Back in the dark days pre-2005 when BBC TV’s Doctor Who had disappeared from television screens, enterprising fans took it upon themselves to fill the void left by the Time Lord’s absence by creating original audio and video content utilising licenced characters from the show’s history and popular actors from the series itself. One such series was P.R.O.B.E. – the Preternatural Research Bureau, which featured Caroline John reprising her role as Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Shaw, an assistant to Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor during his first season in 1970. Created and directed by Bill Baggs for BBV Productions and with scripts largely written by Mark Gatiss, the straight-to-video/DVD series – which also featured guest appearances from Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy with other Who luminaries such as Louise Jameson, Sophie Aldred, Terry Molloy (Davros), Geoffrey Beevers, and Mark Gatiss’ League of Gentleman colleague Reece Sheersmith appearing in the initial releases – saw Liz Shaw and the  P.R.O.B.E. team investigating supernatural and preternatural mysteries in present day England. After Caroline John’s death in 2012, the role of Liz was recast and Hazel Burrows portrayed the character in a new production entitled When to Die, written and directed by Baggs.

Fans of the series will be pleased to learn that P.R.O.B.E. lives on in a new series of video diaries available exclusively on the BBV Productions YouTube channel with new episodes planned and with early access available to subscribers to the channel. This new video diary series will feature the same new P.R.O.B.E. team who will lead the forthcoming P.R.O.B.E.: Out of the Shadows short story anthology, published soon by Achbeatle Press.

You can check out the new P.R.O.B.E. video diaries here.