvd screen ... (she says watching it doing just that!), and no matter how often I watch it I always think that wotsername is gonna throw up on Doyle's lap when she sorta keels over sideways. In his place I would have definitely moved! (on the other hand in hers I wouldn't ...!!)

It's not one of my favourites cos the hospital scenes with Bodie make me cringe a bit, I never see him as doing the "comfort" bit very well, and Bodie and Doyle are apart a lot which I don't like

However the bits where they're together are nice and I can never resist Martin Shaw soaking wet -- but we won't go there.

Sue W:
Oh, I remember that jacket, it throbs all by itself. Don't they warn newspeople not to wear houndstooth or checks, for that very reason?

I think Bodie does comfort pretty well, he's certainly used to handling clingy women thru his constant dating. Also, he knew he could get through to Susan by claiming to have run over her cat.

and Bodie and Doyle are apart a lot which I don't like.
Now, this I do agree with, and it happens a lot, take a great partnership and divide the guys up through way too much of the episode.

Birgit started this by saying that Public Madness, Private Danger was the next ep in line after Heroes. The original airing of Pros started off with Private Madness, Public Danger as the first ep aired as opposed to Old Dogs, New Tricks which was the intended first ep and screams 'pilot' when you watch it. I can't remember what the reasoning was behind this juxtaposition, but I think that airing Old Dogs first would've been a better decision.

Linda:
Thanks for starting us off, Jo. This is an episode that I've used to try to lure others into Pros because it has that hard edge that makes Pros different from Starsky and Hutch and other shows of that time.

The opening scene when Susan shoots up is realistic, none of the cliché junkie crap that saturated American TV at that time. Actually, the portrayal of Susan as a middle class junkie who manages to hold down a responsible job while maintaining a habit is still too realistic for American TV, which prefers to push the fantasy that drug addiction is confined to the poor.

Of course, being Pros, the realism is counteracted by the cliché LSD influenced jump out the window and Doyle's amazing ability to discern the purity of smack without a lab. And speaking of smack, how seriously can you take the head of CI5 saying: 'Get me a hypodermic and some heroin'? Why the heck does CI5 have 'the purest stuff' in the first place? Makes me wonder <eg>.

Other strange moments: Doyle with a switch blade after flashing his card? What sort of weapon is that for law enforcement? Also, Cowley's description of the person who wants to stop biological weapons as a 'nutty idealist' makes me wonder how right wing the TV audience was back when the episode was filmed. I'd like to think that today very few viewers think that biological weapons are okay and would be less than thrilled to think that their country was blithely manufacturing them.

All that aside, the biggest thing makes me wince is when Cowley says there's no time to seal the reservoir, the implication being that once the ADH is released it will immediately end up in the water system. Huh? Doesn't the UK treat their water before sticking into the pipes like the rest of the world? Someone needs to sit George down and explain how things work.

On the plus side: Bodie, Bodie's tongue, Bodie's sexy pink shirt (although you can see he's wearing a dark shirt under it, rather like the one Doyle is wearing). By the way they mouth off at the gun range you can see the lads are CI5's best team and have obviously been working for Cowley a while. Nice acting from Martin when Cowley is ready to shoot up Sutton. Interesting the way both Bodie and Doyle handle Susan with care.

Best line: "...plenty of girls think I should be put down."

Drinking: Both Bodie and Doyle.

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