Yvonne Hartman has returned to Torchwood – but who should the team trust: Jack or her?

It feels like this should be a classic reunion, with Torchwood stalwarts Jack and Gwen meeting up with former Torchwood One boss Yvonne Hartman, but in fact it’s nothing of the sort. Hopefully anyone who’s reading reviews of part 9 of a series is aware of the twist regarding one of the key characters – that the person everyone around thinks of as Gwen Cooper isn’t actually her… and anyway Gwen joined Torchwood well after the Battle of Canary Wharf – and there’s a clever way of bringing Yvonne back without either undercutting the character’s sacrifice in Doctor Who’s Doomsday (over a decade ago!) or cheapening the impact.

There’s forward movement on some of the ongoing plot points, but this is very much a character piece, with Jack’s actions over the past few weeks coming back to haunt him. Yvonne is able to manipulate the team without too much problem – they’re already becoming the poster children for Dysfunctional Superteam as it is – and Tim Foley’s script digs into the characters, bringing various resentments to the surface. This Yvonne is as hard – if not harder – than the one we know from the TV story (and her various Big Finish appearances subsequently) as Jack finds out to his cost at the end of the episode… Strong performances from all the core cast as well as guest star Tracy-Ann Oberman mean that the hour rushes by in one of the best bits of Aliens Among Us to date.

Verdict: A very strong character piece centred around a clever resurrection. 9/10

Paul Simpson