Following his family’s tradition, Toshiko Sato accompanies the body of Torchwood agent Sebastian Vaughan to his home.

This is Lou Morgan’s first Torchwood script – although not the first to be released – and it demonstrates the skill for characterisation and action to be found in her novels. It’s a piece about grief and sacrifice, about honour and duty – both real and perceived – and about the way in which we think and speak of the dead. There are huge contrasts between the Sebastian that is presented through Tosh’s words to her fellow operative’s mother and the truth as revealed through flashbacks – and Morgan carefully ensures we realise how much Tosh isn’t admitting to herself either.

Hugh Skinner plays the sort of character that many of us will have encountered around the turn of the century (and this story has to be set a good 15 years or more ago), someone whose priorities are not necessarily what you’d hope, and who will jump in and take credit where it’s not due to them. (I’m not suggesting that sort of person has disappeared by any means!) Whether Sebastian deserves what happens to him in this story is one of the questions you come away pondering. You may also think the same about his mother, as beautifully played by Lucy Robinson.

Naoko Mori does a sterling job as Toshiko, and you can almost see the total change in Tosh’s demeanour at a key point in the story, and director Lisa Bowerman and sound designer Richard Fox ensure that there’s a stark contrast between the current day scenes and the flashbacks.

Verdict: A well-composed character piece. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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