P.R.O.B.E. (series)

P.R.O.B.E. was a series of direct-to-video films produced by BBV Productions, with four of its five instalments being released during the period of Doctor Who ' s cancellation.

The series starred Caroline John as Dr Liz Shaw and featured her adventures working at the Preternatural Research Bureau, investigating unusual phenomena whilst struggling with the indifference and derision of the government and the police.

Premise
The series followed Liz Shaw some years after she left UNIT and the Doctor. As established in The Zero Imperative, Liz was headhunted to set up a department for the Ministry of Defence called the Preternatural Research Bureau (or P.R.o.B.e.) because of her work at the University of Cambridge. She accepted but was unaware that P.R.o.B.e. was to be grossly underfunded, understaffed and based in a single cramped office at Ashley House.

Unlike UNIT, P.R.o.B.e. was a special division answerable to the British government with its purpose being to investigate the strange and the out of the ordinary. Liz's only colleague was assistant Louise Bayliss, who was transferred by minister Brian Rutherford in a bid to have the organisation closed. However, permission was required from Liz's ministry liaison and later lover Patsy Haggard, who refused to do so and frequently went out of her way to assist Liz.

Although mention of the Doctor and the events of season 7 was forbidden due to licensing restrictions, a number of Doctor Who actors featured in the series in new roles, notably Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy and Louise Jameson in the recurring role of Patsy.

The first four films were written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Bill Baggs. After Caroline John's death in 2012, the role of Liz was recast and given to Hazel Burrows in When to Die, a tribute to John written and directed by Baggs. Jameson did not return as Patsy, who was instead played by Georgette Ellison.

Production team
All five P.R.O.B.E. films were directed by Bill Baggs, who also produced all of them bar The Zero Imperative which was produced by Andy Grant. Mark Gatiss wrote the first four films whilst Baggs wrote When to Die. Mark Ayres, who did music for season 25 and season 26 of Doctor Who, made original music for the first few films, with the fifth being done by Olivia Thomas.

Cast

 * Liz Shaw - Caroline John and Hazel Burrows
 * Patsy Haggard - Louise Jameson and Georgette Ellison
 * Cummings - Jonathan Rigby
 * Christian Purcell - Daniel Matthews
 * Gavin Purcell - Peter Davison
 * Andrew Powell - Reece Shearsmith
 * Brian Rutherford - Geoffrey Beevers
 * Julie Gilchrist - Patricia Merrick
 * William Bruffin, Georgie and Alfred Emerson - Mark Gatiss
 * Barbara Taploe and Margaret Wyndham - Charmian May

Doctor Who actors
A number of actors from Doctor Who played the roles of other characters throughout the P.R.O.B.E. series. Louise Jameson played Patsy Haggard in the first four films, Jon Pertwee played Jeremiah O'Kane, Peter Davison played Patient Zero and Gavin Purcell, Colin Baker played Peter Russell, Sylvester McCoy played Colin Dove, Sophie Aldred played a public relations officer, Geoffrey Beevers played Brian Rutherford and Terry Molloy played D.I. Burke.

Stories

 * The Zero Imperative (1994)
 * The Devil of Winterborne (1995)
 * Unnatural Selection (1996)
 * Ghosts of Winterborne (1996)
 * When to Die (2015)

Continuity

 * On the wall of the P.R.o.B.e. office are a number of newspaper articles relating to UNIT stories from Doctor Who, namely the Yeti, (TV: The Web of Fear) the Autons, (TV: Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Autons) Mars Probe 7, (TV: The Ambassadors of Death) and Project Inferno. (TV: Inferno) Liz tells Louise that she once worked for "another acronymic organisation" but that she could not give her any more details.
 * In PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet, Roz Forrester mentions that the organisations "PROBE" and LONGBOW were familiar with the Doctor.