‘GHOSTS OF WINTERBORNE’ (P.R.O.B.E.)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Return to Winterborne School with Liz Shaw

They still can’t decide whether it’s ‘Winterborne’ or ‘Winterbourne’ on the DVD disc! 😀

I had no idea how interested people would be in my reviews for the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ series and BBV in general, since I’ve had a couple of requests to review the fourth instalment of ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ called ‘Ghosts of Winterborne’. I’d like to think I can do a review on a BBV production annually on my blog.

‘Ghosts of Winterborne’ is the fourth and final instalment of the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ series to feature Caroline John as Liz Shaw, which was released in 1996, shortly after ‘Unnatural Selection’. There is ‘When to Die’ released in 2015, but that’s something to talk about another time when we get to it. 😐

This particular ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episode is unique in a couple of ways as well as being the last one to feature Caroline John as Liz Shaw. Firstly, it’s a sequel to the second ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episode called ‘The Devil of Winterborne’. It’s been argued that ‘Ghosts’ is an unnecessary sequel and I guess that’s fair.

At the same time, I don’t mind this being a sequel to ‘Devil’, as it readdresses something we’re already familiar with in ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ and it’s very nice to see familiar actors and characters returning for this instalment. I also found myself gripped into the story, knowing what went on before in ‘Devil’.

In the story, it’s some time since the Devil of Winterborne had been exorcised by P.R.O.B.E. However, when Andrew Powell keeps having nightmares and sees Christian Purcell appearing to him, it’s up to Liz Shaw to find a way to lay the ghost to rest and to thwart the festering evil brewing.

Another aspect about this ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episode being unique is that on VHS, it received an 18 rating as opposed to the 12 rating it’s got on DVD. I was forewarned about this by Unofficial Who and I had to check up on IMDb to confirm it. I find it odd the DVD 12 rating doesn’t reflect the VHS 18 rating.

If ‘The Stranger’ episodes ‘Breach of the Peace’ and ‘Eye of the Beholder’ were given 15 ratings on their DVDs, why couldn’t the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episodes be rated 15 and 18 on their DVDs as on VHS instead of 12. I mean, does BBV think the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episodes won’t give 12-year-olds nightmares?

Mind you, I did ready myself for the many shocking gory moments I expected to find in ‘Ghosts’ compared to what I saw in ‘Unnatural Selection’. There is a hanging scene in the episode’s prologue, a gory stabbing scene in the Winterborne School’s attic and Peter Davison gets turned into a husk. 😮

For the rest of the episode, it’s fairly watchable. Also, I don’t think the Peter Davison becoming a husk moment is too bad, as it’s a distance away and it’s not addressed much. This also must be the very first time I’ve heard Caroline John as Liz Shaw utter the ‘s**t’ word in the ‘Doctor Who’ universe.

Unlike ‘The Stranger’ series, ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ is more horror-themed as a series and delves into more supernatural elements. That might be my problem with ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ spin-off series, especially with it being short-lived and not having enough variety in terms of the stories it can tell. 😦

It also fits considering Mark Gatiss is a horror fan himself, having learnt that fact from checking out the ‘Sherlock’ series. And whilst I appreciate Mark Gatiss being the writer for all of the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episodes featuring Caroline John as Liz, it’d help to have more variety as opposed to just having horror. 😐

Then again, the murder-mystery aspects of the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ series are enjoyable to get over the horror aspects that I’m not quite comfortable with. And yes, Mark Gatiss is once again the writer of this ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episode. Surprisingly though, he doesn’t play a character compared to the first three.

I’m shocked to discover that. 😀 Usually, Mark Gatiss would play a character in a production he’s written. How come he didn’t come back to play Georgie the gardener? Where was he in ‘Ghosts’? Did he retire? ‘Ghosts’ is once again directed by Bill Baggs, who’s directed most of the BBV productions.

Caroline John once again is very good as Liz Shaw in the episode. Mind you, the last two ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episodes haven’t really delved much into Liz’s character compared to ‘Devil’, especially as that explored her mourning the loss of her father. There’s a touch of that in this when she visits his grave.

It doesn’t help that the third and fourth ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episodes are in the 40-minute range, with ‘Ghosts’ being 42 minutes compared to ‘Devil’ which was 80 minutes. Then again, Liz is a strong character anyway, and it’s nice to see how she handles this case and returns to Winterborne School.

Louise Jameson returns as Patsy Haggard in the episode and is equally good. Mind you, like Liz, Patsy has a similar problem as her character isn’t given much development compared to her previous appearances. Yes, she does become the new minister within the Ministry of Defence for P.R.O.B.E. 🙂

This is after she replaced Geoffrey Beevers as Brian Rutherford’s character in ‘Unnatural Selection’. But apart from having a few nice scenes with Liz Shaw in the episode, there’s not much to say about Patsy Haggard in this episode. It would’ve been brilliant to have had her be active in the story’s plot.

She could’ve easily fitted in the Lou Bayliss/D.I. Burke/Colonel Ackroyd character that’s sadly missing from this ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episode. In fact, wait a minute! How come Terry Molloy didn’t come back to play to D.I. Burke, having been in ‘Devil’ himself. Even Jonathan Rigby as Cummings didn’t appear in this story. 😦

Peter Davison meanwhile does return in this episode to play Gavin Purcell, the disgraced headmaster who encouraged his nephew Christian to believe that he was the Devil of Winterborne called Isaac Greatorex. It was interesting to see what happened to Gavin, as he’d been put on trial and put in prison.

Liz Shaw ends up in an unholy alliance with Gavin Purcell, as they and Margaret Wyndham sort out the ghostly return of Christian once and for all. It was shocking to hear Peter Davison speaking with a demonic voice once Gavin had been possessed by the ‘devil’. It’s also sad Gavin became decimated.

Reece Shearsmith returns as Andrew Powell in the episode. It was interesting to see the story from his point of view, as he struggled to contend with the nightmares and receive the visits of the ghostly Christian upon his return to school. Andrew is pressured to do the evil work of the ghostly Christian.

It was horrible to see Andrew drinking the blood of his victim Max in the attic. I would’ve thought Andrew might’ve been stronger than that and able to resist, or at least have either Liz or Gavin stop him if that occurred. I’m astonished Andrew was able to get away with murdering Max by the end. 😐

Daniel Matthews (or is it Daniel Harcourt, I don’t know) returns to play Christian, Gavin Purcell’s nephew who was revealed to be the murderer in ‘Devil’ and has now become a ghost in ‘Ghosts’. Daniel Matthews/Harcourt also plays Christian’s ancestor, Isaac Greatorex in the prologue, I believe.

This is when we see Greatorex being hanged through Andrew’s eyes in a nightmare, I think. It’s disturbing when Christian kept appearing to Andrew to make him do his evil work by choosing a victim and drink his blood for him so that he can be resurrected. Why is it that these things happen?

The story features David Hankinson as Max and Nathan Hamlett as Ian, the two schoolboys Andrew meets at his school. Andrew chooses Max out of the two boys so that he can stab him, kill him and drink his blood for Christian. Max is rather reckless and immature when watching him in the episode.

Incidentally, David Hankinson is recognised nowadays for being a Dalek operator in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series during the Russell T. Davies era. 😀 He also starred in the Big Finish audio ‘Loups-Garoux’ with Peter Davison. David has also attended the ‘Bedford Who Charity Con 6’ back in October 2021.

It was nice to see Charmain May back in ‘P.R.O.B.E.’, albeit playing a different character in this episode. In ‘Ghosts’, she plays Margaret Wyndham, the twin sister of Barbara Taploe who was killed in ‘Devil’. Margaret helps Liz to solve the mystery and is present when Gavin summons ‘the devil’. 😐

The end credits for ‘Ghosts’ list Mrs. Wyndham’s first name as ‘Barbara’ instead of ‘Margaret’ as said on-screen. I wonder if the editor of this episode’s end credits is the same one for ‘Devil’, since Brian Rutherford was played by ‘Patricia Merrick’, not ‘Geoffrey Beevers’, according to ‘Devil’s end credits. 😀

There’s also Alan Nicholas as the librarian in the episode. ‘Ghosts of Winterborne’ concludes with Liz and Andrew sitting together and he shares what will happen in his future at Winterborne School. Liz offers Andrew her pipe to which he takes, though he coughs quite badly from it, which I found amusing to watch. 😀

The DVD special features include ‘Stranger Than Fiction III – Part Two’, which contains behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews focusing on the making of many BBV productions like ‘The Stranger’ series and the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ series. It was insightful to hear the actors talking about acting in general. 🙂

‘Ghosts of Winterborne’, in my opinion, isn’t as good as ‘The Devil of Winterborne’. I found it better than ‘Unnatural Selection’ and I found it quite compelling to watch, but I think it would’ve benefited greatly in being an 80-minute episode instead of a 42-minute episode to make it more worthwhile.

Caroline John continues to be excellent as Liz Shaw in these ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episodes and it’s always a delight to see actors like Peter Davison, Louise Jameson, Reece Shearsmith and Chairman May make an appearance in these productions. ‘Ghosts’ isn’t a necessary sequel to ‘Devil’, but I find it good enough.

As for the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ series overall in featuring Caroline John as Liz Shaw, I think it’s okay. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed ‘The Stranger’ series by BBV with Colin Baker and it’s a shame it’s not more than four episodes. But from what I’ve seen, I found this a fascinating ‘Doctor Who’ spin-off series.

It’s surreal that Caroline John did just four ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episodes, matching to the four ‘Doctor Who’ stories she did with Jon Pertwee in the classic TV series in 1970. I wonder why she didn’t do more. Despite this, it’s been nice to check out how Liz Shaw fared out as a character after her U.N.I.T. days.

There is one more ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episode to check out with Liz Shaw, but it’s very sad that Caroline John isn’t in it. 😦

‘Ghosts of Winterborne’ (P.R.O.B.E.) rating – 7.5/10

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The previous story For Liz was ‘Unnatural Selection’ (P.R.O.B.E.) (Film)	The next story For Liz is ‘Eternity Weeps’ (Book)
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