The problems with some shared houses are bigger than just the mould on the walls…

Aaron Lamont’s tale for Burn Gorman’s Owen Harper is a bit of a slow burner to begin with, but stick with it – things start to go awry pretty quickly and the stage is set for some of the most gory body horror that the series has done. You certainly don’t want to be thinking too long about the fates of some of the characters – and I’m quite glad that they’re not depicted on the cover.

Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo’s Seren ends up spending most time with Owen – someone that we’re deliberately made to not particularly empathize with initially but who becomes the centre of attention as the story progresses. Rosalie Craig and Angus Yellowlees play the other tenants in the house, with their own particular foibles.

Naomi Clarke’s sound design is her debut for Big Finish, I believe, and it sets the bar high, given the nature of the problem that Owen and Seren are dealing with.There’s also something of a coda to the piece (posing some interesting questions bearing in mind everything we know about events since series 1 of Torchwood in Cardiff) which is somewhat rare, but works very effectively in this case.

Verdict: After a slow start, a very strong Torchwood episode. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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