The Professionals

The Professionals is a show about William Bodie and Ray Doyle, two hard men doing a hard job, under the gimlet eye of their boss, George Cowley, the head of CI5, a semi-secret government agency that battled organized crime and terrorism in 1970s-1980s Britain. 
 
The Professionals fandom has a long and involved history, beginning in the UK shortly after the show aired and spreading to the United States. 
The Professionals is known for long-running and extensive Circuit Library, its Alternative Universes, often fantasy-based including the much loved, and maligned, fanworks portraying its two lead characters (usually Ray Doyle) as elves. 
It is also a fandom that began with, and was heavily populated, by slash fanworks. 
In 2016, a fan said: 
For a complete timeline of the fandom, see The Professionals/Timeline.
==Some Canon Background==
William Andrew Philip Bodie, always referred to as Bodie, and his partner Raymond "Ray" Doyle operated from a headquarters based in London. Given their orders by George Cowley, the agents took on crimes and criminals that the police could not handle. Although their work occasionally drew them out of the city, the series was largely shot on location in London, with fast-paced action filmed on the Tube, double-decker buses, and in well-known city parks. 
In 57 episodes, broadcast over 5 years, the two agents fought the Cold War and home-grown criminals too. Russian and East German spies got traded, uncovered, or killed, while Bodie (agent '3.7' starting in the second series) and Doyle (called '4.5') demonstrated their expertise as interrogators and infiltrators. 
In two zippy Ford Capri cars, the agents broke speed limits stopping crime, and managed to break the hearts of most women who appeared on the show, too. The rapid-fire banter between 3.7 and 4.5, coupled with a high level of physical contact between the two young leads, provided grist for the slashers' mills in the decades that followed.
The timeliness of many themes addressed by the show contributed to its extreme popularity when it first aired, and has been part of its enduring appeal. As agents on television active in the 1970s and early 1980s, Bodie and Doyle were among the first television agents to confront drug use, overdoses, and the occasional death that resulted from heroin and cocaine addiction. However, the biggest threat confronting British home security of the day, the IRA, was never depicted in the show.
As young men living in a sexually liberated era, their natural machismo had to give way occasionally to female CI5 agents, double-agents, and women who simply wanted a career more than marriage [see episodes "The Purging of CI5," "Fall Girl," and "Look After Annie"]. In a world increasingly rejecting overt discrimination, the show tackled the bigotry of a central character (Bodie) and showed the reformation of his beliefs, while attacking those who turned from discrimination to racial violence ("Klansman," was never broadcast in the UK). The show was one of the first to offer a sympathetic portrayal of gay men, and showed Bodie, Doyle, and their boss George Cowley combating gay-bashing ("In the Public Interest"). 
However, the show's greatest attractions were never the deep social issues of the time. The show capitalized upon the good looks of its two younger leading men, Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins; Doyle's wardrobe of tatty jeans and skimpy t-shirts routinely appeared on screen, and later in fanart and fanfiction, as did Bodie's elegant attire. Collins's earlier work as a hairdresser became a show gag and appeared in several fannish stories, working well with Shaw's curly hair that always seemed to need cutting (or fondling).
==Appeal of the Show in Context With Its Peers==
The immediate appeal of The Professionals fed off of other pop culture hits in the era. The prototype for the CI5 agent has to be seen as James Bond crossed with specialized police officers from another popular UK television show of the 1970s, "The Sweeney." In both cases, operatives were largely unconstrained by usual police procedures. In Bond movies and "The Sweeney" snappy dialogue kept pace with fast cars to hold audiences' attention: The Professionals used the same elements, as did the fans who used the show as a creative source. Bodie and Doyle's skills in martial arts, handling weapons, and drinking large quantities of alcohol while dropping bad puns as often as literary allusions were supplemented by the ability to drive cars fast. The agents could adopt disguises and go 'undercover' in a variety of occupations (fruit vendor, bum, sugarbeet machinery salesman) that invariably let them catch the bad guys. Their skills--in martial arts, weaponry, banter, drinking, driving fast cars, and disguises--would become the raw material of many fanfiction works in later years.
The fan-base for the Pros fandom also developed from Starsky and Hutch fandom. A fan in 2009 said: 
==Characters==
* William Bodie
* Ray Doyle
* George Cowley
* Murphy
* Ann Holly
* Kate Ross
==Fandom ==
===A Fandom that Began with Slash===
It is commonly understood that Pros was a fandom that began with slash fanfic, and branched later into straight fiction. 
Some early fan comemnts:
===A Fandom of Exacting Standards?===
A 2002 issue of Discovered in a Letterbox asked its readers if Pros was a fandom that "ate its young." The answers were varied.
===Fan Interviews===
See :Category:The Professionals Fan Interviews.
===General Fan Comments===
====2003====
Sebastian: 
====2009====
Sue S:
Felicity Parkinson:
====2015====
Istia:
grey853:
msmoat:
===Pre-Internet Fandom===
See The Professionals/Timeline. See Circuit.
===Internet Fandom===
One of the earliest online websites for "The Professionals" was Janice's Pros Gallery which went online in 1995. It hosted mainly photos and images of the actors. An archived copy from 1998 can be found here. Alexfandra also maintained a website with an episode guide, actor's bios, fan art and a fandom primer. A copy of the website from 1997 can be found here.
In 1992, Pros slash fan Sandy Herrold co-founded Virgule-L the first slash mailing list. While the list was multi-fandom Pros was a main focus on discussion. In 1992, Sandy Herrold and Megan Kent, along with members of the mailing list, wrote Two Pros Primers and the Professional's Slash Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to help recruit new Internet fans.
Beginning in 1996, the fandom had a second resurgence as new fans found the online fandom. 
In Aug '96, LoreleiF (not Anne Higgins or Deb R.) created an e-mail discussion group for The Professionals. This list became the CI5 List -- the first list to split off from Virgule-L. Shortly after its creation, the mailing list became the subject of a heated discussion on Virgule-L about Anne Higgins having the audacity to rewrite the ending to a Sebastian partner betrayal story Catharsis and post it.
Though smaller than it was in days gone by, the rumors of Pros fandom's death have been exaggerated; Pros is still going strong. As of today, it is fairly well integrated across zine-based fandom, list-based fandom, and livejournal-based fandom. A weekly newsletter started in 2007 and continues to be distributed: its editors attempt to gather links to all Pros news, including fannish productivity like art, stories, vids, and icons, regardless of their originating location. In 2010, The Professionals fandom hosted its first Big Bang challenge here, at CI5 Box of Tricks. 
===The Actors' Other Roles and Fandom===
Other roles that the two main leads played are considered fair game in Pros fandom, and it's not unusual for stories about those characters to be included in Pros archives or zines, either in a crossover with Pros or on their own. The most common other sources are: 
Apparitions | Are You Lonesome Tonight? | Cassidy | The Chief | Cluedo | Codename: Wildgeese | Doctor in the House | George Gently | Facelift | Jack the Ripper| Judge John Deed | Ladder of Swords | Robin of Sherwood | Who Dares Wins
==Fanworks==
===Pairings===
The fandom has always been slanted heavily toward slash, although gen has also always had a presence. Gen stories tend to be case stories,See for example "Pure Poison." although sometimes friendship stories or curtainfic crops up. Het is relatively rare. 
 
Other slash pairings include Bodie/Cowley, Doyle/Cowley (rare), and Bodie/Murphy Doyle/Murphy is another rare pairing, but Bodie/Doyle/Murphy is a recurring menage a trois.
===Common Tropes===
* amnesia (see a list of related fics here)
* undercover in a gay bar
* Bodie's time in Africa as a mercenary soldier (see The Game, first played out in the story Consequences and all its responsefics)
* Doyle as an art student
* hookerfic (usually Doyle is the sex worker)
* historicals (often called "hystericals" in this fandom)
* presumed dead
* older lads
* elf AU (usually Doyle)
===RPF and The Professionals===
See The Professionals RPF for more.
===AUs and The Professionals===
Pros has more fanfic AUs than most fandoms of the 1980s and 1990s, taking the characters from ancient Greece to the French Revolution to outer space and everything in between. Bodie and Doyle have been turned into elves, pirates, fairy tale characters, Tarzan and Jane (... ish), rabbits, cats, mermen, selkies,See: Sule Skerrie (fic) and Selkie (trope) novelist and librarian, robot... You name it, there's a good chance Pros did it as an AU 15 or 20 years ago. The 'zine series Other Times and Places featured many AU Bodie/Doyle stories
===Spoofs===
* transcript of "The Bullshitters" (1984)
* transcript of Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown (1993)
===Fanfiction===
:For a full listing of The Professionals fanfiction on Fanlore, see :Category:The Professionals Fanfiction
A fan in 2011 wrote: "I can see myself at 80 still working my way through the Pros archives." 2011 comments at How did you get into Pros fandom? 
 
Episodes of Pros inspired countless prequels, sequels, and interpretive stories that went behind a few lines of dialogue, or linked together disparate eps revealing hidden patterns--that observant fanfic writers had pieced together--while filling in gaps.One such 'linked' story using fragments from multiple episodes is "Bonding" by Stew, in the 'zine Concupiscence 2. Crime lords, drug dealers and international terrorists populate fanfiction, just as they crowded the screen. Unlike the series, however, authors routinely stretched the characters to take new directions, some logical, others less so. In fiction, Bodie and Doyle could "take down the IRA" or tackle cases that would be too convoluted for television viewers who were limited to only 50 minutes a week of CI5. Case stories, in which Cowley gave the Lads a problem to solve and the fic revolved around capturing a bad guy, abound in early and current Pros fandom; most writers have been inspired to try to write new and better adventures for the agents.
Another major genre of Pros fanfiction has been hurt/comfort, in which one or both men were physically or mentally injured, to the point of needing both medical attention and some good 'ole TLC. For men who canonically confronted danger on a daily basis, it isn't hard for authors to fabricate threats that would injure Bodie or Doyle! Pros also has quite a few stories that turn on the supposed death of one of the partners; until told otherwise, one agent can mourn the other one who is presumed dead, but really isn't. Sometimes the death has been faked by criminals or terrorists; very rarely, it is faked by Bodie or Doyle.
Just as some writers pushed Bodie and Doyle into ever more threatening situations, other authors were inclined to see them safe and secure. Curtainfic has always been a major area of activity in the fandom, with Bodie and Doyle cooking, cleaning, and keeping house together, either as active agents or in retirement. A host of writers have explored Doyle and Bodie's lives 20 or 30 years after, imagining them as gardeners, cooks, and contented ex-civil servants. These (typically) home based stories are sometimes referred to as "Older Lads" tales, and those with less dramatic tension and more domestic placidity might be considered a sub-genre of curtainfic.
And last but hardly least, Pros has been, almost from the start, a veritable beehive of activity for AU authors.
====The Circuit==== 
In the US, the first Pros stories were circulated by hand, mailed from person to person. Eventually these were gathered into the Circuit Library, a huge collection of individual stories that could be requested, 10 at a time, and kept for 2 weeks to read or copy. During the 1990s, amid some controversy, fans began scanning and typing these stories into electronic text files, to preserve them. These were distributed via mailing list, and an annual CD collection (in which stories were not just added but also sometimes deleted from year to year, at an author's request). Eventually, stories from the mailing list/CD collection became partially available online at the Circuit Archive. Some authors have requested that their stories not be included in the online Circuit Archive, making the CD collection indispensable for the devoted Professionals fan. The mailing list, annual CD collection, and the Circuit Archive continue to be updated; the Circuit Archive makes older stories available on the web, along with newer stories. The Circuit Archive is searchable by author, story title, 'zine, publication date, story pairing, genre, and combinations of all these elements, making it one of the most thoroughly accessible story archives in fandom. It can even be searched by story ratings (e.g., NC-17) that were added by the Circuit Archivist; the majority of Pros authors have consistently refused to "rate" their stories, unlike other fandoms.
As of 2010, the UK-based Circuit Library is still active, distributing printed stories to its subscribers via the post. The US circuit stopped operating around 2001. By that time, over 3,800 stories had been written by fans all over the world. This number included both circuit stories as well as fanfiction published in fanzines.Results from an informal survey of fans done in 2001. Source: Morgan Dawn's personal notes, accessed March 5, 2001.
In 2009, fans attempted to recreate a list of the first circulated The Professionals stories with information gained from some early Pros fans. These stories had originally made their way to America via the "paper circuit".
*Power Games (aka Powerplay) by SJ (AKA Sue Stuart)
*Death Games (sequel to Power Games) by SJ
*Two Crazy Lovers by SJ
*Remember Angola by Anne Lewis
*Aftermath by PD
*Painting the Clouds by Calliope
*The Poofessionals by Dirk Grapple
Additional circuit and other stories can be found under the Pros FanFiction Category here.
====Print Zines====
Most of the fiction in the fandom started out in print, either in the Circuit Library or in zines. Pros zines consist of both one-shots and series; the original Hatstand Archive includes a masterlist of slash zines in the fandom. Fanlore maintains its own comprehensive fanzine lists (including cross-overs and multimedia fanzines with significant Pros content) at List of Professionals Fanzines.
One of the more controversial series of slash (and hurt/comfort) zines is the five-volume Gentle on My Mind (GoMM), written by Jane of Australia and published by Jane's press, Nuthatch. (Eventually a sixth volume was written, by Dana Jeanne.) The first volume had Doyle involved in a serious accident that left him badly injured, including permanent brain damage. The remainder of the series involved his recovery and new life, with Bodie but no longer an agent with CI-5. This is definitely a series that people either really love or really dislike, based on the premise and Jane's handling of it, and it comes up in conversations on Pros mailing lists and communities every couple of years.
The Professionals has even crept into the yaoi arena, appearing in several manga publications such as The CI5 Professionals B/D slash book (2002-2005).
=====Notable Zine Novels/Novellas=====
* Classified by Adela Kingsbury & Amy A. Morgan, published by Keynote Press. First published as separate sheets of paper 'taken from a CI5 security file' that tracked the evolution of Bodie and Doyle's evolving relationship. 100+ pieces of paper in folder (thankfully numbered for order) included artwork allegedly drawn by Doyle, coffeecup rings left by other agents, and Cowley's interpretation of the papers. Later published as a bound zine. 
* Flesh and Steel Series by Jane of Australia, published by Nuthatch. A set of three novels where Ray Doyle is a vampire and Bodie is a werewolf. Obviously AU. 
* Fruit of the Spirit by Cherilyn, published by Gryphon Press.
* Gentle on My Mind by Jane of Australia, published by Nuthatch. A five-volume zine series (later expanded to six volumes by Joana Dey) about a brain-damaged Doyle and his and Bodie's new life together; one of the more controversial zines in the fandom.
* Harlequin Airs by Ellis Ward, lavishly illustrated by Suzan Lovett; a (highly unrealistic but very fun) circus AU 
* The Hunting by Jane of Australia, a five-zine elf AU that helped to define elves in the fandom for years
* Jigsaw Puzzle by HG, published by Gryphon Press. Noteworthy for its depiction of Bodie and Doyle from the day they met through many years of partnership, and the running joke that they play on Cowley.
* The Larton Chronicles by Rhiannon published by Gryphon Press, a five-part AU that people either love or hate; there's no CI-5 here at all, and it's all about country living.
* Never Let Me Down by Shoshanna, published by Manacles Press. Among the few 'zines that depict the variations that exist in what gay men prefer during sex, and the up-and-down qualities of an evolving gay love affair in which both characters are closeted.
* Paper Flowers by Kitty Fisher novel published by Gryphon Press - AU in which Doyle is a hooker.
* Redemption by Kate MacLean, published by Gryphon Press. A Post Show story in which both agents marry and are separated for a time--inspires strong adore it/hate it reactions! 
* Up to Standard by M. Krause, one of the few full-length, gen, case-based novels in the fandom
* Whisper of a Kill, by Lois Welling, beautifully illustrated by Suzan Lovett; an AU in which Bodie plays a hit-man who gives up his profession to join CI5
=====Notable Zine Anthologies=====
* The three ...As a 3 Pound Note zines published by Oblique Press, featuring the stories of M. Fae Glasgow
* British Takeaway 1-5, a rare gen, het and slash series, edited by Kate Nuernberg
* Guilty Pleasures, a bondage-oriented zine
* The Motet, Variation, and Night Music series, published by Keynote Press
* The Roses and Lavender series, published by Allamagoosa Press
* The Unprofessional Conduct series, primarily slash, published by Gryphon Press
* Jane Carnall Collected Fic self-published circuit zine
=====Letterzines=====
* The Hatstand Express, a letterzine originally published in Australia in the 1980s, then in the US until about --. THE had notable contributors from the UK, Australia and the US. It published stories, poems and letters from fans (some of which are of historical significance, e.g. founding of the US circuit library).
* Short Circuit, a peripatetic Pros letterzine originally pub'd by Lyn Harrild in England, then by Linda Terrell in Florida in the early '90s, then by Joanne Keating in Australia. It also printed reviews and v. short fic.
* Be Gentle With Us, a UK Pros letterzine (does anyone know where the name came from?) in the '90s
* Cold Fish and Stale Chips by Kate Nuernberg in the early '90s; a multiple-Huggy winner, half letterzine and half writing seminar. 
* Tea for Two, a mid '90s letterzine (not to be confused with Alexandra's Tea for Two Pros novel)
* Discovered in a Letterbox, a UK letterzine, 1997-2002
* Mixed Doubles (1984-June 1989) -- half Pros, half Starsky & Hutch
=====All Zines=====
* :Category:The Professionals Gen Zines
* :Category:The Professionals Slash Zines
* :Category:The Professionals Zines, non-fiction zines
* There are many multimedia zines with Professionals content
====Sample Fic====
Some of these stories later became zines.
*Consequences, by Tarot and AN Other which sparked around a dozen sequels as well as one of the fandom's most enduring bits of fanon. "Tarot" is the name this author chose to use on the online versions of her Professionals stories, and is the name they're archived under. Please don't correct it to an earlier, print version. 
* Of Tethered Goats and Tigers by Tarot, a solid, well-plotted case story that starts from a slightly AU premise (it branches off from canon) and deals with a popular Pros trope: the idea of Bodie and Doyle being groomed by Cowley to jointly take over CI-5 after he retires.
* Waiting to Fall by Rob, the longest standalone story in the Circuit Library, also known as "Waiting to Fuck". 
* Master of the Revels by H.G., illustrated by Suzan Lovett - based on a Martin Shaw TV series, Facelift, in which he played a magician in a strange dystopian society.
* Be My Valentine (Pros story), by Gwyneth Rhys
* The Blyton Horror, by Joan
* :Category:The Professionals Fanfiction, articles on individual stories on Fanlore
====Sample Authors and Artists====
Anne Higgins | Courtney Gray | Ellis Ward | Kitty Fisher | Helen Raven | H.G. | Jane of Australia | Jane Carnall | Kate Maclean | Meg Lewtan | M. Fae Glasgow | O Yardley | Pamela Rose | Rhiannon | Rob | Sebastian | Suzan Lovett | Tarot
===Fanart===
See :Category:The Professionals Art.
Pros fanart traditionally consisted mainly of zine covers and zine illustrations, with some pieces done for art shows and art auctions at conventions. Among the many artists who created stunning likenesses of Bodie and Doyle were TACS, KOZ,See Professional Dreamer covers and interiors. Karen River,Incredible black on black Bodie portrait in Chalk and Cheese 14. and Shelley Butler.See her simply wonderful black and white illo of Doyle in Playfellows 8. Bodie and Doyle have been portrayed in cartoon form many times by K. Eaton and Jane Mailander. These days, art is also being produced and posted online, with numerous innovations made possible by technology. Bodie, Doyle, and Cowley have appeared as backdrops on monthly calendars or in 100x100 pixel icons used at social networking sites like livejournal. Likenesses of 3.7 and 4.5 have also turned up on fannish t-shirts, coffee mugs, computer mouse mats and keychains.
Possibly the most prolific Pros artist has been Suzan Lovett, who illustrated many Pros zines. Some of her work has been uploaded to the Circuit Archive along with the stories they illustrated, and can be found here. Since 2000, an extremely active Pros artist has been Lorraine Brevig, whose artwork has graced the covers of numerous Pros zines.
===Vids and Vidding===
See :Category:The Professionals Vids and List of The Professionals Early Songvids.
There have been a lot of Pros vids made over the years, most of them during the VCR vidding era, particularly by Mary Van Deusen, Deejay, and the Media Cannibals. Some of those can be found online now, hosted at the Circuit Archive along with more recent vids by vidders including PR Zed, Lithiumdoll, Justacat, Bistokidsfan, Ancasta, and Josey . 
Several of the early Pros vids, originally made on two VCRs with copies of copies (of copies) of tapes as source, have been remastered in recent years, using new DVD source for footage. Justacat has been instrumental in this, remastering several vids for the Media Cannibals along with Gwyneth Rhys, and making them available on a disc that Gwyneth produces.
There is currently an active group of vidders in the Pros fandom, including: kat-byrd, Jaicen, and inlovewithboth aka ilwb. 
Vids to look for:
*Too Long a Soldier - Deejay: A Bodie vid that is impressive for its dark emotion, but especially known for its incorporation of non-canon video to tell its story.
*Alone - Mary Van Deusen: A Bodie vid that was renowned for making Doyleys cry.
*A Fire Is Burning - Media Cannibals: Noted for its superfast cutting, unprecedented in VCR vidding, and emphasis on the show's action.
*Detachable Penis - Media Cannibals: Perennially popular look at the series' phallic imagery and emphasis on guns and their connection to masculinity. Some people have interpreted the vidder motivation as being a critique against gun violence in series of the era; however, the vidders had no such intent, and actually enjoy that imagery immensely.
*I Know You're Out There Somewhere by kat-byrd - This vid combines original Professionals footage along with footage from later programmes in which one of the main actors appeared, to present the idea that an older Doyle is searching for his former partner. 
*Thirty Years of Sunshine by Crimson - This vid, produced for the 30th anniversary of the show in December 2007, combines favourite clips suggested by fans with a hauntingly beautiful song: "You will not be forgotten, you will not be alone."
*Jerk It Out by Jaicen5 -- Gen vid
:Category:The Professionals Vids for articles about Pros fanvids on Fanlore.
==Pros Fans Going Pro==
Some examples of fans who have rewritten their fanfic as profic:
* Angelfish
* JGL
* Jane of Australia
* Meg Lewtan
* others...
==Archives==
* The Circuit Archive -- hosts fanfic, fanart, and vids
* The Hatstand -- hosts fanfic and a variety of Pros resources, including essays, reviews, story lists by category, a list of zines, lists of vids, etc. Closed to new fanfic submissions, but continues to accept non-fiction resources.
* The Automated Hatstand -- the sister site of the Hatstand, for new story submissions.
In 2013, a fan posted: "All older fandoms have this problem of losing fic on the net as the years pass and smaller, single-owner archives disappear. I would love to see more of the previous Pros writers archiving their work at AO3; I would love that so much. Or even if someone could get permission from one or more of them to do the actual work of formatting and uploading, just so we could have that (almost certainly guaranteed) back-up. But we are extremely lucky in Pros to have Proslib and the CD! Another of my older fandoms--not quite as old as Pros, but suffering the same problem of good previous writers' work not being archived at AO3--doesn't have anything similar to Proslib, so if a site disappears, the stories are just gone." istia at 
==Conventions==
See :Category:The Professionals Conventions.
==Lists and Communities==
* CI5alltheway (list) discussion (slash) (inactive)
*CI5 Box of Tricks (comm) -- Home of the Fandom's Big Bang Challenge
* Discovered in a Livejournal (comm) -- fanwork challenges 
* PROSfanfic (list) -- fanfic (gen-only)
* Proslanguage (list) -- discussion, language help
* Proslib (list) -- fanfic
* Pros-Lit (list) -- discussion 
* ProsSlash (list) -- discussion (slash-only)
* ProsStoryfinders (list) -- story finder list
* Tea and Swiss roll (comm) -- Fun for fans of the Professionals. Fiction, fan art, vids, tea time chat.
* The Professionals Lounge (comm) -- discussion, reference works (cars, eps, weapons, characters), fanfic (gen-only)
* The Safehouse (comm) -- discussion, fic, art, vids
* Palelyloitering (website) -- gen and slash zine and author list
* The Daily Professionals (tumblr) - a tumblr blog
* Doppelleben, two German-speaking fan communities: a mailing list founded on Sept 7, 2010 and which then later moved to a Livejournal community (July 2011 – present).
==Further Reading/Meta==
See :Category:The Professionals Meta.
* written for new slash fans in 1992: one by Sandy Herrold, one by Megan Kent
* Bodie/Doyle Ship Manifesto written by Justacat in 2005. Part Two. Also archived here.
* The Hatstand Professionals slash zines Master List in Hatstand Archive
*a fan essay on the significance of guns in the series, Part 1 and Part 2 at noblesentimentsWebCite Part 1 and WebCite Part 2.
*“Crotch shot! Rewind!!” or The Patriarchal Professionals and the Female Factor (2001 or before)
*How to Write a Classic Bad Hatstander for Bodie and Doyle by Mosby Singleton
* How a Professionals slash writer disrupts readers' expectations by S. W. (2012)
*What I Like to Read by Geri (1992)
*Grand Disunification by anonymous (1995)
* Visions of Bodie and Doyle. Heroism: the highest and purest form of romance.; archive link, meta compilation of stories and screenshots, by shooting2kill (2019)
==Resources==
* Professionals Overview on crack_van
* Comprehensive list of Pros vids on the Hatstand Archivereference link; reference link.
* Transcripts of Episodes
* Timeline of The Professionals Fandom, compiled by Felicity Parkinson and others, and distributed to attendees at the twentieth anniversary of the Nattercon convention, 2009. Quoted in Livejournal entry Pros Fandom History - post the fourth, 21 October 2009
==References==
Category:The Professionals
Category:2020 Featured Articles