Film company Lionsgate want Liam Neeson for the role of CI5 boss, Cowley, in a remake of "The Professionals".

Neeson is set to play the no nonsense boss of Bodie and Doyle. Names such as Tom Hardy, Gerard Butler and Jason Statham are in the works to play these roles. The roles were played by Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw in the original series.

Filming will begin in the autumn, with Tom Hardy, Gerard Butler and Jason Statham the names mentioned for the characters of Bodie and Doyle, played by Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw in the original series.

The website reports that the producers have "Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman on their list" to play the boss.

The series told to the tales of former mercenary Bodie and counter-terrorism detective Doyle who come together to work as a team for Britain's top secret CI5 unit.

Twenty-eight years ago when the original was aired it was watched by 17 million viewers.

Zygi Kamasa, the chief executive on the project admitted that he can still hum the theme tune to the show. Speaking to the Guardian he said "I was a big fan…We all grew up with it in the 70s so the idea of bringing it back for the big screen is perfect. There aren't many British TV shows from 30 years ago that you think could work today, but this is one of them."

The idea is that the movie will be a prequel to the series but will be set in the present day. It will tell the tale of how Bodie and Doyle are brought together. Bodie will have served as an SAS soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan before being placed in counter-terrorism, with Doyle, in Scotland Yard.

Kamasa said "They're slightly renegade this bunch, they want to go out and get the job done…From an entertainment point of view, they want to stop the bad guys but they are operating with rules and they don't follow rules. It's not PC to say but that's what's fun about it."