Doctor Who Spin-Off Review: Torchwood: The Audio Series (Seasons 1 and 2)
By James Aggas
‘The Torchwood Archive’, a stand-alone celebration of Torchwood and an effective finale to the first two audio seasons. (Credit: Big Finish)
Big Finish’s first two seasons of its Torchwood audios maybe very different to the TV show. But does that make it necessarily weaker, or do these stories, in fact, represent the very best of Torchwood?
With the recent news that Big Finish will be making season 5 of the popular spin-off series, I decided it was time to start catching up on their previous Torchwood audios. I had reviewed one or two of these over a year ago, but I wasn’t able to keep up with them at the time.
However, after the recent news and with some free time on my hands, I decided to catch up and review the remaining individual episodes one by one. Well, that was the initial plan, anyway. Instead, I kind of just massively binged on all twelve episodes of the first two seasons, plus the special release The Torchwood Archive, over just a couple of days.
For those of you who don’t know, the current ongoing series of Torchwood audios are very different in structure to the TV series. For one thing, the timeline jumps around a lot. Some episodes are set during seasons 1 and 2, and expand on themes and storylines during those original TV episodes. Some are set after season 4, and allow us to catch up with a few of the characters. There are even episodes set before the series began, and they give us a glimpse of Torchwood at its most powerful. Already, that’s one clear distinction this series has from its TV counterpart.
The audio series of Torchwood begins with ‘The Conspiracy’, starring John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness. (Credit: Big Finish)
Individual Stories, Individual Characters
There was another difference, though. And it’s one that, I will admit, I was skeptical about. Each episode only focuses on one or two characters at a time. I don’t just mean that some episodes focus on particular characters slightly more than the rest, as the original TV series tended to do. I mean that only one or two of the characters would appear in each episode at all.
This was something that I was initially disappointed with. One thing I really enjoyed about the TV series was its ensemble cast. How they interacted with each other, how they bantered, argued, loved, even betrayed one another. Focusing on only a couple of the characters at a time massively took away from that.
That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the stories when I initially listened to them. You can see at least that much from my reviews for The Conspiracy and Fall to Earth. The stories were strong, and thankfully, they weren’t simply straightforward audiobook readings. While other members of the team wouldn’t be around, they were full-cast dramas, at least. And that was what I craved about Torchwood the most: the drama. Still, like I said, I missed hearing the whole team together.
But then, when I binge-listened to them, instead of just listening to one episode every month, something happened. Something really magical.
Torchwood: The Black Album
When I began to realize what was happening, one of my favourite scenes from the movie Boyhood popped into my head. Because honestly, it’s the only way I can describe what was happening as I was listening to these audios.
It concerns a gift the father gives to his son as a birthday present. The Beatles: The Black Album – a custom mix of the best songs from each member of the Beatles post-break up. And how the father describes that mix is just perfect.
"Whenever you listen to too much of the solo stuff it kind of becomes a drag, you know? But you put them next to each other, right, and they start to elevate each other. And then you can hear it: it’s the Beatles."
This is exactly what happens when you listen to all of these stories one after the other. Individually, yes, you get truly great character exploration. But when you listen to them, back to back, it becomes so much more.
Despite the completely non-linear narrative of the arc, and despite the fact that all the members of the team are separated by not just locations but also across episodes, you still hear it. “The band getting back together.” The return of Torchwood as a team.
I’m not calling this Torchwood: Season 5. Not because it’s audio, as I think the upcoming box sets currently marketed as “season 5” by Big Finish are going to be exactly that. But because it is something other than that. It’s a series that feels both parallel and, at the same time, integral to the series itself.
John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd start in one of the highlights of the Torchwood audio series, ‘Broken’. (Credit: Big Finish)
Highlights and Recommendations
And the series has an incredibly high quality to it. It’s just so hard for me to pick highlights. Fall to Earth is a wonderful two-hander that focuses on Ianto Jones during one of the most important cold calls of his life. One Rule is a brilliant prequel story with Yvonne Hartman at its centre, who’s one of my favourite one-story characters of the Tenth Doctor era.
Moving Target is a great exploration of one of the darker characters of the series, Suzie Costello. And The Torchwood Archive, while not technically a part of the series and can be enjoyed on its own, definitely works well as a “finale” to the arc of the series.
But my absolute favourite story of these first two seasons is, without a doubt, Broken. If there’s just one Torchwood story you should buy, it is absolutely this one. There are just so many reasons why I love this story.
Firstly, it has both John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd reprising their roles of Jack and Ianto. As easily one of, if not the best pairings in Torchwood, that’s reason enough alone to buy it. More than that, though: it’s the early days of their relationship.
Beginning with the consequences of Cyberwoman, it takes place across several episodes of the first TV season. Not only does it show events from Countrycide and Greeks Bearing Gifts in a new light, it also fleshes out Jack and Ianto’s relationship in a much more satisfying way than the TV series did. It probably helps that this was written by Joseph Lidster, not just a veteran writer for Big Finish but who had even written for the TV series. The whole series is great, but this is definitely the must buy story of them all.
Final Thoughts
When I began listening to these stories, my plan was merely to catch up and honestly write a few reviews while enjoying them one at a time. I think it says a lot about how incredibly immersive, dramatic and simply brilliant the series is when I just couldn’t stop listening to them.
If you’re a Torchwood fan, and you’ve never tried Big Finish’s audios before, my recommendation is to save some money, get the first two seasons in one go, while also adding The Torchwood Archive to round it all off. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
The Torchwood audio series is available on download and CD from Big Finish’s website.
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