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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!

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...
Genres:Action & AdventureCrimeDrama
Network:ITV1

Top Episode Ratings Summary

"The Purging of CI5" is the best rated episode of "The Professionals". It scored 8.2/10 based on 147 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".

  • The Purging of CI5
    8.2/10147 votes
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    #1 - The Purging of CI5

    Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 10/27/1979

    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

  • Foxhole on the Roof
    8.2/10141 votes
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    #2 - Foxhole on the Roof

    Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 11/7/1982

    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

  • Close Quarters
    7.9/10168 votes
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    #3 - Close Quarters

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 2/10/1978

    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

  • Man Without a Past
    7.9/10156 votes
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    #4 - Man Without a Past

    Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 10/28/1978

    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

  • Spy Probe
    7.9/10117 votes
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    #5 - Spy Probe

    Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 12/12/1982

    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

  • When the Heat Cools Off
    7.8/10155 votes
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    #6 - When the Heat Cools Off

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 2/24/1978

    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

  • Hunter/Hunted
    7.8/10160 votes
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    #7 - Hunter/Hunted

    Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 10/7/1978

    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

  • Blind Run
    7.8/10156 votes
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    #8 - Blind Run

    Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 12/2/1978

    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

  • Fall Girl
    7.8/10129 votes
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    #9 - Fall Girl

    Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 12/9/1978

    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

  • Heroes
    7.7/10171 votes
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    #10 - Heroes

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 1/27/1978

    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

  • Everest Was Also Conquered
    7.7/10165 votes
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    #11 - Everest Was Also Conquered

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 2/17/1978

    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

  • In the Public Interest
    7.7/10157 votes
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    #12 - In the Public Interest

    Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 11/4/1978

    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

  • A Stirring of Dust
    7.7/10138 votes
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    #13 - A Stirring of Dust

    Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 11/25/1978

    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

  • Mixed Doubles
    7.7/10124 votes
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    #14 - Mixed Doubles

    Season 4 Episode 12 - Aired 12/7/1980

    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

  • Kickback
    7.7/10107 votes
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    #15 - Kickback

    Season 4 Episode 14 - Aired 12/20/1980

    Bodie and Keller, an old acquaintance from his days in the SAS, go undercover in order to trap a would-be assassin by posing as hitmen offering to do the job themselves - in order to fake the killing. But Keller turns out to have an ulterior motive.

    Director: Ian Sharp

    Writer: Stephen Lister

  • Cry Wolf
    7.7/10114 votes
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    #16 - Cry Wolf

    Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 1/9/1983

    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

  • The Ojuka Situation
    7.7/10102 votes
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    #17 - The Ojuka Situation

    Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 1/23/1983

    A sacked former African Head attempts to get reinstated in office using the help of the British Government, but the plan is sidetracked by one particular civil servant who now wants him dead.

    Director: Christopher King

    Writer: Dave Humphries

  • Killer With a Long Arm
    7.6/10177 votes
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    #18 - Killer With a Long Arm

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 1/20/1978

    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

  • Where the Jungle Ends
    7.6/10170 votes
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    #19 - Where the Jungle Ends

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 2/3/1978

    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

  • Stake Out
    7.6/10165 votes
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    #20 - Stake Out

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 3/3/1978

    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

  • Klansmen
    7.6/10145 votes
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    #21 - Klansmen

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 3/24/1978

    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: N/A

  • The Acorn Syndrome
    7.6/10121 votes
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    #22 - The Acorn Syndrome

    Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 9/7/1980

    The daughter of a British Government engineer who is working on a defence protect is kidnapped, and the only way she will be safely returned is if he agrees to betray secrets to enemy agents.

    Director: Martin Campbell

    Writer: John Kruse

  • Weekend in the Country
    7.6/10129 votes
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    #23 - Weekend in the Country

    Season 4 Episode 13 - Aired 12/14/1980

    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

  • The Untouchables
    7.6/10109 votes
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    #24 - The Untouchables

    Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 1/16/1983

    Bodie is offered the opportunity to clear up all his gambling debts by a foreign diplomat - who in exchange wants to have some vital secrets from CI5.

    Director: William Brayne

    Writer: Brian Clemens

  • No Stone
    7.6/10108 votes
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    #25 - No Stone

    Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 2/6/1983

    A young woman from a rich and successful family turns terrorist, shunning her wealthy background and the British Justice system which she now views as being corrupt. Important legal establishments located around London are targeted by the terrorist groups, who are planting several bombs at key points around the city.

    Director: Chris Burt

    Writer: Roger Marshall