Torchwood review: Fortitude explores the dark side of Queen Victoria

At a mysterious fort, during the earliest days of Torchwood, tensions between Queen Victoria and Maharaja Duleep Singh threaten to erupt into disaster in Fortitude…

Fortitude is a different kind of story for Torchwood, even by the Doctor Who spin-off’s standards. While the series mainly focuses on stories set in the twenty-first century, Fortitude is set long before the era we know. Long, long before.

The story focuses on two key historical figures: Queen Victoria and Maharaja Duleep Singh. After surviving a rather brutal storm, they find themselves stranded with Colonel Crackenthorpe at a strange fort. There seem to be ghosts and aliens around, but could the real danger be something less supernatural?

It’s rather refreshing to have a Torchwood story where Queen Victoria is the leading character. This isn’t the first time that she’s appeared in the audio series, but it is the first time where she’s the lead. As a result, she’s explored in a rather interesting way – particularly her relationship with Singh, which is as tempestuous as the storm that’s trapped them…

Beyond the icon

It’s really refreshing that the dark side of Queen Victoria’s reign is explored in the Doctor Who universe. When the Doctor met her in Tooth and Claw, it only scratched the surface of her reign, focusing more on the iconic image than her flaws as a queen. It didn’t look at the effects of the British Empire on the world, particularly on what was taken.

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This is what makes Singh so crucial to this story. It’s clear that the Queen took a lot from him and his family, and he’s been given a lot of reasons to be angry over the years. He’s not perfect, but he’s definitely sympathetic. This is both thanks to James Goss’s script, which gives us the very personal history between the Maharaja and the Queen to the audience in a very natural way, and to Paul Bazely’s excellent performance in the role.

Speaking of great performances, Rowena Cooper is perfect as always as Victoria. She embodies the role completely, and makes the character feel real. She’s played Victoria in several audios – in fact, she’s even played the role outside of Torchwood, specifically in the finale of Jago & Litefoot. After appearing so many times as a supporting character, it’s nice that James Goss has given her a leading role for this story. Here’s hoping that she continues to play the role in many more Torchwood stories.

Fortitude is considerably low-key. In some ways, it feels extremely close to a historical drama, with only a dash of sci-fi that’s not fully explored. But it’s also a rather strong drama, and gives us a glimpse of the secret organization’s early days – back when Queen Victoria was Torchwood. Let’s hope that we get more stories set in this era.

Next. Torchwood spin-off starring James Marsters released today!. dark

Would you like to see Queen Victoria in more Torchwood stories, or possibly in Doctor Who audios? Would you like to know more about the early years of the organization she created? Let us know in the comments below.

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