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Doctor WhoMusic/Audio

Torchwood: The Conspiracy by David Llewellyn (CD review).

There are changes afoot at Big Finish because…drum roll it looks like it might be canon!

Since the sad demise of AudioGo a couple of years ago, there have been an empty space there the ‘New Who’ audios used to be. There is an established customer base, youngsters who might not buy old ‘Doctor Who’ and oldsters who do. The output from Audio Go was limited to audio books but this is a Big Finish production and there are no half measures.

TorchwoodTheConspiracyCD

It’s a real charge to hear the sound of Captain Jack again after so many years. Thanks to Big Finish for securing his services, although I think John Barrowman is so attached to the Whoniverse, he probably said yes before he was asked.

Conspiracy, good old-fashioned stuff with some good twists and humour wrapped up into an interesting bundle of fun.

Barrowman gets straight back into his character of the time-agent, crook and turned Torchwood operative. He’s all over the plot and his sense of enjoyment and even relish comes through clearly. Wilson is a journalist at heart but he’s now an advocate of the conspiracy. The world is run by a committee that is at the dark heart of an evil empire. He’s filling the halls of the provinces and making a good living out of exploiting the fears of ordinary people. Captain Jack picks up on this when the circus visits Cardiff and he seeks an audience with Wilson determined to find out what he actually knows. This sparks off a tragic event which again leads Jack into danger as the plot takes off .

As Ianto battles to keep the aircraft from being written off he also keeps his insurer on the line. After all life insurance in his line of work might pay off pretty quickly. His charming call centre friend is drawn into Ianto’s dilemma and they get increasingly close in oh so many ways. The pace is fast, funny and poignant as we relive just another day at the office for the Torchwood clerk.’ Conspiracy, good old-fashioned stuff with some good twists and humour wrapped up into an interesting bundle of fun.

There are only so many plots in the world and the conspiracy theories of alien lizards being in charge are one of the most popular. Here, writer David Llewellyn draws upon our cultural knowledge of characters like the ex-sports presenter David Ike and suggests that these are things that might actually be true. Of course they are. If someone like Volkswagen can get away with falsifying emissions, I suspect the world is actually run by gas-breathing lizards.

I enjoyed this mainly because it heralds the return of Captain Jack and Torchwood and, like any old person, I get nostalgic for the good old days even though ‘Torchwood’ was ever imperfectly realised, reaching its zenith in ‘Children Of Earth’ and falling far short in its American incarnation. Many of the problems of the original ‘Torchwood’ were the desire to make it more adult whilst capturing some of the ‘Doctor Who’ audience. We don’t need ‘Torchwood’ now as ‘Doctor Who’ itself has morphed into the combination of ‘Coupling and ‘Torchwood’ with a dash of ‘Eastenders’.

This definitely falls into pure nostalgia and future episodes will also be welcomed with open arms and wallet.

Sue Davis

November 2015

(pub: Big Finish. 1 CD 60 minute story. Price: CD: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-78178-916-2. Download: Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-78178-917-9)

cast: John Barrowman, John Sessions, Sarah Ovens and Dan Bottomley

check out website: www.bigfinish.com

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