CI5: The New Professionals

CI5: The New Professionals was a series which most fans waited for since the original's demise in the early 1980s.

While audiences have become more sophisticated in the last 18 years, the new series takes a backward step, with writing and scoring that are childish at best. The show's creator, Brian Clemens, fails to take into account numerous developments in the original, and the new 37 and 45, Curtis and Keel, lack the initiative of their predecessors. To the seasoned Professionals fan the pair appear stupid in Clemens's scripts. The only able agent, Backus, is forever stuck at headquarters (much like Ruth being Cowley's chauffeur). The performances are also weak: at times Edward Woodward, as Malone, is dictating, and not acting, his lines: this is his worst performance since that crimes documentary he did a few years back. Curtis and Keel are simply too soft-looking; remember that Bodie and Doyle were hard men who had seen plenty of action as a mercenary and a top police officer.

Of the first three Clemens stories, the plots are tolerable, but their execution is marred. (I have yet to see one not scripted by Clemens, so I hope they get better.) The new electronic score fails to build any of the tension of Laurie Johnson's original (which was edited to fit the scene, and not composed for each episode). Even the titles look silly (the same size of type used for both name and role or position).

For a series that was promised to be as streetwise and gritty as the 1970s originals, it fails miserably and is on the verge of a parody. Fans will be disappointed.

It's not as bad as it could have been.

I was expecting it to be utterly unwatchable, however, surprisingly, it was really not a great deal worse than the original.

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.

Stared watching on Amazon because I used to love Edward in the Equaliser in my youth but this show is just painful despite giving it the usual allowances of it being an old show. Who knows if I watch the Equaliser now perhaps, I will think the same thing. I remember Edward being a good actor but in this show at first pass I just thought every actor was beyond bad. On reflection though I do not think it is the actors at all and more the dialogue that just makes everyone seem extremely wooden and fake.

A lot of shows of the time had a high level of 'cheese' which is not necessarily a bad thing, but this paired with the corny dialogue takes it to level that meant I stopped watching halfway through season 1. I say this as someone who has an obsessive compulsion to finish what I start but in this case I failed! I don't like reviewing without giving any positives, but I just cannot think of any.

The original late 70s / early 80s "Professionals" was all British, politically incorrect, often mindless and frequently placed more emphasis on gunfights and loud explosions than it did on character development. Yet strangely this was part of its appeal and it was (and still is) hugely popular all over the world. The "New Professionals" tries to be a more international and more politically correct show than its predecessor, and that's its main downfall. Two of the main four characters are Americans - one can only assume that these characters were cast with one eye on the American export market. We also now have the male head of CI5 reporting to a female minister and a young and savvy "anything the boys can do I can do too" female sidekick on hand to get the two main (male) leads out of assorted sticky situations. In short, like so many other modern series, pandering to the politically correct lobby. This wouldn't be so bad if the plots weren't so thin and the dialog so weak and corny. "Who are CI5?" asks an FBI man in the pilot episode. "They're the best", replies his colleague, sounding suitably impressed. And so it goes on. A shame - the idea of continuing the CI5 story was a good one. Shame that the end result was such a let-down.