One of the many Doctor Who spinoffs was P.R.O.B.E. starring one Carolyn John as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (as produced by BBV - Bill Baggs Video). I got my hands on them episodes and let's watch 'em.
The first one is The Zero Imperative, and features a clinic for patients with mental problems. Although the only one that matters in the patient in room Zero (clearly a natural numbering scheme here). Dr Dove is in charge of the clinic and is about to be closed down when Peter Russell steps in. However, there have been several murders in the area, attracting the attention of Liz Shaw, who much uncover the connection between all the characters involved.
The plot summary might seem a little confused, but there's several plot strands in this story (written by Mark Gatiss) and very little of them many any sense and even less are connected with the actual plot. Indeed, Liz is largely irrelevant to what is going on, and easily could be written out of her own story. She certainly isn't putting any amazing scientific prowess of display and I do wonder if this story might have once featured Sarah Jane Smith investigating.
But at least we have a heck of a cast. Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, Jon Pertwee to name three. There are very sly references to them being the Doctor, and at one point Liz thanks Jon's character with "Thank you, doctor." Although it's kind of odd that she doesn't say "hey, you look just like this chap I used to know..." We also get Sophie Aldred and Louise Jameson and Mark Gatiss steps from behind the writer's desk to have a role.
At the end of the day... this isn't a great start. Cast isn't everything, and the story is a lot of a mess. Let's hope this picks up.
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