episodes was bought, including Klansmen. The first dubbed episode "When the Heat Cools Off" was spoken by Petr Oliva (Bodie), Martin Štěpánek (Doyle) and Jiří Adamíra (Cowley). Štěpánek soon emigrated so the remainder were dubbed by Alois Švehlík. The whole series was broadcast after 1994 on TV Nova. Petr Oliva continued to dub Bodie but Doyle was dubbed by Karel Heřmánek and Cowley by Otakar Brousek Sr., since Adamíra had died. Spain In Spain, the series The Professionals was broadcast for La 2 of Televisión Española from March 1978. Merchandise Novels From 1978 to 1982 Sphere Books released 15 paperback novels to accompany the series. These adapted 38 of the show's 57 episodes. Seven were also published in hardcover editions: Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 15 by Severn House and 3 and 4 by Arthur Barker. ‡ All the paperback novelisations published by Sphere Books were credited to the pen name "Ken Blake". The majority were actually adapted from the original episode shooting scripts by science fiction author Kenneth Bulmer, although the volumes marked † where adapted by fantasy author Robert Holdstock. Five of the seven hardcover editions were credited to Kenneth Bulmer. This included, presumably erroneously, the 15th novel. The two Arthur Barker hardbacks were credited to Ken Blake. Annuals From 1979 to 1985 Grandreams Ltd published seven annuals to accompany the series. Home media releases United Kingdom Contrary to popular belief, the original release on VHS was not blocked by Martin Shaw. According to Dave Matthews' website, Shaw had already signed the video release agreement, it was the repeat fee amount offered by LWT that he objected to. In the late 1990s, the complete run of 57 episodes were given a UK VHS videocassette release by Contender Entertainment Group. An earlier release had seen 31 episodes issued before the distributor went out of business. In 2002, Contender reissued the complete run on DVD (for the UK only). Although labelled as having been "digitally remastered", these releases have attracted some criticism, mainly due to the relatively poor picture quality (colour, contrast and levels of dirt and scratches). In part, this was due to problems with the age and condition of the prints used, and the loss of (or lack of access to) the original source footage which would normally be used as the basis of a remaster. In late 2005, Contender replaced the original DVD releases with a