It’s assessment day. Tosh and Ianto are called out to the Valleys, neither of them want to be there and that’s even before the invasion starts…

Remember the first season of Torchwood? Remember how when it worked it was weirdly funny and human and dark? Do Big Finish have an audio drama for you!

Lisa Bowerman is making a very strong case for being the best comedy director Big Finish have. Here she manages to not only get a real sense of claustrophobia but also a real sense of space. There’s a Children of Men style cold start that works brilliantly and one of the core monsters is terrifying precisely because all we can hear are their footsteps. Along with sound design by Shane O’Byrne of The Soundhouse, she establishes the unique setting of the story with ease. She also gets two of the most impressive performances I’ve heard out of the two most consistently impressive cast members of the show.

This is where Ash Darby’s script plays its ace. This is unabashedly an early Torchwood story, with a specific reference or two to Gwen’s arrival changing the status quo. Out in the wilds, that disruption, the invasion and the everyday work stress they face, brings very different sides of Tosh and Ianto out. Tosh’s endless optimism has an end and Naoko Mori does a great job of exploring what happens on the other side of it. Also, out from under Owen’s shadow, she becomes a calm, focused and assertive leader who works the problem even as the problem is trying its level best to murder her.

Gareth David-Lloyd too gets some new toys to play with and seems to have a blast doing so. Ianto gets to do full on action comedy as well as moments of glorious schoolboy snippiness. He and Tosh are so wildly different that throwing them together like this means they see each other without the masks. For Tosh that’s realizing she’s stronger than she thinks. For Ianto it’s discovering that his past, and the trauma that sits there, isn’t boundless. It has edges. He’s more than his experiences and more than his trauma. The hyper-competent Torchwood action butler we know and love isn’t born here but he sure as hell buttons his shirt and straightens his tie.

To be clear, this story is so good, so well written, directed and acted, that it contextualizes the wildly uneven first season of the show. It makes everything work in service to an inventive story that includes a wildly inventive villain and a great cameo from Nigel Havers. Also, crisps are vital. As they should be.

Verdict: Witty, inventive, spiky, humane and dark this is a great story executed perfectly at every level. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart

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