Colchester and his husband Colin have an apartment in one of Cardiff’s swankier new buildings. It’s a home to die for…

Tor Labs’ Steal the Stars’ Mac Rogers is behind this story that puts the spotlight firmly on Mr Colchester and his husband, as they discover the truth behind the apparently safe building in which they reside – and the unfortunate (well, unfortunate for them) past of the place’s caretaker. If you’re not up to speed with the first series of Torchwood, Rogers sketches in the salient points of Bilis Manger’s first appearance, with Murray Melvin as seductively malevolent on audio as he was a decade ago on screen.

The ongoing plot forms a background to this tale rather than the aliens among us (or at least the main ones) taking centre stage, but various bits of information are forthcoming. It’s a story that will bring back memories for some of Doctor Who’s Paradise Towers, with its murderous flat residents (albeit for a very different – and you have to say, considerably less important – reason), with an opportunity for Mr Colchester to show multiple different sides, including a distinctly homicidal one! We get what feels like a rather inconsequential appearance by Rhys that I hope is setting stuff up for the future.

There’s the occasional piece of on the nose descriptive dialogue, but overall this makes for an interesting and engrossing change of pace.

Verdict: Fleshing out Mr Colchester and bringing back a past menace combine to make an enjoyable hour. 8/10

Paul Simpson