23rd May - Our lads, professionals at what they do

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I watched maidavids' upgraded Eye of the Tiger vid this morning, and I must admit that my first thought was more Bodie - where's Doyle? but then my second thought as I was watching was about Bodie's SAS background, and how much it's brought into play during the eps, and then I wondered whether Doyle's background was brought in just as much, and then I wondered about how far the lads came up to scratch to each other as regards training. Does Bodie have SAS expertise that Doyle has had extra training to match? Does Doyle have expertise from his police experience that Bodie has had extra training to match? Hmmnn...

Weapons Expertise
Bodie's often asked about weapons - expertise from mercs, SAS, paras etc. presumably.


But Doyle obviously knows his way around them too - presumably CI5 training?


Finding Clues
Doyle spots things like Greek cigarettes!


Do we see Bodie doing clues? *g*

Chimney climbing
Presumably this is another SAS type thing - or is it? Because Bodie has this conversation with Murphy:
BODIE: Who's talking about going up the ladder? Go around the other side, straight up the brick wall. No problem.
MURPHY: Can't do it.
BODIE: I know. You can, though. Can't you? Come on, Murph, you're the best climber we've got. Climbed the Eiger, didn't you?
MURPHY: Yeah.
BODIE: Well--
MURPHY: I had guides.
So although Bodie can climb, he's deferring to someone with more expertise, so it's entirely possible that Doyle could also climb the chimney - he's certainly happy on rooves and up and down scaffolding, although that's not quite the same thing... *g* They're both happy legging it around rooftops in Blind Run.


Diving
Well, they both do that, don't they. It could be thought of as an SAS-taught skill, but maybe it's another CI5-trained skill.


Advanced driving
Seems like something they'd both be trained to do.
Would Bodie be trained to drive specialist military vehicles? Or would they both be trained to do that for CI5? We see them in a speedboat, which isn't a standard skill - and though perhaps we might expect Bodie to have to drive a boat in the SAS, it's Doyle who does it in the ep, so - CI5 training?

Interrogation
Doyle would presumably be trained in the police, whereas we wouldn't expect Bodie to be trained in interrogation for the SAS/Paras/mercs? Although he might be, I suppose.

Questioning witnesses/families/victims
This would presumably be Doyle's ground again, but Bodie wouldn't have had any need for it. Hmmn - do we see Bodie questioning anyone in the eps? Or Doyle, for that matter...

So... what else? *g* What special skills do they each have? And where do you think they came from?

Comments

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Advanced driving?

(Great post, original and has me thinking!)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

That must be true, yes! Something else that they both do equally, rather than having trained separately for?

I'm trying to think how Doyle's request that Bodie "measure me out a couple of miles" would fit in - Bodie being trained to read/scale the terrain, perhaps?

[tinturtle]

Police definitely learn special driving skills. I've had occasion to see police-in-training working on them.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

That must have been cool to watch! *g*

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

Great idea!
How about interrogation?

[ubicaritas9.livejournal.com]

Not just interrogation, but also questioning of witnesses, victims' family members. Two distinctly different methods of acquiring information.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Definitely different from interrogation! *g* And again something that Doyle would presumably have had training for in the Met, whereas it surely wouldn't be something the SAS/Paras/mercenaries train for!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Again, something they were probably both trained in for CI5, you mean? They must have done it separately first - Doyle would have been trained to do it in the police (I assume the police train for it!), whereas Bodie wouldn't have needed to in his line of work...

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

I was thinking more in Bodie's mercenary days. And maybe not-so-formal training

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I suppose it would depend on what kind of mercenary he was! I always assume that it's more like army fighting than anything else - like in WtJE, with Krivas planning military-style raids etc., and then getting out of the way once they'd been paid. And as you say - not-so-formal about training!

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I think they need lessons on how not to destroy a vehicle! LOL! They drive like nutters.

I enjoyed your musings about the lads. Doyle seems to be the one who sits in with Cowley during interrogations. Fugitive, Private Madness? What about Billy in Old Dogs? Cowley tells them to lay off the shoulder.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - they're definitely from "Let's get there with as much drama as possible" school of driving! *g*

Doyle does seem to do more interrogations than Bodie, doesn't he - again, maybe a training thing?

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[cim3745.livejournal.com]

Interesting post and good idea.

I am thinking about explosives, their knowledge about and defusing.
Bodie was definitely trained in the Army, I suppose, whereas Doyle might be tought in CI5. I don't know much about the MET.
There's the Bomb Squad, of course, but they obviously are equally familiar with explosives in Runner.

How could I forget, Purging - Hold your breath, sunshine Doyle is not in the least doubtful/uneasy.

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Explosives is a great example!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeah, explosives is an interesting one, because you'd assume that Bodie might be army-trained for that, but Doyle seems to be equally trained up in them. Maybe Bodie's army training wouldn't include explosives - I mean, ordinary soldiers aren't trained up in defusing bombs, that's why there's a bomb squad. And SAS is surely more about the action, so... So Bodie might have been trained to use grenades and mines of various kinds, perhaps, but maybe they were both trained to defuse them in CI5.

[cim3745.livejournal.com]

next thought......undercover work
In stories is often mentioned Doyle is better in going undercover. In Take Away it's Bodie, but is he trained for ? It's not an Army or para thing, isn't it ? What about Doyle and his time in the Drug Squad ? Or wasn't he ? Is it canon or fanfiction ?

Anyway, I can't imagine undercover-lessons for both of them.
Being good in this line of their job might depend on personality. You are good at it or not *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Again I'd assume that the police get some sort of training in being undercover, which Bodie wouldn't have needed. I suppose experience counts for something, though. They're both undercover at once in Takeaway, aren't they... And in Hiding to Nothing it's Doyle doing the main undercover, but Bodie pretends to be from the electricity company... *g*

Doyle was definitely in Drug Squad in canon - he says a few times "When I was with the Drug Squad" and Bodie pretends to fall asleep... *g*

I suppose undercover lessons (they don't need lessons under the covers, do they now..? *vbg*) would be more about lectures and perhaps watching films - I could see them both doing that. And then perhaps Doyle's more flexible, so he gets those jobs more, but technically they're both CI5-trained to do it...

[cim3745.livejournal.com]

they don't need lessons under the covers, do they now..? *vbg*
*ggg*

Of course, there's a lot of Doyle undercover as well. It was probably too early this morning, and my brain wasn't working properly ;-)

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Love your thinky thoughts, thank you! You always get me thinking - not always a good thing, but! I'm starting to think I need to go back and do a massive rewatch too. Shame!

I reckon they'd be teamed up to make the most of their individual strengths and skills, and being a team, they'd learn from one another as they went?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

A massive rewatch always sounds good! And then I get distracted from it by real life again... Be nice to think we might manage a group rewatch again, but I'm not sure it'd happen...

to make the most of their individual strengths and skills
See that's what got me wondering - what are their individual strengths and skills, compared to what they've learned to do in CI5? It seems to be converging more than I expected it to, to be honest! I assumed Bodie'd have SAS/army type skills that Doyle would lack, but in fact they seem to do most things like that equally (although Doyle does ask Bodie to measure him out two miles... *g*) We might also see more policing skills that Doyle has that we don't see Bodie doing, like Sherlock-Holmsing...

[ali15son.livejournal.com]

Survival in the outdoors, not a thing you see in the series but more of a story based thought. This always seems to come about when reading about Bodie and his mercanary days but not so much with Doyle but yet i would see this as something they would both be good at through their ci5 training.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I suppose we see them camping in Mixed Doubles, even if it is inside, and both being very easy with it, as though they're used to it. And Bodie fishes in Weekend in the Country, so perhaps he could do that for survival too... *g*

I wonder if that really is something they'd be trained in for CI5 - would they be expected to do much outdoor survival in their job? Bodie in the SAS and Paras, of course, but I don't expect it's part of Met training! Their brief is domestic, although we do see Bodie nipping into East Germany (or somewhere presumably behind the Iron Curtain, anyway)... As you say though, it's in a lot of stories, and it makes sense to me too... *g*