Desperately routine knockabout stuff with cumbersome direction by Tom Clegg - the weakest story of the second season, IMHO.

The plot premise is a non-event but it's interesting to see Cowley deliberately placing his boys in great danger - "Why did Cowley shake our hands?" / "Because we're expendable?"

The action scenes are pretty routine, too, though the boat scenes include some good stuntwork. But there is too much tedious driving around from one place to another.

The script does contain a smattering of witty one-liners, though – and calling the big bodyguard "Tinkerbell" was inspired!

It's not clear why Doyle can't reach Bodie on the R/T – presumably he was out of range?

One plot flaw at the end: the team seem to get away far too easily – even though Tinkerbell got in the way, surely the enemy agents could have easily caught up with Doyle, Leila and Hanish?

Overall a pretty dumb episode.... I'm on Philippa's side!

Best opening ever – ok, so I enjoyed seeing Bodie's tummy in the "sun salute" (any bit of Bodie-skin is to be cherished) but also the way the three actors use their eyes, the angle of camera and the dialogue make this a quality moment. Cowley's evasive gaze sets the tone for this, the first of the "betrayal" stories.

While we're never really clued into the murkier areas of the plot, it doesn't matter because what does matter is that when Doyle gets in trouble, Bodie goes to save him and when both men manage to pull the situation out of the soup, Cowley finalizes the rescue. This is a pattern we'll see again.

The first gunfight is a marvel of action choreography. Well done!

Notice at the first house when Doyle is talking to "Houseman" on the R/T how Bodie kind of flinches and then has difficulty keeping a straight face. Something happened out of sight of the camera.

I like Doyle in the second house – he's angry, scared, without Bodie and therefore very offensive. The "subtitles" line is a classic.

The scene shot through the broken windscreen of the boat is good – when they both realize they've been played for patsies and then decide to carry out the mission anyway and find out what's at the bottom of it. Excellent partner stuff! Watch their faces closely. One wonders what might have happened if Cowley hadn't brought them back. They are not happy with TPTB.

Only one "blooper" ever aired out of Pros, which amazes me. But it takes place as Doyle enters the van and Bodie starts it up before MS was fully settled. If you watch very carefully, you can see Doyle fall out before the film cuts to the bad guys. <G> I'm sure MS was pleased with Lewis or whoever was actually driving!

On older copies watch what Bodie says at the very end when the sound is cut. (He can't remember Phillipa's phone number)

All in all a very rewatchable episode.

Hanish is collected at the King George V docks. However this site has since been redeveloped and is now barely recognisable from the episode.

The tunnel shoot-out was filmed at Ellesmere Avenue, Mill Hill (Thanks to Rob Hampton).

The first safehouse is Ockwells Manor, Ockwells Road, Maidenhead.

The second safehouse is actually two separate locations. The gates are outside Stanmore Hall at the junction of Stanmore Hill and Aylmer Drive in Stanmore, near Harrow (many thanks to Tony Mackay) but the actual building is Oakley Court, Windsor Road, Water Oakley, Berkshire. (Thanks to Jo Davison)

The limo is chased by the villains into Nine Elms Freight Yard by Battersea Power Station. However this area is no longer recognisable.

Our heroes jump on to Philippa's boat on the Grand Union Canal by Ladbroke Grove, W10.

The transit van scenes were shot around good old Cadby Hall - sadly demolished years ago.

As well as the above-mentioned van scene going wrong, Lewis was nearly very badly injured, too: in the scene where he walks along the plank, it apparently fell too soon.

There has been some debate over the scene where Philippa gives Bodie her phone number. In most versions available today we only hear the first few digits. However originally we not only got to hear the whole number but she actually said it twice! The only reason I can think why anyone would want to chop this is that either it was a real phone number or the film print has become damaged and required the removal of a few seconds' worth of frames. However uncut versions of the ep are still being screened by some non-UK broadcasters - either they are using an old print or LWT/Granada hold an uncut digi-tape version. (Many thanks to Jesper Antvorskov and Ros Connors.)

Tommy Boyle (Charlie) appeared with Martin and Lewis in their New Avengers episode ('Obsession'). Hasn't worked much since.

Kevork Malikyan (Hanish) played the rooftop assassin in 'Backtrack', while Gabor Vernon (Ambassador 2) resurfaced in 'Dead Reckoning'.