User Reviews

This episode shows off how elastic the format of The Professionals could be. It also shows how much an episode can be elevated by a good director.

Martin Campbell made this a year before the BBC's adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was broadcast. I wonder if Campbell was in the running as director for it.

A Stirring of Dust owes a lot to spycraft, double agents and revenge.

Thomas Darby was a Soviet double spy for most of his adult life. He rose to prominence in the British Secret Service before defecting to the Russians and betraying British operatives abroad.

Cowley in a regular exchange with his Soviet counterpart learns that someone in the Foreign Office working in Russia has lost his British passport. Also Darby who is terminally ill might have returned to Britain.

Cowley finds out that Darby had a daughter who he might try to contact. Darby might also have a manuscript for a book where he spills all the beans including the name of the banker. The man who financed the Soviet operations in the UK. This is a person who is high up in the British Establishment and who has hired assassins to kill Darby and get the manuscript.

Cowley also finds out that disgruntled ex British agents are also after Darby. It is up to Bodie and Doyle to find him and protect his daughter.

This is a story with depth. It has lots of characters and tells its tale with great economy. It still has lots of actions scenes with wonderful interplay between Bodie and Doyle.

Andre Morell made his final acting appearance.

Aging double-agent Darby suddenly returns to England after 20 years in Russia - where he has lived comfortably after betraying his country with the names of fellow British agents. With a serious heart problem and seemingly only months to live, he appears to be a man on a mission, whose movements are of great interest to the Russian and British secret services alike. With his life seriously at stake, why has he returned - Cowley needs to find him quickly, and hope his enemies don't find him first.

This is a brisk and intriguing spy story where you really do feel sorry for defector Darby (believably played by Robert Urquhart), and wonder just what everyone's motives really are. The lovely Carol Royle is effective too as Darby's emotionally-charged grown-up daughter Helen, and their awkward reunion scene is well played out. We also get some good action, especially when Bodie and Doyle stake out Helen's suburban semi.

There are touches of humour between Bodie and Doyle and the two henchmen of Cowley's Russian counterpart Yashinkov - who simply refers to 'The Cow' as 'tovarishch'.

The story builds to a suitably tense climax - and we get to see just what the fallout really is of Darby's return, and where the dust has finally settled.