Seventies crime series The Professionals to get the 007 treatment on the big screen

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:18 PM on 28th March 2011

Seventies TV hit The Professionals is to be revived for a movie version by the team behind Daniel Craig’s 007 films and Captain America.

The series originally starred Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins, who would inevitably bounce across the bonnet of a Ford Capri as they intercepted a gang of villains.

Now producers are promising to reinvent the concept to make ‘an exhilarating, emotionally-charged action-thriller that re-forges the seminal TV series for a new generation’.

Big screen comeback: Seventies crime series The Professionals is to be made into a film by the team behind 007 and Captain America

The film will see the return of British military-trained mercenary Bodie and former detective Doyle, who work for the covert security unit CI5.

Cast have not been announced but it will be filmed later this year.

Callum McDougall – the executive producer of Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace – and Richard Whelan, one of the executives behind the forthcoming Captain America, will produce the film.

Back in action: The film will see the return of British military-trained mercenary Bodie
and former detective Doyle, who work for the covert security unit CI5

Revamp: Film makers promise ‘the wit and fast-paced action of the original’ but plan to ‘reinvent it for a new, modern audience’

007 treatment: The producers of Casino Royale are behind the remake

The violent series – which also starred Gordon Jackson as CI5 boss
Cowley – ran from 1977 to 1983 and was created by writer Brian Clemens.

Whelan said: ‘To take this 70s TV classic and launch it on to the big screen is a dream come true.’

McDougall and Whelan’s company Eighth Wonder has teamed up with another production firm Lionsgate UK.

Lionsgate chief executive Zygi Kamasa said: ‘This production will combine the wit and fast-paced action of the original TV series but also completely reinvent it for a new, modern audience and we’re really looking forward to working with talented producers Callum and Richard on the film.’

Plans for a big screen version began in 2004 but negotiations broke down and the deal was abandoned.

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