Torchwood: The Lost Files

Torchwood: The Lost Files are three forty-five minute radio plays, set before Miracle Day featuring Captain Jack Harness (John Barrowman), Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd). They were broadcast on Radio 4 a few weeks ago, but if like me you missed them, they can be downloaded from AudioGO for a very reasonable fee.

The Devil and Miss Carew by Rupert Laight

This is a typical Torchwood tv episode, which also features Rhys (Kai Owen) and the voice talents of Martin Jarvis and Juliet Mills.

Some old people are not dying: Miss Carew is 80+, on the brink of death, and is now out jogging. Plus there are power outages, followed by spikes which even affect The Hub.

Are the two things connected? Ianto and Jack track down what or who is behind the power drain whilst Gwen goes after Miss Carew.

This is a solid adventure, with Rhys getting involved and joking about being one of the Torchwood team!


Submission by Ryan Scott

When the Torchwood SUV goes into the River Severn after a car chase they all hear a horrific cry. Back at The Hub, they are able to determine that it's a cry for help and that it's emanating from "the bottom of the world", the Mariana Trench the deepest part of the ocean.

Calling in an old friend (flame) of Ianto's they mange to acquire a submarine which takes the four of them face to face with the source of the distress call.

As well as the adventure, Submission also explores Jack's immortality, and his inability to be absolved or forgiven and his relationships with Gwen and Ianto.


The House of the Dead by James Goss

Jack and Ianto are attending the last night of opening of Wales's most haunted pub, The House of the Dead, where a seance is taking place. Jack says it must be stopped at all costs, else everyone will die.

He meets resistance from the medium, Mrs Wintergreen and the pub landlord, especially when ghosts start appearing...

This is a Jack and Ianto episode, Gwen being stuck in traffic. All I'll say is, prepared to have your heart broken. I wasn't expecting to be snivelling as I walked home.

An unexpected but moving conclusion to this series and one which merits a second listen.

I really enjoy these full cast radio plays and this is a very good trio and it's lovely to hear Ianto again.

My reviews of Everyone Says Hello and Hidden and Border Princes.

OT: Torchwood Comic Strip

Watch, the satellite tv channel which is home to Richard & Judy now, is currently repeating Torchwood and has an exclusive comic strip on its website called Ice Monsters.

View the comic and read more about it on Watch's website.

OT: Torchwood Trailor for Children of Earth

A preview of Torchwood: Children of Earth is now online at the BBC's Torchwood site.

OT: Torchwood - Series 3 preview

Digital Spy has an interview with Torchwood producer Peter Bennett about next year's series:

What's the plotline of this series?
"It's different to every other year. It's not a story about spaceships, but it's about a government that did a deal with aliens back in the '60s, and they're now dealing with the consequences of that deal when the sins of their past come back to haunt them."

What was the thinking behind switching to doing a five-episode serial?
"Having done 26 standalone stories, we kind of wanted to take this series to another level and by making it one story over five nights, we feel we've done that. It's big, it's epic, and it's very different."

Read the whole interview, here.

Torchwood: Border Princes - Audio Book Review

My thoughts on another Torchwood audio book. I've reviewed two others here.

Torchwood: Border Princes by Dan Abnett (April, 2007) BBC Audiobooks

I was very impressed with Dan Abnett's Everyone Says Hello and Border Princes is of an equally high standard.

The book opens with the team expanded on the tv series by the inclusion of a new character, James Mayer, and goes straight into an 'end of the world scenario' with an alien artefact, the Amok, possessing whoever comes into contact with it before killing them. Even when the Amok is finally contained at the Hub, it soon exerts its influence over the team to get itself released. As well as the Amok, the team have to track down a salesman using alien technology to hypnotise home owners into buying double glazing as well as restraining a killer robot from another planet.

Meanwhile, another part of the story deals with the mysterious Mr Dine and his objective of protecting 'the Principal' which overrides all else, and on the personal side, Gwen rows with boyfriend Rhys and seeks solace with James.

Border Princes is action packed, the pace rarely letting up and includes several investigations that would take an episode each on the tv. Gwen, James and Jack carry most of the action with Tosh and Owen playing smaller roles and Ianto barely getting a line. Eve Myles narrates well though she doesn't mimic the other Torchwood actors' voices particularly closely so Jack sounds as Welsh as Gwen at times, rather than his normal American. But in the main you can tell who is speaking and she does have a lovely voice which can send a shiver down your spine.

I'm very glad I bought this - it was worth every penny.

The next Torchwood audio book release appears to be Torchwood: In The Shadows by Joseph Lidster, released in March 2009. Lidster was responsible for the abridgement of Border Princes and also wrote Lost Souls (review coming soon).

OT: Doctor Who - Christmas Special preview

The first two minutes of this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special were shown as part of Children in Need on Friday and can now be (re)watched on the Children in Need website.

You can also watch the a video of the prize winners of a trip behind the scenes of the Torchwood/Doctor Who film set.

OT: Torchwood Enemy named

I've just returned from listening to Russell T Davies and John Barrowman being interviewed by Caitlin Moran at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. I hope to post a bit more about it but the main new bit of information I gleaned was the name of the baddy in Season 3 of Torchwood. This season is to run (hopefully) on 5 consecutive nights on BBC One, after 9pm, and each episode will end on a cliff-hanger, episode four being the 'worst'.

The enemy is called (highlight to see text): 456

I unexpectedly met Bookwitch and her lovely daughter just outside the building. Small world!

OT: Doctor Who, Torchwood & Sarah Jane Adventures Audio Books

I've put together an amazon list of the Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures audio books released in 2008. Visit it here.

I have borrowed some of these titles from the library, bought a couple off ebay and now have a review copy of Torchwood: Lost Souls. I've previously reviewed some here, here and here.

The next release from the BBC is The Forever Trap, an audio exclusive story, narrated by Catherine Tate and released on 9th October.


Synopsis: When the TARDIS is invaded by a holographic marketing scam, the Doctor and Donna find themselves trapped on the Edifice, a purpose-built complex of luxury apartments in space. Their new environs leave much to be desired: millions of beings from across the Universe have been gathered to live side by side in similar apartments. Instead of creating neighbourly affection, it’s led to terrible battles being waged in the corridors and on the stairwells.

The Doctor and Donna must cross the paths of deadly alien mobs as they search for the Edifice’s ultimate authority. Who – or what – lies at the heart of the incredible complex? What destructive scourge is eating away at the Edifice itself? And are the Doctor and Donna trapped forever in this living hell?

You can listen or download (68 MB) samples of narration by Elizabeth Sladen, David Tennant and Freema Agyeman from the BBC Doctor Who shop site.

OT: Torchwood Audio Books

As promised, here are my thoughts on the two Torchwood audio books I've listened to recently. Perhaps as some kind of compensation for the events at the end of series 2 of Torchwood and also not being able to appear in the last two episodes of the current series of Doctor Who, these audio books are narrated by Burn Gorman and Naoko Mori aka my two favourite Torchwood characters, Owen and Tosh.

The two books, Everyone Says Hello by Dan Abnett and Hidden by Steven Savile are exclusive to audio and couldn't be more opposite.

Everyone Says Hello begins with unexplained rift activity and Owen being called to the Hub. On his way in he notices that everyone is being particularly friendly and offering up interminable family history and preferences. He jokingly asks Jack if that's the reason they've been called in and it soon turns out to be true. Tosh and Ianto stay behind at the Hub to find the source of the disruption whilst Jack, Owen and Gwen, complete with protective wristbands, head out. They discover that most of the local population have turned into 'greeters' with some exceptions including PC Pratt who joins them. Unfortunately for Jack, he cracks his wristband and begins to succumb to the 'infection'. Can the team stop him going over to the friendly side and can they stay alive themselves? Paying homage to classic Trek, Jack pulls a Captain Kirk on the aliens to save the day.

Whilst the plot of Everyone Says Hello is fairly straightforward, Hidden is anything but simple and indeed the answers and details of what's occured remained hidden, at least to me. It begins with the crash of an Environment Agency helicopter with the loss of the pilot and passengers (I was a bit distracted by this as I used to work for the EA) which is shortly followed by two other accidents. Jack is upset when he hears about the deaths and strides out of the Hub leaving the rest of the Torchwood gang puzzled and unable to contact him. Ianto is sent out to a fertility clinic and Owen and Gwen off to an archaelogical find - the tomb of an alchemist who was working on having eternal life. The action then steps up with Ianto being chased in a car and later Owen and Gwen being shot at. Quite exciting stuff but the reasons behind it all do not make much sense in the final analysis.

Burn Gorman nails the accents of his fellow human team members and does a variety of Welsh accents credibly but he cannot or does not attempt to mimic Jack as played by John Barrowman. There's only an occasional hint of an American accent. Meanwhile Naoko Mori is able to capture Owen and does a very good Captain Jack but struggles with Gwen and Ianto and in a conversation between Gwen and Owen I couldn't tell who was speaking.

In conclusion, Everyone Says Hello is well narrated, easy to follow and amusing in parts. Hidden is convoluted, a mess of a story and the narration quality is a bit variable.

OT: Doctor Who & Torchwood book offers

The Book People currently have ten Doctor Who books for £10:

* The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier
* Wishing Well by Trevor Baxendale
* The Last Dodo by Jacqueline Rayner
* The Price of Paradise by Colin Brake
* Wetworld by Mark Michalowski
* Forever Autumn by Mark Morris
* Sting of the Zygons by Stephen Cole
* Sick Building by Paul Magrs
* The Art of Destruction by Stephen Cole
* Wooden Heart by Martin Day

and three Torchwood books for £4.99:

* Another Life by Peter Anghelides
* Slow Decay by Andy Lane
* Border Princes by Dan Abnett

OT: Torchwood series 3

As if 13 episodes isn't meagre enough then next year's series of Torchwood will be only be 5 episodes long. Reported on Digital Spy:

Torchwood's executive producer Julie Gardner has confirmed rumours that the show will move to BBC1 with a much shorter season.

According to the official Torchwood Magazine, the third season of the Doctor Who spinoff will feature one continuous story and last just five episodes, including at least one penned by Russell T. Davies.

Gardner told the publication: "As you know, plans for a third series have been underway for a long time, and we now have a new producer and a new director in place, as well as brand new scripts all ready to go. It's the longest and most ambitious story we have ever made, so be prepared for some shocks and surprises!"

She added: "Life at Torchwood is never quiet or easy and the whole of Captain Jack's world is about to be turned upside down!"

The new series will begin filming in August for transmission in early 2009.