Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

The Professionals: MkI Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 27, 2014

Created and produced by Brian Clemens, The Professionals: MkI (1977-1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Network. The following supplemental features are included on the four-disc box set: documentary film with archival interviews; remastered music-only tracks featuring Laurie Johnson's original scores; restoration demonstration; reinstated original main and end titles; large collection of archival stills and photographs; and more. The release also arrives with a 180-page book of program notes authored by TV historian Andrew Pixley, which documents the complete production history of The Professionals. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for each of the show's thirteen episodes. Region-B "locked".

"Billy, Doctor Brook is coming out now."

Revisiting the first season of The Professionals on Blu-ray has been a special experience for me. This was one of only a few TV shows I followed closely back in the days, but because I frequently had to travel it wasn’t always easy to watch each episode. What made things even more complicated is that I was introduced to it quite some time after it had already premiered in the United Kingdom. It was many years later, when British label Contender released The Professionals on DVD, that I was finally able to see all episodes in the proper order.

Network’s new The Professionals MkI Blu-ray box set is quite the revelation. It contains the first thirteen episodes of the show which have been meticulously restored from the original negatives. More importantly, the audio has been fully restored as well. As a result, now each episode comes with a remastered as-broadcast mono track and a fresh 5.1 new mix. (Needless to say, that terrific intro with its catchy music theme now sounds better than it ever has).

So what makes The Professionals MkI good and why would one want to see it?

The show was created by Brian Clemens, one of the key figures behind the iconic The Avengers, and stars the late Lewis Collins, Martin Shaw, and Gordon Jackson. Collins and Shaw are Bodie and Doyle, two best friends and partners who report directly to Jackson’s “The Cow”, the man running the special unit CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), which has been created to handle risky situations before they get out of hand.

Each of the thirteen episodes focuses on one such situation. For example, in Private Madness, Public Danger a chemical warfare expert is planning to wreck havoc by contaminating London’s water supply, but Bodie and Doyle are quickly summoned by “The Cow” and ordered to stop him. In The Female Factor a prominent politician finds himself involved with a prostitute working for the KGB. The politician is then quickly compromised, but before he can seriously damage the reputation of his country Bodie and Doyle appear and fix the mess he has created. In Killer with a Long Arm a group of Greek radicals smuggle a super rifle that can hit a very small target from what seems like an improbable distance. But before they can use it “The Cow” again dispatches his boys and the Greeks are dealt with.

The one genuinely risky situation, however, is in Klansmen. In this episode the members of an underground racist organization are confronting black residents while a criminal group is causing all sorts of other problems. Bodie and Doyle quickly get involved with them and the outcome isn’t surprising, but there are some pretty shocking attitudes and revelations here that reportedly created a number of issues for the show’s creators after its initial run. (I’d rather not spoil the episode for you by explaining exactly why, but let’s just say that nowadays the bulk of the material in Klansmen would never even be scripted, let alone get funded and shot). In other words, while a few episodes may look a bit dated, the show is definitely not overly-sanitized -- it captures attitudes and emotions very much as they existed during the '70s.

The general tone of the show, however, is fairly relaxed. There is plenty of light humor in it -- it boasts a ton of excellent one-liners -- and it is shot with an obvious awareness of its budget limitations. Also, despite some concerns about Collins matching Shaw’s acting experience during the pre-production process, the chemistry between the two stars is outstanding throughout the entire show. Jackson is equally convincing as the limping old-timer who constantly needs a drink to numb the pain in his right leg.

A top-notch soundtrack created by Laurie Johnson complements the show. It blends catchy jazzy tunes, pop tracks, and very stylish '70s electronica. (Johnson also created the soundtracks for The Avengers and Stanley Kubrick’s classic film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb).

Each episode of The Professionals MkI is approximately fifty minutes long. On Network's Blu-ray box set they are grouped in the following order:

Disc One

1. Wild Dog with New Tricks
Directed by Sidney Hayers. Original ITV transmission January 13, 1978.

2. Long Shot
Directed by Ernest Day. Original ITV transmission March 10, 1978.

3. Where the Jungle Ends
Directed by Raymond Menmuir. Original ITV transmission February 3, 1978.

4. Killer with a Long Arm
Directed by David Wickes. Original ITV transmission January 20, 1978.

Disc Two

5. Heroes
Directed by William Brayne. Original ITV transmission January 27, 1978.

6. Private Madness, Public Danger
Directed by Douglas Camfield. Original ITV transmission December 30, 1977.

7. The Female Factor
Directed by David Wickes. Original ITV transmission January 6, 1978.

8. Everest Was Also Conquered
Directed by Francis Megahy. Original ITV transmission February 17, 1978.

Disc Three

9. Close Quarters
Directed by William Brayne. Original ITV transmission February 10, 1978.

10. Klansmen
Directed by Pat Jackson. Not transmitted on ITV.

11. Look After Annie
Directed by Charles Crichton. Original ITV transmission March 17, 1978.

12. Stake Out
Directed by Benjamin Wickers. Original ITV transmission March 3, 1978.

13. When the Heat Cools Off
Directed by Ray Austin. Original ITV transmission February 24, 1978.

Disc Four/Supplemental Features

15. Without Walls: The Professionals
16. Film Elements
17. Image Galleries
18. PDF Material

The Professionals: MkI Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted 1080/50i transfers, all 13 episodes of The Professionals MkI arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Network.

The high-definition transfers are encoded in 1080/50i, but they actually contain progressive frames. This means that there is absolutely no motion-judder whatsoever. To be clear, they are solid progressive transfers "locked" inside 1080/50i encodes. (The 1080/50i encodes are needed to retain the show's native speed).

The recent restoration of The Professionals MkI has produced impressive results. In fact, there are large portions of the show that now look simply unrecognizable -- clarity, image depth, and color saturation are simply terrific. A lot of the darker indoor footage looks particularly impressive. On the old R2 DVD release clarity and shadow definition are frequently quite problematic, while colors appear unbalanced. Macroblocking and noise can easily be spotted as well. None of these issues, however, plague the high-definition transfers. There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. (Some very careful corrections, however, have been applied). Edge-enhancement is not an issue of concern. Overall image stability is excellent. Finally, there are absolutely no damage marks, cuts, debris, or stains to report in this review. To sum it all up, all thirteen episodes of The Professionals MkI have solid organic looks that should please fans of the show.

(Note: Network's release is Region-Free. However, because the entire show is encoded in 1080/50i, which is a standard that is not supported in North America, it cannot be played by the overwhelming majority of native Region-A Blu-ray players, including the PS3 and PS4. This being said, there are a few Blu-ray players on the market that automatically convert 1080/50i content to 1080/60i or 1080/60p. If your player is capable of performing such conversions, you will be able to view the show on your North American TV set. All Region-Free players will automatically do the conversion described above).

The Professionals: MkI Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 (Mono). Network have also provided Music DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. There are optional English SDH subtitles for each episode.

I viewed the entire show with the lossy track. While I would have preferred to have the original Mono track as a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, I cannot say that I was disappointed. Depth and clarity are very good, there is a good range of nuanced dynamics, and the music is wonderfully well balanced with the dialog. In fact, there are more than a few action sequences where depth (for a mono track) is quite impressive. The new 5.1 track does open up all thirteen episodes quite well. During select action sequences separation is definitely more impressive, while the music sounds better rounded. The overall dynamic intensity is improved as well. There are no pops, cracks, hiss, audio dropouts, or distortions on the two tracks.

The Professionals: MkI Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: All of the supplemental features are placed on Disc Four.

• Without Walls: The Professionals - this documentary film features interviews with Martin Shaw (Doyle), Lewis Collins (Bodie), Brian Clemens (creator and producer of The Professionals), and director Martin Campbell, amongst others. The interviewees discuss the production history of The Professionals, some of the unique challenges the cast and crew members were presented with, the more controversial political overtones in the show, the show's sense of humor, the critics and the public's polarizing reactions to the show, etc. The documentary was produced in 1996. In English, not subtitled. (26 min).

• PDFs - PDF material featuring scripts and memorabilia.

• Music Tracks - remastered music-only tracks featuring Laurie Johnson's original scores. (See individual discs/episodes).

• CI5 End Titles - music only. (2 min).

• Series 1 Raw Titles - music only. (2 min).

• Series Ad Bumper - music only. (1 min).

• Everest Was Also Conquered Sequences - a look at some of the special effects used in this episode. Raw footage, without sound. Not subtitled. (2 min).

• Look After Annie: Extended Shot - music only. (1 min).

• 2012 Series 2 Titles Demo Split-Screen Comparison - a visual comparison highlighting the differences in quality between the unrestored and restored intros of The Professionals. Music only. (2 min).

• Galleries - large collection of archival stills and photographs.
  
  1. Old Dog with New Tricks - Anthony Andrews (3 min).
  2. Portrait Shots (5 min).
  3. Title Sequence (2 min).
  4. Old Dog With New Tricks (9 min).
  5. Long Shot (9 min).
  6. Where the Jungle Ends (8 min).
  7. Killer with a Long Arm (10 min).
  8. Private Madness, Public Danger (11 min).
  9. The Female Factor (9 min).
  10. Everest Was Also Conquered (11 min).
  11. Close Quarters (7 min).
  12. Klansmen (8 min).
  13. Look After Annie (10 min).
  14. Stake Out (3 min).
  15. When the Heat Cools Off (5 min)
  16. Merchandise Gallery (1 min).

• Book - 180-page book of program notes authored by TV historian Andrew Pixley, which documents the complete production history of The Professionals.

The Professionals: MkI Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

British distributors Network have literally given The Professionals: MkI a new life. I know how the show looked on DVD (and on VHS) and I can assure you that it has never looked this good before. This four-disc Blu-ray set also comes with a 180-page book of program notes authored by TV historian Andrew Pixley, which I found to be incredibly informative. Fantastic work. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. (The Professionals: MkII will be released on Blu-ray on September 29th. Click on the link to see our listing of this upcoming release).