Two of the most liked British shows of all time are now in the works to get their own theatrical movie I looked at one of those in my last review The Sweeney. Today I am going to look at the other show The Professionals CI5. The Professionals was created by recently awarded O.B.E Brian Clemens best remembered in the U.S. for as the creator the Avengers and featured Lewis Collins as Bodie
, Martin Shaw as Doyle
, and Gordon Jackson as Cowley
. The show had a simple premise CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5) is a law enforcement department, instructed by the Home Secretary to use any means, which deals with crimes of a serious nature that go beyond the capacity of the police, but are not tasks for the secret service or military. It was ITV's response for the Sweeney and very simular to Starsky and Hutch. The episode I am looking at today is the story the Klansmen which is the one episode that has been banned from being shown on tv since it originally aired back in 1977. While the episode features no noticable guest stars from what I can see however beyond that factor it is one of the best episodes to give an explanation of the series and what sets it apart from other shows. For the benefit of readers who have not seen the episode, I have given a detailed synopsis of the story below. PLEASE NOTE I have pointed out various aspects of the script – not because I agree with them, but simply to illustrate exactly why LWT felt uncomfortable with it. The Klansmen The story opens with a middle-aged black couple, the Culvers, having their furniture thrown into the street by two white thugs intent on evicting them. Mrs Culver is sobbing and her husband is helpless. Despite the fact that a crowd has gathered to watch, nobody is willing to come to his aid. However a smart Mercedes suddenly draws up and a young black man steps out. We later discover he is a lawyer by the name of Zadie (played by Trevor Thomas. He orders the thugs to return all the furniture back into the house and pay for any breakages. One of the thugs, Dinny (Tony Booth), turns on Zadie: "You wanna mix it with me, nigger?!". Zadie, cool and unflinching, replies that he has obtained a court order to prevent the eviction and that as 'nigger' is simply a deformation of 'negro', the term does not offend him. This retort winds Dinny up even more and he threatens to thump Zadie - who in turn happily invites the thug to take a swing: after all there are plenty of witnesses! Dinny and his mate, Merv, decide they are beaten and start to replace the furniture. Zadie reassures the Culvers and then drives off. However one of the spectators, Hulton (Edward Judd), approaches Dinny and invites him to join his "Empire Society", a small local establishment devoted to the ousting of coloureds. Later Dinny phones his boss, Mr Miller, to explain what happened at the Culver's house. Miller tells Dinny and Merv to join the Empire Society, much to Dinny's surprise. That evening Hulton and his mob, dressed intraditional Ku Klux Klan white robes and hoods, pay a visit on Zadie, throwing a brick through a window and erecting a huge wooden burning cross in his front garden. Zadie runs outside to challenge the men but there are too many of them and he comes under physical attack. Zadie's white wife Helen (played by Sheila Ruskin) witnesses the scene and screams abuse at the men as they run away. Opening Credits Roll Next day the incident comes to the attention of Cowley and, as a man who has seen and been appalled by much racial hatred in his time, decides to send Bodie and Doyle in to investigate. Bodie thinks this is a waste of CI5 resources: after all "all they did was plant a cross in a spade's garden". Cowley reacts furiously to this remark, warning Bodie not to use that term again, then sends the lads on their way. They go to interview Zadie and Bodie is plainly aghast when he sees that his wife is white. Zadie notices this but Bodie clumsily tries to cover up his feelings. However shortly after leaving Zadie's home, Bodie expresses to Doyle his resentfulness at the fact that a "spade" should own a nice, large house and drive a brand new Mercedes. Doyle, like Cowley, rebukes Bodie for making such remarks. The lads then go on into the area of the town where the tenants live and try to make further investigations. At the same time a young black man by the name of Arty has discovered an accounts book with some information in it that he thinks Zadie should be made aware of. However before he can speak to Zadie, he is cornered by the hooded Klansmen and pushed off a rooftop, falling to his death. The lads arrive on the scene and Bodie tries to investigate the death by questioning some black youths. However they don't take kindly to this and when Bodie threatens to take one of them, Tommy, in for interrogation, they stab him and leave him for dead. Fortunately Bodie is able to radio for help. On the way to hospital in an ambulance Doyle wants to know who was responsible and Bodie manages to gasp "Tell Cowley a spade did this - a dirty black spade". On arriving at hospital, Bodie has lost so much blood that he is now in a very demented state and goes beserk when he sees that the doctor who will be treating him is black. "Get off me, you black bastard!". The doctor manages to administer an injection which subdues Bodie into sleep. In the meantime Hulton has called a meeting of the Empire Society to express his fury about Arty's murder: although he doesn't completely disapprove of the action, he fears that to take such extreme measures might make the white population turn against the Society. He demands to know which members of the group were responsible for the death but nobody owns up. The second item on the meeting's agenda is Zadie and a decision to step up further the crusade against him: "Let's go scare the arse of that flash nigger lawyer!". Doyle, suspecting there might be another attack on Zadie, is watching in the bushes when Hulton's men (again, dressed in the familiar white Klansmen attire) arrive. Zadie, inside the house, hears the doorbell and opens the door to be greeted with a tin of white paint thrown over him: "Now you're as white as that wife of yours!" bellows the disguised Hulton. On hearing the commotion, Mrs Zadie runs to her husband's side only to be drenched in paint herself - but this time it is black: ".... and you're the same colour as him!" Hulton roars before the whole gang turn and run off. Doyle, seeing that the Zadies are unharmed, follow Hulton's gang as they retreat to the safety of the Empire Society building. On seeing the name of the club, Doyle quickly realises what is going on and informs Cowley. In the meantime Bodie remains in a poor state at the hospital and his demented outbursts continue. They are overheard by a young black nurse and she is visibly upset but nevertheless continues to attend to his wounds. Doyle suggests he goes undercover and joins the Empire Society. By staging a racially-motivated fight with black CI5 operative Jax in front of Hulton, his invitation to join the society is soon forthcoming. At yet another meeting that night, he not only plays along with the groups' attitudes but actively encourages them to take much more extreme measures - "I've got a shotgun in my car!". Hulton is appalled by this and rebukes Doyle, explaining that is is not the group's intention to murder anybody. "What about the guy on the roof, though?" Doyle excitedly points out. The group go out on one of their hooded jaunts and we see Dinny telephoning somebody: "There's a guy here with a shotgun.... should make a nice connection!". Shortly afterwards a middle-aged black man is gunned down by a Klansman. In the meantime the rest of the group are daubing racist slogans on the walls and garages of several tenants' houses. The dead man was, in fact, Zadie's business partner, Carter, and Cowley is now very worried. In the meantime Doyle visits the Empire's office and, on the pretence that he has been summoned by Hulton, searches the various filing cabinets and desks. But Hulton himself turns up unexpectedly with Dinny and Merv and the three of them, catching Doyle rifling the office, beat him senseless - his injuries are appalling but he remains conscious. The three interrogate him and he convinces them that he is working as a freelance reporter, trying to find out more about the Society so he can publish an article in a local black newspaper. Dinny and Merv then pile Doyle into their car and dump him at a nearby water-tower - ironically the same place at which Bodie was knifed. Doyle lapses into unconciousness. A little while later the young kid Tommy turns up at the tower to play with his tennis ball and racquet. He discovers Doyle and administers food and water. Doyle manages to struggle to his feet and slowly start to recover, but his bruising is horrifying! Tommy tells Doyle about Bodie being knifed and Doyle explains that he is after the men who have been tormenting and murdering the blacks in the area. Tommy explains that he thinks Arty might have been murdered because of a robbery he pulled at the offices of Mr Miller, the property owner. It seems that Arty had discovered the account book contained some figures in it that would incriminate Miller. Yet witnesses had described seeing Klansmen running away fom the rooftop, so they would be Hulton's men, not Miller's. Doyle happens to find Jax and asks to borrow his gun. Jax, shocked by Doyle's condition, contacts Cowley and arranges for him to meet Doyle at Miller's offices. Although still in a bad shape, Doyle arrives at the building before Cowley and discovers Dinny and Merv - who are two of Miller's employees, of course. He manages to overpower and tie them up - with Tommy as 'back-up'! A quick search of the offices reveals that the reason Miller wants the tenants evicted is so that he can sell the land for redevelopment and make a quick fortune. Interrogation of Dinny throws up a more pressing problem, though. It seems that Miller has arranged for some other men to murder Zadie that evening. Miller thinks that with Zadie out of the way, he will be able to carry out his evictions. Leaving Tommy with Jax's gun, Doyle rushes off, asking the youngster to explain things to Cowley when he arrives. Tommy: "This Mr Cowley - is he white or black?", Doyle: "Hmmm.... I never thought to ask!" At around the same time Zadie receives a phone call from the tenant Mr Culver saying that some men have come back to his house to try to throw him out again. Zadie sees this as an ideal opportunity to land Miller in court and, grabbing various legal documents, heads for Culver's house. However when he arrives he discovers the house is intact and that men are actually Klan members waiting to kill him: Culver had been forced into making the telephone call. Doyle arrives and is forced to shoot the men when he sees Zadie is just about to be killed. Zadie, grateful to Doyle, expresses his distaste for the men: "White trash!". However removing the hood of one of the men reveals that he is actually black!?! By now Cowley has arrived at Miller's office and discovers young Tommy guarding the bound Dinny and Merv. Cowley gets Dinny to phone Miller to ask him to come to the office. Dinny, a "dyed-in-the-wool black-hater" has never actually met Miller, merely spoken to him on the telephone. So he is absolutely shocked to discover that when Miller arrives, he himself is black! It would appear that Miller had decided run his tenants out of town by using Hulton's Empire Society as a cover - with Miller's men dressed in Klan robes, they would naturally appear to be associated with Hulton! It was Miller's men, not Hulton's, who had murdered Arty and Carter and had just tried to kill Zadie. By now Bodie has recovered well and we see him thanking the doctor who has just saved his life. He also apologises for his behaviour. But to top that, Doyle is amazed to see his partner strolling off hand-in-hand with the young black nurse who treated him. A bit envious of this, Doyle declares to Jax: "Right, now we start our campaign.... to get rid of some of these damned whites!" It is easy to see why they never showed this episode despite being one of the strongest episodes of the series it is the most controversial. They show just how far they are willing to go with violence, words, and more without stopping. While Bodie is never portrayed this way again in the series because the producers thought it was bad for the characters image. One bizarre aspect of the whole situation is that prior to filming, all episode scripts were sent to LWT for 'vetting'. At this stage they could request changes to the scripts, if they felt these were necessary. Amazingly 'Klansmen' was given the 'OK', apparently with no change requests at all. So Mark 1 naturally went on to actually film it. It was only AFTER filming had completed and Mark 1 had wrapped up the first season that LWT suddenly decided that the episode was unacceptable. Brian Clemens has said that had LWT notified him in time, he would have happily adjusted the script to appease them. But I suspect the fact that Mark 1 had all "gone home" and, consequently, various members of the cast and crew were not available, then re-shooting was not possible. To be fair, I must add that Lew Collins himself was not very happy with the episode and, judging by his remarks in the Channel 4 documentary, was probably relieved when it got pulled! However despite the controversial episode about the content in this episode. This is what The Professionals show was all about. The Professionals on more than one occassion was willing to go where The Sweeney was not willing to even touch which is amazing considering the amount of violence on The Sweeney. Over the top acting, unbelievable action sequences, and great stories with alot of one liners in it "You may be bigger than me, Bodie, but you're not tougher.... at least not when I've got this gun!" Cowley "It's time to kick ass and chew bubble-gum." Bodie It is what sets this show apart from others and why 30 years after the fact it is still remembered today. The show is also unintentionally funny because of the onscreen chemistry of Bodie and Doyle partnership can leave different views of a what people may think of them just ask the people of Comic Strip Presents. The Bullshitters: Roll Out The Gunbarrel was a spoof of The Professionals, first broadcast in 1984 on Channel 4. Although it was made by many people behind The Comic Strip, it did not feature the Comic Strip logo and is not considered by some to be part of the series. However, it was included in the Comic Strip DVD box set (2005), and its lead characters Bonehead and Foyle reappeared in a later Comic Strip episode, Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown. The Bullshitters When Commander Jackson (Robbie Coltrane), head of DI5, hears that his daughter Janie has been kidnapped and held for ransom, he has to call in ex-agents Bonehead (Keith Allen) and Foyle (Peter Richardson) to save her. Since being kicked out of DI5, Bonehead works at a TV Tough Guys School, teaching others the "rules" of being a TV tough guy (such as not locking your car because you need to get straight back into it), and Foyle is now an actor on stage. Jackson blackmails the two into working together. It's time for Bonehead and Foyle - the flashiest, fastest and most under-dressed detectives to be kicked out of DI5 to get back to work. With a Magnum in one hand and a bus pass in the other, the Bullshitters set out to track down the criminals and get some good close-ups. However, as every good TV cop knows, not all is as it seems, especially Bonehead and Foyle's relationship with each other - is there a reason they wear so little clothing around each other? Quite honestly you know you did something great when they are making fun of your show. DVD Box Set Overall D Now while the content itself is great the source material they used for the transfer is terrible and the lack of special features makes it worse. This is not the worst i have seen for DVD release but this is up their in the top fiveworst releases I have laid my eyes upon and can safely only get this set if your a true fan of the series. While The Professionals is not for everybody it is very easy to fall in love with it like I have and definately good for few unintentional laughs. I highly recommend the series just not the DVD release.
Today I am taking an in depth look at Shout’s new Max Headroom The Complete Series release. To be upfront I have never seen this show before today, but I am very familiar with some of the actors in the show and the background of Max Headroom. Max Headroom was originally concieved as an idea that Channel 4 a relatively new station in the U.K. then was looking for an innovative way to connect music videos together using a host. Channel 4 however wanted a single episode to introduce the character and his background before the music show premiered. So with the help of funding from HBO, Channel 4, and another benefactor the telefilm was produced. Max Headroom ended up being an innovative worldwide phenomenom. The original UK telefilm premiered on Channel Four on 4 April 1985. A few days later the Max Headroom Show premiered in the UK. So how does Max get from the U.K. to the U.S. the creators were given a call by Coke wanting to use the character to promote New Coke and save it from failing. Max ended up being on every TV screen across the U.S. making one of the most interesting ads in years and way ahead of its time. At that time ABC was in third place of network rankings and looking for something innovative to draw new viewers in. One of the execs was shown the telefilm from Channel 4 and they realized they could make a series out of this using the British Show as template bringing in the core crew of the original film they didn’t need much more. The US series premiered on 31 March 1987. The show featured American actor Matt Frewer as Edison Carter/Max Headroom, British actress Amanda Pays as Theora Jones
, and British actor William Sheppard as Blank Reg 
returning from the British Telefilm and Jeffrey Tambor as Murray
, George Coe as Ben Cheviot
, Chris Young as Bryce Lynch 
as new actors for the U.S. show. Edison Carter is the top investigative reporter in television his reports brings in ratings every station dreams of having and which ever station controls the ratings controls the world. Carter is sent out to investigate a strange explosion that happened inside an apartment complex. The moment Carter arrives on the site the plug is pulled on the assignment from the top. After the incident Carter fires his controller and in walks Theora Jones as his new controller. Carter doesn’t understand why a microwave explosion would cause such an uproar . With the help of his controller he investigates further into the situation and finds out more than he bargains as a result he ends up having a conveinant accident at the hands of a mysterious kid Bryce Lynch who somehow has involvement with Channel 23. The station realizing his ratings potential agrees to an expiramental project that will transfer Carter’s mind into a 3-D Cgi character from head up, but with a personality of his own which ends up becoming Max Headroom a host for the station. With Max having Carter’s mind blow the lid on the station’s secret? Story A I am looking at this show with a fresh perspective and it is amazing the time frame they put at in the future and how accurate it is in today’s world. Even with the limited technology at the time they really pull this off . The first ep is a remake of the British Telefilm, but with certain scenes changed and actors for the U.S. show. Is it better? In my book it is. The British version is one episode leaving you asking for more with a somewhat loose ending. Max also appears more in the first episode in the U.S. Version. Any bad things about the U.S. version well certain effects were taken straight from the U.K. version that could have been done better by then for the U.S. show. The U.K. telefilm is still good and definitely worth a watch because it the U.S. episode slightly beats it on a narrow margin mainly because of more scenes with Max and a slightly better supporting cast. What I like about the U.K version it is darker than the U.S. version. Video A-C depending on the episode you watch I really hate it when a company releases DVD’s where not all the episodes meet each other’s quality and Max Headroom suffers from this fate as well. The first episode looked perfect and then the second episode didn’t even come close to the quality of the first episode. The rest episodes of the box set are like this as well and vary in quality. So it does not look like any restoration was done unfortunately for the set. Special Features B+ • Live on Network 23: The Story of Max Headroom • Looking Back at the Future • The Big-Time Blanks • The Science Behind the Fiction • The Writers Remember • Producing Dystopia Its about 2 hours worth of special features for the boxset not bad for a show over 20 years. Interviews with the cast and crew except Matt Frewer odd enough. The only thing missing from this set is Channel 4’s telefilm, the Coke commercials, and two times Max interrupted WGN and WTTW television transmission’s in the late 80’s. One of those times Max interupted the Doctor Who serial of Horror of Fang Rock. Either way I am not going to complain much the release does gives us a lot and does not leave out much. Overall B+ A release well worth the pickup failing really only on the video side of it on some levels It would be interesting to see this show remade into a new series or movie today with Ipods, Cellular Phones, Internet on the level it is, and more Max would finally be able to be made at a level it deserves. Max Headroom – Jim Carrey 
Theora Jones- Michelle Ryan Murray- Jeffrey Tambor
