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PRODUCTION UK

Lionsgate boards The Professionals

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Cult British television series The Professionals will soon see a feature film version. Lionsgate UK has acquired the rights for the series and the film will begin a UK shoot later this year.

No director or cast has been announced yet. Lionsgate has teamed with Callum McDougall and Richard Whelan to produce the film via their production company Eighth Wonder. McDougall executive produced the last two James Bond films Casino Royale [+see also:
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and Quantum of Solace [+see also:
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and Whelan recently served as associate producer on Captain America: The First Avenger.

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The Professionals film will be an origin story that will unite ex-Spec Ops Mercenary Bodie and Counter Terrorism Detective Doyle in their first mission for covert British Security Unit CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5).

Zygi Kamasa, Chief Executive, Lionsgate UK, said, “The Professionals was such an iconic British crime series that it’s a fantastic opportunity for Lionsgate to be able to bring it to the big screen for the first time. This production will combine the wit and fast paced action of the original TV series but also completely reinvent it for a new, modern audience.”

Whelan said, “To take this 70’s TV classic and launch it onto the big screen is a dream come true.”

Originally created by Brian Clemens, The Professionals series became a cult hit in the UK in the late 1970s and its central characters Bodie and Doyle household names on London Weekend Television when the first series first aired in 1977.

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