Although one of the better plotlines from the later years with some well-conceived scenes, laudable direction and top-notch one-liners, the episode as a whole doesn't seem to work as effectively as one would expect. The ease with which Cowley manages to "turn" Quinn is the main culprit, I think.

However there is a liberal dose of great humour. The lads actually get stopped for speeding which must be the first time since 'In the Public Interest'!! Cop to Bodie: "Good morning, Flash Gordon. I make it 65 but I'm not vindictive, so I'm going to call it 65!"

The lads speed off to meet Cowley, who is displeased that they are late. "What's he been eating? Razor blades?" / "Yeah - all the better to bite your head off with, my dear!".

The poorer scenes include Linal Haft's hilarious attempts at boxing manoeuvres and the old chestnut of a truck emerging from a sidestreet to block a pursuing car.

Cowley has yet another nameless "girlfriend" ferrying him around!

Thirty quid a week to stay in a crummy bedsit in 1981??!!

Many of the incidental music themes are recycled from previous episodes. The music editing itself is generally uninspired, too, negating a required sense of vitality or "urgency" from many scenes. Perhaps Laurie Johnson wasn't available to create sufficient new themes for this episode?

Although the safehouse scenes are excellent, they actually serve no purpose in furthering the story, as no attempt is made to capture Quinn immediately following the rocket attack. Besides, how does Quinn know where Cowley is hiding?

The finale is a good old shoot-out (one which would have greatly benefited 'Servant of Two Masters') with an excellent stunt involving a villain being plastered across the Capri's windscreen. And there is some great photography when the lads are chasing the deranged Quinn on his "final mission".

Overall, however, the episode's whole is less than the sum of its (many great) parts.

My favorite dialogue exchange in this story is after Bodie saves Cowley's life during the rocket attack...
Bodie, quite nonchalantly: "Enjoy your cup of tea, sir?"
Cowley - not a bit grateful, as usual: "No... some idiot put sugar in it!"

Quinn's secure hospital, Repton, is actual St Hubert's, in St Hubert's Lane, Gerrard's Cross. (Thanks to Tony Mackay).

Cowley's first meeting with the lads is on Primrose Hill, by Regent's Park (Thanks to Liz Morgan)

The airfield used at the end of the episode appears to be Chalgrove in Oxfordshire. (Thanks to Steve Sharpe)

Amazing to think that even as recently as 1981, Steven Berkoff (Krasnov) was still little-known, having spent much of the previous two decades languishing in bit-parts. Cult TV fans might have spotted him in the wonderful Avengers story 'The Gravediggers' (he's the heavy in the wheelchair) and three episodes of Gerry Anderson's UFO as a SHADO pilot. Almost immediately after his Professionals episode, however, his career took off. Action/adventure film fans will remember him in Octopussy, Beverley Hills Cop and Rambo: First Blood Part II. His propensity for psychopaths continued when he played Hitler in the big-budget Robert Mitchum mini-series War and Remembrance.

Bernard Archard (Granger) popped up in all sorts of cult and classic films and TV shows of the 60s and 70s such as Village of the Damned, Danger Man, The Avengers, Doctor Who, Callan, Polanski's Macbeth (with M Shaw Esq), Day of the Jackal and Sky.