Most people seem to agree this is a dire episode. It's even more disappointing in that it was written by the usually reliable Chris Wicking who had already contributed 'The Madness of Mickey Hamilton' and later the amazing 'Discovered in a Graveyard'. I can't help feeling 'The Gun' was never originally written for The Professionals but somehow got "adapted" for it.

The Lads do plenty of talking but don't get any opportunity for the heavy stuff in this one. There is, however, an amusing little thread throughout the episode whereby Doyle can't find his car.

In fact it looks like even Laurie Johnson gave up on this one as his incidental themes here are lacklustre, too.

The brief fight scene in the warehouse is arguably the highlight of the episode.

Anyway, can't sit around here chatting all day....

The Good Things:

The ongoing gag with Doyle's car. Doyle's dirty laugh in the opening scene. Bodie in a robe, hunting for junk food and whining about his libido. Bodie being extremely untactful with Inge about Paul's death. Bodie (Lewis) clowning around on the play set with the Nazi helmet. Both men look good though rather weary.

And that's it, folks. To review it I watched with my nose held and one finger on the FF button.

The Bad Things:

The pacing's awful, the music sucks and the editing is unbelievably bad. Watch the finale in the house – where the heck does Doyle suddenly come from? Very, very poorly done. Further, now that I'm on a roll, the characterization even of the three leads is off. Nothing seems "right". For example: Doyle not aware a baby of a heroin addict would be suffering withdrawal? Puleeze.

Augh. Too many problems that are too annoying to waste my time listing them here.

Was someone in a hurry?

The footbridge over which young Tony tries to escape is at Richmond Lock in Richmond. (Many thanks to Ulli Kobs for the info and picture!)

This episode's problems may be due to the fact it was the first to be filmed for the fourth block. In March 1980 LWT reversed their (albeit unofficial) decision to axe the series, giving Mark 1 just eight weeks' notice in which to get scripts written! As such it wouldn't be surprising to find that Chris Wicking simply adapted an existing work.

Perhaps as a result of the urgency, some scenes were dropped from the script. The opening was to have been of Gary in his flat preparing to track down Paul by lubricating the gun and showing the audience that it had an unusual safety catch. A final scene of Bodie and Doyle leaving the CI5 computer room to pursue some of the "mules" in Bodie's car was also dropped.

Young Tony was originally to be called Jesus (pronounced "Heysoos"). Zoot Money's rock-star character was originally to be called Tom Dooley.

It is rumoured that Doyle losing his car was to cover for the fact that the RS2000 had actually been stolen just prior to filming on this episode. However there does not seem to be any evidence of a theft and all the dialogue about it being missing was in Chris Wicking's draft scripts, anyway. I suspect it was merely a plot device to generate more of that much-loved car banter. The final scene was to round this off by Doyle producing a large set of car keys from his pocket and saying to Bodie: "It's amazing how many people leave their keys in their car". I'm not sure if this is supposed to be some kind of joke but I'm not surprised it was dropped.

Celia Gregory (Inger) starred in the legendary mid-70s apocalyptic drama Survivors, private eye series Hazell and mini-series such as Reilly: Ace of Spies and the cheesey American effort Lace. Has struggled to get work since.

Barry Angel (Tony) played the lead in the well-remembered 1983 series Codename: Icarus concerning a school for gifted children being duped into creating weapons for the Russians. Hmmm... all sounds a bit far-fetched now!! Angel seems to have dropped out of acting after this.

If you think Sylvestra Le Touzel (playing Patricia Buchanan) looks very young here, us thirtysomething Brits should recall her from the 1971 cult classic (and, for me, absolutely terrifying) The Boy From Space. In the 1980s she appeared several times on Alas Smith and Jones impersonating Princess Diana (Charles, watching TV: "Diana, where's the channel-changer?" / "Oh, it's his night orff!"). I think she also starred in a 1985 ad for Heineken which was a spoof of My Fair Lady, wherein she played a posh young woman being taught how to speak with a Cockney accent. In 1993 she starred as Tony Clark's girlfriend in the superb police procedural series Between the Lines. Most recently seen in the amusing vetinary sitcom Beast.