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The Best Episodes of The Professionals

Every episode of The Professionals ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Professionals!

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The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    The Professionals Season 3 Episode 1 - The Purging of CI5
    8.2/10(172 votes)

    #1 - The Purging of CI5

    S3:E1

    CI5 and their agents find themselves under attack from a vendetta of bombings and assassination attempts. Bodie and Doyle are on a chase to find out who the perpetrators are before they end up as the next victims.

    Director:Dennis Abey
    Writer:Stephen Lister

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  2. The Professionals Season 5 Episode 1 - Foxhole on the Roof
    8.2/10(159 votes)

    #2 - Foxhole on the Roof

    S5:E1

    A post-operative ward in a hospital is held to ransom by a newly-released convict who plans to make a fortune, setting up his own foxhole at the top of a nearby building. CI5 hatch a plot to bring him down before he takes a fatal shot at the hospital.

    Director:William Brayne
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  3. The Professionals Season 1 Episode 7 - Close Quarters
    8.0/10(202 votes)

    #3 - Close Quarters

    S1:E7

    On leave from CI5 with a hand injury, Bodie takes a day trip with his girlfriend and finds himself face-to-face with the leader of a terrorist group. He captures him but then the rest of the gang arrive and trap Bodie and his girlfriend in a nearby vicarage, leaving him unable to alert his colleagues back at CI5 HQ. With barely any clues as to his whereabouts, Doyle and Cowley go on a chase through the countryside to try and locate Bodie.

    Director:William Brayne
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  4. The Professionals Season 2 Episode 1 - Hunter/Hunted
    7.9/10(181 votes)

    #4 - Hunter/Hunted

    S2:E1

    Cowley assigns Doyle to test a brand new high-tech laser beam rifle. But the rifle is stolen from his flat and the thief decides to 'test' it on Doyle, sending him on a cat-and-mouse chase around London.

    Director:Anthony Simmons
    Writer:Anthony Read

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  5. The Professionals Season 2 Episode 4 - Man Without a Past
    7.9/10(174 votes)

    #5 - Man Without a Past

    S2:E4

    Bodie is out at a restaurant with his girlfriend when a bomb goes off at their table, leaving her critically injured and several other diners dead. It's left to Bodie to find out who targeted him and why - until he realises he wasn't the target after all.

    Director:Martin Campbell
    Writer:Michael Armstrong

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  6. The Professionals Season 2 Episode 9 - Blind Run
    7.9/10(173 votes)

    #6 - Blind Run

    S2:E9

    Bodie and Doyle are assigned to protect a foreign official who is on a secret visit to Britain. But already possible enemy assassins appear to know his - and CI5's - every next move.

    Director:Tom Clegg
    Writer:Ranald Graham

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Professionals

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  7. The Professionals Season 5 Episode 6 - Spy Probe
    7.9/10(132 votes)

    #7 - Spy Probe

    S5:E6

    An organisation which hires killers to assassinate virtual nobodies on sight is infiltrated by Bodie and Doyle, who must find out who the perpetrators are and why, by going undercover and posing as potential hitmen themselves.

    Director:Dennis Abey
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  8. The Professionals Season 1 Episode 8 - Everest Was Also Conquered
    7.8/10(194 votes)

    #8 - Everest Was Also Conquered

    S1:E8

    A dying man's confession triggers the re-opening of a twenty-year-old case of police corruption, an investigation in which the main prosecution witness was murdered by the police officers who were supposedly trying to protect her. Somebody then decides to silence these officers, and sets about doing so.

    Director:Francis Megahy
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  9. The Professionals Season 1 Episode 9 - When the Heat Cools Off
    7.8/10(179 votes)

    #9 - When the Heat Cools Off

    S1:E9

    The daughter of a man inprisoned by Doyle six years ago when he was a Docklands policeman turns up, claiming to have new evidence which will exonerate her father. Doyle reluctantly agrees to reopen the case, but will his budding relationship with the girl cloud his judgement, and make even himself doubt whether he jailed the right man?

    Director:Ray Austin
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  10. The Professionals Season 2 Episode 8 - A Stirring of Dust
    7.8/10(155 votes)

    #10 - A Stirring of Dust

    S2:E8

    A British traitor returns to his homeland and must be found before his former colleagues, seeking vengeance for his past betrayals, go in search of his whereabouts.

    Director:Martin Campbell
    Writer:Don Houghton

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  11. The Professionals Season 2 Episode 10 - Fall Girl
    7.8/10(148 votes)

    #11 - Fall Girl

    S2:E10

    Bodie is re-acquainted with a former girlfriend when she shows up in London, and during a secret meeting with her finds himself framed for an assassination and then ultimately on the run from his own colleagues at CI5.

    Director:William Brayne
    Writer:Ranald Graham

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  12. The Professionals Season 5 Episode 7 - Cry Wolf
    7.8/10(128 votes)

    #12 - Cry Wolf

    S5:E7

    A young woman contacts the police, saying she is being stalked and is in fear for her life, but they think she is making the whole story up.

    Director:Phil Meheux
    Writer:Paul Wheeler

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  13. The Professionals Season 1 Episode 4 - Killer With a Long Arm
    7.7/10(204 votes)

    #13 - Killer With a Long Arm

    S1:E4

    CI5 become aware that an assassination plot on a group of visiting Greek Royals is being planned using a rifle that has a range of over two miles. But they must find out who is the gunman and what is his target - before it is too late.

    Director:David Wickes
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  14. The Professionals Season 1 Episode 5 - Heroes
    7.7/10(199 votes)

    #14 - Heroes

    S1:E5

    When a newspaper takes it upon themselves to irresponsibly publish a list of the names of witnesses to an assassination, it is left to CI5 to not only protect these people, but at the same time apprehend the killers before they strike again.

    Director:William Brayne
    Writer:Peter J. Hammond

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  15. The Professionals Season 2 Episode 5 - In the Public Interest
    7.7/10(175 votes)

    #15 - In the Public Interest

    S2:E5

    A virtual police state has been imposed by a local Chief Constable, resulting in a supposedly almost crime-free city. But that is because all the crime is taking place behind the scenes by the police officers themselves - who will think of nothing of imposing on suspects' rights in their pursuit of 'zero tolerance'. Bodie and Doyle become hunted men when they visit the city and begin to question the rather unorthodox methods of action taken by the local constabulary.

    Director:Pennant Roberts
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  16. The Professionals Season 4 Episode 5 - Need To Know
    7.7/10(127 votes)

    #16 - Need To Know

    S4:E5

    Cowley finds himself under suspicion when a former colleague of his is arrested for being a double agent. So just how deeply involved is the CI5 Chief?

    Director:William Brayne
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  17. The Professionals Season 4 Episode 12 - Mixed Doubles
    7.7/10(143 votes)

    #17 - Mixed Doubles

    S4:E12

    Bodie and Doyle are undergoing intense training in preparation for an assignment where they are protecting a foreign official...at the same time, two potential killers are receiving similiar training to prepare them for the assassination of the same official.

    Director:Roger Tucker
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  18. The Professionals Season 4 Episode 13 - Weekend in the Country
    7.7/10(145 votes)

    #18 - Weekend in the Country

    S4:E13

    Bodie, Doyle and their latest girlfriends are on a quiet weekend in the country when they unwittingly get caught up at a farmhouse siege in which they must try and escape from a group of gun-toting fugitives.

    Director:James Allen
    Writer:Gerry O'Hara

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  19. The Professionals Season 5 Episode 10 - A Man Called Quinn
    7.7/10(109 votes)

    #19 - A Man Called Quinn

    S5:E10

    A former colleague of Cowley's who is now a patient in a mental hospital reappears in London, going on the run when he believes that the KGB have drugged him.

    Director:Horace Ové
    Writer:Tony Barwick

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  20. The Professionals Season 1 Episode 2 - The Female Factor
    7.6/10(215 votes)

    #20 - The Female Factor

    S1:E2

    An Iron Curtain agent is using a young girl to extort secrets from, and ultimately destroy the career of, a future British Prime Minister, unaware that the girl is the long-lost daughter of a well-known local prostitute.

    Director:David Wickes
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  21. The Professionals Season 1 Episode 6 - Where the Jungle Ends
    7.6/10(200 votes)

    #21 - Where the Jungle Ends

    S1:E6

    A group of former comrades from Bodie's mercenary days reappear in England and in order to impress a top London gangster, carry out a violent raid on a local bank. It's left to CI5 to catch and stop the ringleader Krivas and his gang, reuniting Bodie with some of his old adversaries in the process.

    Director:Raymond Menmuir
    Writer:Brian Clemens

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  22. The Professionals Season 1 Episode 10 - Stake Out
    7.6/10(185 votes)

    #22 - Stake Out

    S1:E10

    A CI5 agent is murdered, leading to the discovery of a man who is dying as a result of plutonium poisoning. This links CI5 to a further plot involving the imminent explosion of an A-bomb at the same bowling alley. It's left to Bodie and Doyle to try and de-activate the fuse before it takes them and the whole of London with it.

    Director:Benjamin Wickers
    Writer:Dennis Spooner

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  23. The Professionals Season 1 Episode 13 - Klansmen
    7.6/10(162 votes)

    #23 - Klansmen

    S1:E13

    Members of a 'Keep Britain White' group go on the rampage in London, attacking the local black residents in an attempt at forcing them to leave the area...but two of the group members have an ulterior motive. Bodie is left seriously injured whilst Doyle joins the group undercover.

    Director:Pat Jackson
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. The Professionals Season 2 Episode 6 - Rogue
    7.6/10(162 votes)

    #24 - Rogue

    S2:E6

    A trial witness is murdered by a member of CI5, who then goes on and attempts to kill Cowley - his own boss. Bodie and Doyle find themselves battling against a man who is as well-trained as they are.

    Director:Ray Austin
    Writer:Dennis Spooner

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  25. The Professionals Season 3 Episode 5 - The Madness of Mickey Hamilton
    7.6/10(147 votes)

    #25 - The Madness of Mickey Hamilton

    S3:E5

    Years after a man's wife died and his child left brain-damaged following a series of blunders at the hospital they were treated at, he returns to finally seek revenge by systematically assassinating each of the same hospital's medical staff one-by-one.

    Director:William Brayne
    Writer:Christopher Wicking

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Best Episodes Summary

"The Purging of CI5" is the best rated episode of "The Professionals". It scored 8.2/10 based on 172 votes. Directed by Dennis Abey and written by Stephen Lister, it aired on 10/27/1979. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Foxhole on the Roof".