Lewis Collins Hands In His Gun

CI5's finest: Shaw, Jackson, Collins

When I was a teenager in the late '70s, there were only two questions about tv series The Professionals that needed answers:
(1) "Who's the Coolest Pro on the show?" and
(2) "How can I save enough to buy that car?" (a 3L Ford Capri).
For me, The Coolest Pro was always 'Bodie'. No disrespect to Martin Shaw, but his character 'Doyle' was more like a ponse trying to be staunch, especially with that bubble perm hairstyle. No, Da Man was only ever 'Bodie', played by Lewis Collins (though ironically, before he began acting, Collins was a hairdresser!).
UK action series The Professionals ran 1977-1983, and followed Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5, and their controller, George Cowley (played by Gordon Jackson). Their mandate was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Bodie was a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper/mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while Doyle came from the regular police force and was more of an open minded liberal. Tough, funny, a hit with the ladies and, more often than not, the man who came to the rescue if things looked in danger of going belly-up.
Yeup, Bodie was Da Man.
Sad thing is: post-Professionals, it was Shaw who went on to considerable success in his career, while Lewis all but disappeared (aside from a starring role in the SAS movie Who Dares Wins).
Still...remember him as Bodie, Da Man, smashing his Capri through stacks of cardboard boxes and saving Britain from the bad guys.
[Collins has died of cancer, at 67.]