Review by Cavan Gilbey
Torchwood is back with a brand new seventh series, following from the Aliens Among Us and God Among Us series previously released. Now considering that I had not heard either of those two series before this point I thought I would be hopelessly lost but rest assured that this boxset feels like a good enough jumping on point since the writers do a good job at getting you up to speed quickly. The four stories here all have a strong linking theme of prejudice, and the set takes the themes to some interesting places. As a continuation of what we have seen on television, this is a worthy successor to the four series we got on our screens.
Aliens Next Door by Ash Darby opens up the set and sees Torchwood agents Ng and Orr performing a surveillance mission on a small cul-de-sac, hardly exciting stuff. They’ve got a slightly overbearing host, who loves spying on the neighbours just as much as they hate it. But amongst the petty gossip, one neighbour stands out to the rest of the community. And they want him out.
Darby gives us a lowkey Story about the nature of social media hate-speech and misinformation right out the gate, and the thematic concept alone feels so Torchwood. How the series hasn’t combined any of its social media monsters with the modern idea of right-wing radicalisation yet is beyond me but Darby finally gave it us. The idea that the street’s boiling over rage is caused by experiments with somewhat good intentions does add into this slightly nihilistic notion that good intentions lead to exploitation. With social media I think this is bang on satire and commentary, a public forum naturally leads to vocal member spreading certain damaging ideologies. I think having an empathic like Orr especially lends to this story and Darby does some great work in showing the ways that a mental attack like this can affect them.
Even though I’m not too familiar with either Ng or Orr, Darby does a good job making this feel like a jumping on point for the characters. The performances from Alexandria Riley and Samantha Béart respectively are really solid. The pair have a good chemistry but one where you can tell that there isn’t exactly trust at the moment, it makes for an interesting dynamic. I also really enjoyed the slight comic relief that Melanie Kilburn provides as Betty. Kilburn also does a great job at shifting into a man sinister characterisation as Betty is revealed to have this slightly more bigoted side to her, although I do think it is a bit cliché to do the ‘bigot reformed’ trope in a story like this and might have been more subversive to actually have her double down on the misinformation she was given.
The only element I didn’t like was the allusion to the series’ reoccurring villain. If you wholeheartedly believe I will take a creepy little girl seriously then I think you are ten years behind us all culturally.
A good opener with a solid bit of social commentary at its core. It feels like some of the best smaller scale stories from the monthly releases, but with a greater touch of modernity that just helps it feel that extra bit more engaging for me.
8/10
Next is Una McCormack’s Colin Alone. Colin Colchester-Price’s husband has been missing for a while now, and he’s beginning to get lonely. To make things worse his life seems to begin to fall apart in front of his eyes. He’s being investigated by a pair of shadowy figures who love his baking, his rent payments are going missing, everyone at work hates him and his phone got knicked. Colin just wants his husband back, the trouble is his husband works for Torchwood.
McCormack’s story is something of a kitchen-sink drama, a genre I am really beginning to warm to. Its simple and heavily character focused which is perfect for me as someone who wants to get to know Colin more, especially since I haven’t heard a story with him before. But much like the previous entry in the set, McCormack has made something that serves as an easy jumping on point for new listeners. The story of having a partner work for a secret service is open for some much tragedy and sadness, and while there is some of that here the narrative never derails into trauma porn. Colin is characterised so well as just a normal Tom, Dick or Harry. He has human problems and does his best to deal with them best he can. I am impressed with how well McCormack captures this sense of loneliness and the fear that can come from thinking you’ve been forgotten by the world, it adds a level of social horror to the story that feels authentically Torchwood.
The central performance from Joseph Sibtain as Colin is outstanding. Colin feels realistic, and not in that sort of faux way that we typically use to describe characters. Sibtain plays Colin with this strong sense of grounded humanity, never being afraid to take Colin into moments of genuine sadness and anxiety by holding back his performance. You can tell how much care there is here for making Colin both sympathetic and empathetic to the listener, and Sibtain is flawless in his delivery. Another cast highlight is the pairing of Sandra Huggett and Chris Jarman as the sinister Mira and Jeff respectively. A really slimy set of agents who play good cop/bad cop with Colin, they are really strong antagonists and I can tell the pairing had a great time getting to record their lines with how they relish just being evil.
Colin Alone may very well be the set-seller for me. A strong and simple slice-of-life drama about how Torchwood can just infect and ruin every part of a person’s life.
10/10
Next is Misty Eyes by Tim Foley. Having started a new life on the coast of Iceland, Gwen and Rhys live a quiet life away from the horrors of Torchwood so they can raise their daughter in peace. All of this comes crashing down one day as Ng, the last person Gwen ever wanted to see, comes knocking and brings an army of mysterious ghosts with her.
This is the story that everyone was waiting to hear. The triumphant return of Gwen Cooper to the Torchwood audios, and it ultimately comes across as a bit underwhelming. Not bad, just relatively underwhelming. For the most part Gwen is not the focus here, instead the story wants to continue breaking down the character of Ng and their place in the world. Gwen and Rhys happen to just be part of that. There are some moments where Gwen gets to reconcile with Ng about the horrible body possession stuff that occurred in Aliens Among Us, but so much of Foley’s story is just them shouting at each other with very little in the way of character nuance from either side. I’m not going to say anything else about the story because, like with much of Foley’s work, there is a really effective conclusion that is easily the best moment of the episode.
The central cast of three are doing excellent work here. Eve Myles is perfectly capturing a more world weary Gwen who just wants to escape this life, that anger feels so well realised in Myles vocal work that its hard to vividly visualise this in your head. Kai Owen has never stopped being delightful as Rhys, always bringing a very matey energy to the character that is undercut here with a real sense of protectiveness. Alexandria Riley is starting to grow on me as Ng, especially with some of the characterisation Foley gives her here.
This feels like a rare misstep from Foley for me, as it doesn’t quite live up to the potential of the character arcs at play here especially when it just devolves into shouting matches at multiple points. The central threat is relatively generic, but the finale twist does make them have a greater significance and nuance. I think this is probably the story I am least likely to remember from the set. By no means bad, just not as good as the set-up leads you to believe.
7/10
Finally we come to Moderation by James Goss. Petra is an up and coming reporter with a finger on the pulse of all the current stories, everything from coma patients to protests for the freedom of a controversial prisoner. However she isn’t exactly popular with certain readers, and Tyler Steele just can’t moderate the message boards well enough thanks to the algorithm. However, Petra’s readership has been dwindling. The solution is simple; kill Petra.
Goss’ stories uses the first two stories as a thematic springboard, thus providing us with a good conclusion to this boxset’s ongoing criticism of how easily racism and prejudice can brew from simple sources of perceived good. Here we look more directly at the British public themselves and take growing far-right sentiments as a sign that the country is becoming more fractured by the day. For the most part Goss’ script is completely devoid of any science fiction concepts, one again letting the boxset slip into a strong slice of life style. For stories like this it works best since Torchwood has often been a great source of satire for modern life, especially on Big Finish with stories like Thirst Trap, Cascade and Outbreak. Moderation, while often very one the nose with its real world allusions, does do a great job at highlighting the irrationality of far-right ideologies; there’s a moment where Petra is interviewing a protestor about the teaching of homosexuality as part of school sex-ed lessons, naturally the information is being misrepresented and the protestor is obsessed with children’s bodies without ever having a child leading. I think the fact that these issues are currently reaching a kind of zenith makes this story all the more important, and Goss handles a lot of these issues really well as the evil ideologies just prove themselves to be evil without characters needing to point it out.
Maya Saroya is our leading lady and she does an excellent job at showing how hatred can really wear a person down, Petra is spirited but has these moments of vulnerability that remind you just how much power prejudice can have emotionally over people. Jonny Green returns as Tyler Steele, and while he doesn’t get much to do throughout, I enjoyed a lot of the banter and chemistry he has with Saroya’s Petra. Silas Carson brings in a suitably slimy and sleazy performance as the head of the publication Barry Beans, it’s a great villain performance that always has you suspecting that he has a deeper level of malice he can slip to beneath his corporate smile.
This story ends the story on a high note, a really great example of how Torchwood can be a strong setting and format for pretty biting satirical pieces. Goss’ script is witty but highlights the nihilism of living in a decaying country, paired with a cast who sell every live.
10/10
Among Us 1 is a stellar start to this new age of Torchwood. We’ve got a really strong thematic link of prejudice and perception running throughout that each writer tackles with expert nuance and variety, each one providing a new take on the same issue so you never fell like any of the stories are repeating themselves. The direction from Scott Handcock is powerful throughout, and paired with Blair Mowat’s outstanding score then we have some stories that never fail to capture the emotional weight of the situations presented. As an opener for the new series, this gets the ball rolling perfectly with an interesting overarching threat. Lets hope the next two sets can satisfyingly keep the momentum on the same level.
9/10
Review: Torchwood – The Last Love Song Of Suzie Costello
