Archie MacTavish
Archie MacTavish was a Scottish––born P.R.O.B.E. operative and a long-time work partner to Giles until the two were tragically separated by Giles's apparent death in Manchester in 2018. Giles and his team would later discover that Archie had actually survived falling into the time rift, and made a deal with the Yssgaroth within the Void, later returning to reality as a vengeful vampire who blamed P.R.O.B.E. for abandoning him.
Biography
Early life
Archie was born in the small Scottish town of Falkirk. He had some history with Hamish, an old man who lived on the edge of town and had once survived a Kelpie attack, but refused to speak of it with Giles, being generally very protective of his privacy. (HOMEVID: Kelpie [+]Loading...["Kelpie (home video)"])
Career at P.R.O.B.E.
Archie joined P.R.O.B.E. in Giles's second year (WC: Manchester [+]Loading...["Manchester (webcast)"]) and they would work together closely for eight years. (AUDIO: What Happened in Manchester [+]Loading...["What Happened in Manchester (short story)"]) His P.R.O.B.E. ID was dated a shaving been issued to him on 23 November 2010. (HOMEVID: Kelpie [+]Loading...["Kelpie (home video)"]) In addition to field work, his and Giles's duties included filing documents, though they didn't take that part of the job very seriously, often filing important papers "anywhere, just to get it over with". (HOMEVID: Ex-President [+]Loading...["Ex-President (home video)"])
In 2011, Giles and Archie were sent to the Vault by Patsy to investigate a duo of deaths. Meeting director Vanessa Hardcastle, she explained that the deaths were accidental. She brought them to head scientist Miles Werbiansky, who gave Giles the inventory of the Vault. Upon seeing remnants of Cyberon, Vanessa and Miles took Giles and Archie to the low-risk storage, the area the drug was kept, discovering that a container had been damaged and the drug was loose. It inhabited the deceased body of a young girl, Abigail, only to find that her being a werewolf caused mutations to the Cyberon. Archie distracted the Cyberon away from the group, and he later reunited with Giles. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor [+]Loading...["A Worthy Successor (short story)"])
Giles would later recall how, in addition to Cyberons, he and Archie had tackled Banshees and Valsheeth. (WC: Manchester [+]Loading...["Manchester (webcast)"]) Doctor Haggard once sent Archie to Helsinki in search of a vampire nest. When he returned Archie and Giles fought Shed Scales. (PROSE: The Door We Forgot [+]Loading...["The Door We Forgot (short story)"])
On 8 March 2018, having noticed a report of Kelpie attacks in Falkirk in the newspapers, Giles and Archie travelled there, where, with no prior explanation, Archie confidently drove them to Hamish's insights so they could get his insight about the creatures, without elaborating on how he and Hamish knew each other to Giles. The three then went to the stream near Hamish's house, where the Kelpie soon manifested and attempted to drown Giles. Hamish rushed in to save him, tearing the creature's silver necklace from its neck and throwing it to the side; Giles got away in the commotion while Hamish himself was pulled into the water. Finding it in the tal grass with Giles's help, Archie was able to use the necklace to compel the creature to release Hamish and leave Falkirk, as intended. However, it was already too late for Hamish, who suffered a heart attack due to the stress and prolonged lack of air. Archie stayed in Falkirk for the funeral while Giles drove back to London, at Archie's own request. (HOMEVID: Kelpie [+]Loading...["Kelpie (home video)"])
On 23 April 2018 Archie and Giles investigated the haunting of Garry Nelson's house by a poltergeist. The two uncovered that his young son Steven had been the one to summon it using a Ouija board, and that it was being strengthened by the psychic energy generated by the anguish caused by the father and son's increasing distance from one another as they dealt with their grief over Rachel Nelson's death in clashing ways. Having cut off its food supply, they were then able to send the "Peckham Poltergeist" back to the Dark Dimensions using an ordinary banishment ritual. (WC: Peckham Poltergeist [+]Loading...["Peckham Poltergeist (webcast)"])
Manchester and mourning
Archie seemingly died in Manchester on 7 November 2018 during a mission headed by Giles involving a dimensional tear that had formed in the city. While they interrupted the cult ritual, Archie was shot dead by one of the cultists and his corpse sucked into the tear. Giles spent a week in a grieving stupor afterwards, (WC: Manchester [+]Loading...["Manchester (webcast)"], AUDIO: What Happened in Manchester [+]Loading...["What Happened in Manchester (short story)"]) and Archie's death remained a sore subject with him for several years. (WC: Shadows of Doubt [+]Loading...["Shadows of Doubt (webcast)"], etc.)
For example, the Algea exploited Giles's feelings of guilt over his death, (PROSE: The Door We Forgot [+]Loading...["The Door We Forgot (short story)"]) which were also dredged up after he nearly fell prey to Stacey Facade and realised how close he'd come to abandoning P.R.O.B.E.. (WC: Stacey Facade [+]Loading...["Stacey Facade (webcast)"])
Survival and return
Unknown to P.R.O.B.E., however, Archie MacTavish had not been completely dead when he was sucked into the portal and his functions were preserved in the space between dimensions. After drifting, he made contact with the Spiral Yssgaroth, the "reservoir of evil". Corrupted, he made a deal with the Yssgaroth entity, which helped him return to his universe to work on a ritual in time for the next Perihelion that would open a full gateway between the two universes. Returned to Earth as a vampire, he spent a year arranging attacks on P.R.O.B.E. as the only potential obstacle to his plans.
On the night of the ritual in 2021, Archie unleashed an army of corrupted creatures on London and revealed himself to Giles. The two former friends fought. Ultimately, P.R.O.B.E. successfully interrupted Archie's ritual. Archie was captured to stand trial and locked away in a high-security facility in Belmarsh. (PROSE: Preternatural Nights [+]Loading...["Preternatural Nights (short story)"])
