Ten years after their last story together, the entire original Torchwood team are finally reunited in Torchwood: Believe! But has it been worth the wait?
Torchwood: Believe is a significant release for Big Finish. Perhaps not quite as big as Season Five with Aliens Among Us, but very close.
Because, despite making Torchwood audios set across the entire series for over two and a half years, Believe is the first one to include the entire original cast. More than that: it’s the first time the cast have reunited for a story in any format in over ten years.
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As a result, expectations have been unsurprisingly high for this one. The television show was much-loved, especially the first two seasons. A lot of that was due to the fantastic group of characters. Things were never quite the same after Owen and Tosh were killed off in Exit Wounds. Does Believe do a good job of capturing the magic of the original series?
Absolutely. The Torchwood audios have always been fantastic, but hearing the team talking and bantering between each other is an absolute joy to hear. Just a few minutes into the story, and it’s impossible not to have a huge grin at hearing Owen making his sarcastic comments, or Tosh trying to show off how clever she is. It’s been a long time coming, but hearing the whole team together again was more than worth the wait.
Character focus
But what about the story of Torchwood: Believe? Considering how significant this release is, it would’ve been easy for writer Guy Adams to aim for an end of the world scenario. Something big and apocalyptic that Torchwood has to face.
But that’s not what Believe is about. Instead, Guy Adams does something a lot better. Specifically, he’s given us a story that really focuses on the main characters. He explores their motivations, their beliefs, and of course, their relationships between each other. That’s how he really sells just how significant the story is.
All the characters are explored in a very rich way. But the highlight of the story was the exploration of Owen and Tosh’s friendship. There are really difficult choices and even mistakes that really push that friendship to its limit. It makes for some truly fantastic drama at times, which is what Torchwood really excelled at at its very best.
Tosh and Owen are together again in Torchwood: Believe. (Photo credit: Torchwood/Big Finish. Image obtained from Big Finish.)
A subversive story
However, it’s not just the main characters themselves that make Torchwood: Believe such a compelling listen. The overall story really draws you in.
It’s not just that it has many twists and turns. (Naturally, this makes it difficult not to give too much away.) But it also draws you in because of how incredibly subversive Believe is. This isn’t an epic battle of humans versus aliens, after all.
Instead, Believe is heavily focused on humanity as a whole. With the Church of the Outsiders as the focus, the story is keen to explore religion in particular. Now, you might be expecting this to be a straightforward, evil brainwashing cult. But it’s actually more complicated than that.
There are many shades of gray in this story. On both sides, in fact. And there will be times when you wonder if Torchwood is actually doing the right thing by going after the Church. That’s simply incredibly strong writing on Guy Adams’s part to make you think that. Especially as he avoids giving you any easy answers.
Torchwood: Believe is everything the first two seasons were, and so much more. It’s witty, it’s dark, it’s subversive, it’s clever, and most of all, it’s pure Torchwood. Highly recommended to any Torchwood fan out there.
Next: Torchwood: Believe with full original team out today!
Have you listened to Torchwood: Believe? Did you agree with this review, or do you have a different opinion on the new box set? Are you simply curious and eager to know more? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.