Jamie Revell

As is fairly obvious from the cover, this features a return of the Krynoids from the television story The Seeds of Doom. It's not a particularly innovative treatment of them, to be sure, although neither is it entirely unoriginal. One of the notable features is the updating of the story to a clearly contemporary setting, with references to global warming and concerns about immigration (although, this having been written in 2008, the immigrants in question are Polish, not Syrian).

The focus, however, is on a fairly traditional base-under-siege story, in this case set in a sort of bio-dome in the English countryside. As so often in the 8th Doctor audios, it's helped by good acting, with Sheridan Smith as Lucie managing to upstage Nigel Planer as an ageing rock star and environmentalist. This, and the believable yet somewhat dystopian setting (it appears to be set in the near future) help raise it above the merely average rating that the plot itself probably deserves.

While I liked Adams' previous volume, this one falls short of that. It's not really his fault; the problem is the disjointed nature of the narrative due to the number of crossovers this has to fit in with. So we start off with a story that doesn't go anywhere, because it's followed up in another comic, and then we have stories that tie in with the major DC arc for the year, seeing sections of a bigger story only parts of which are collected here. We do finally return to the main plot towards the end (which may explain why this collects a full ten issues) but the sliced-up route to getting there just doesn't help.

Having said which, there are some good bits here. As before, Adams does a good job of tying Wally's superheroics in with his everyday life, and at least Linda gets more to do this time around. There is, however, some overuse of Wally's children - having young kids be involved in the superhero action without facing any real danger (because, obviously, there's a limit to what you can do to kids in a regular comic) makes what the adults are facing less of a threat. The titular section of the collection sees the Flash Family visiting three alternate universes to find Barry; one is clever, one works well enough, and the other (a Mad Max pastiche) is a bit dull.

Hopefully, things will be able to settle down for the next volume because I rather like what Adams is doing if he doesn't have to fit other comics in around his story.

The opening teaser sets up the premise as Owen discovers that Andy has a new girlfriend and there's something unusual about her that he is uniquely placed to sense. From there, though, the story does not necessarily go in the direction you expect, as we learn that she also has an unusual ability that draws Owen in. How he reacts to that and how the relationship between the two changes form the first part of the story, but then a shocking event intercedes and things begin to slowly spiral out of control.

Although Andy is important to this, the focus is primarily on Owen, with Gorman providing a strong performance as he struggles to keep his head above water and his ruthless and self-centred side clashes with his conscience. The ending might perhaps, be a little too neat, but there are limits to where one can go in a story set within the regular TV continuity and it works within the context of the show. This may not be gory, but it does get quite dark and, if the story manages to pull you along with Owen's plight, he's never entirely sympathetic. Andy's decency and dogged determination to do what's right are a different matter, but you know from the opening moments that he isn't going to get a happy ending...

Torchwood decides to investigate a religious cult that believes humanity's future lies in the stars, and that the government is hiding the existence of aliens from the public. Neither of which, in the Torchwood universe, they're actually wrong about...

But they are up to some decidedly unsavoury practices in the process leading the team to try to find a way to stop them. The story is not fully linear, jumping about between the different characters as they explore different ways of getting information on the cult and, at times, returning to prior events to see them from a different perspective. This does mean that some characters are left out of the story for extended periods. Sometimes, that's noticeable, but funnily enough, it's Jack's absence for almost two-thirds of the story that's least so. For most of this 3-hour tale, it's the other characters who take the fore, and that works particularly well here.

This is, it should be pointed out, a dark story. There's body horror, at least two gruesome deaths, a running gag about alien porn, and a sordid sex scene that's really uncomfortable to listen to. The latter, fortunately, is portrayed as resulting in some obvious emotional trauma, but... well, trigger-warning and all that. The climax of the story is more traditionally action-based, but leads to some of the best parts as the survivors come to terms with what it means to believe deeply in something when those around you don't even care whether you're right or not.

4.5 stars, I think, but I can see why some would find it problematic. Owen, for instance, is well written and portrayed but also comes out of it really, really badly - and not everyone's going to like that.

Although the episodes are individually titled, this is a single four-part story featuring Captain John Hart as the main protagonist and anti-hero. While his previous audio outing as part of the Torchwood audios didn't work for me since the comedic elements clashed too much with the premise, this time we have a straight-up action comedy that works well due to some snappy dialogue and a smattering of fourth wall breaking, Deadpool style. And, yes, it also has a major role for Jack Harkness, here mostly as an antagonist, in what's likely one of Barrowman's last performances for Big Finish.

For those worried about such things, this is an adult release with swearing and rather a lot of (mostly ‘off-screen') sex.

The story concerns John being hired to track down a pair of resurrection gauntlets (which are also seen in the Torchwood TV series). It is divided into four episodes, each with a distinct setting and set of supporting characters, but most of these are not standalone being clearly sections of the longer story. Since they share a single writer, they are not notably different in tone, either – although happily, it's a humorous and raucous tone that makes use of John's roguish nature in a way that a less adult release probably couldn't.

Nonetheless, the episodes are clearly separate. In the first one, we're in 17th-century England for a Restoration-era romp with a foppish King Charles II and a horde of zombies. Then it's off to space for a prison escape story involving a mad scientist before the conclusion that wraps up the story arc. In between comes the one episode that is relatively standalone, a fun interlude that sees John temporarily stranded on a planet where the only inhabitants live in what appears to be a suburban utopia. It's a subversion of a type of story sometimes seen on Doctor Who and not just because the actions of the central character are so different.

The first proper full-cast Torchwood release from Big Finish is a single three-hour story. It's set between the original series and Children of Earth, and thus features Just Jack, Gwen, and Ianto from the main team, although Rhys and PC Andy also have significant roles to play. It's perhaps not as innovative as some of the shorter stories from the main audio series, but the format and length allow it to play on a much larger canvas while still including some of the adult themes and LGBT romance elements that marked the original.

As implied by the title, this is about a disease outbreak in Cardiff and one that it's apparent from the start may not be entirely accidental. The specific effects of the disease allow not only for some rather gory imagery but emotional drama amidst the dramatic tension. This is particularly apparent in the middle segment, which mainly features Jack and Ianto trapped inside the Hub, playing in part on the nature of their relationship. This segment is also notable for bringing back a new character from the main audio series who had proved particularly interesting in his earlier appearances.

A large part of the appeal is probably just hearing the cast back together again after a number of releases that have only occasionally had two of them in the same scene. It's also a suitably dramatic way to do so, with the whole of Cardiff (and, by implication, the country... but mainly Cardiff) under threat as the disease and the attendant civil disorder plunge it into chaos. The eventual explanation for what's going on touches on modern themes... although the fact that I happened to listen to it just as a real viral outbreak resulted in the quarantining of a major city was just coincidence. There are also moments of humour amidst the drama, and the three hours really didn't drag at all.

This special release is a two-hour story that ties together pieces of the plot arc in the main series of Torchwood audios. (As a result, it should be noted that it's very far from standalone, and does require having listened to the previous releases; indeed, I assume it's the conclusion of the arc). To do so, it has to bring together a slew of disparate elements from multiple different stories and the result, unfortunately, is something of a mess.

This isn't quite an anthology, but the bulk of it consists of vignettes from Torchwood's history, mostly featuring the characters in the TV series. These are all at least partly narrated, and, aside from a brief segment at the end, only feature one or two members of the team at a time. In addition to tying together the previous stories, they also tie up a number of minor loose ends from the series itself, including Torchwood's first encounter with the Weevils and, perhaps more significantly, filling in the details about Torchwood Two and its strange caretaker.

The framing device for all this is the Torchwood Archive in the far future, which turns out to be inhabited by holograms of the team from the TV series (why only them, when the organisation is so much older and larger, is unclear, but, obviously, it's helpful to the listener). A visitor to the Archive is trying to piece together the history of the very first alien object to be stored there and, while it does all make sense in the end, it takes a long time getting there, with most of the vignettes appearing to be disparate up to that point.

This leaves the story feeling as it's not really making any progress for most of its length, providing glimpses of Torchwood life tangentially linked by a theme, but with little of an overall plot. Individually, there are some good bits in here, but they're short and often don't add up to much. The whole, at least to me, came across as less than the sum of the parts.

The first of a series of audio releases, each of which typically features a single member of the Torchwood team this, understandably, focuses on Jack Harkness himself. It's perhaps a little disappointing that the other characters aren't present (although Gwen is referred to) but that's unavoidable when the relevant actors are mostly still busy on what can only imagine are better-paying jobs. However, by keeping the story simple, the absence of the rest of the team is hardly noticeable - there's a sense that this is something Jack is doing by himself in between Torchwood's larger missions.

There are a number of things to like about this release, not least of which is hearing Barrowman as Captain Jack again. It's as well-made as every other BF release was by this point in the company's history, and it very much has the feel of the TV show, dealing as it does with conspiracy theories about aliens running the world. There's also just about the right amount of action, with the story mostly being told through the dialogue that audio is more suited to.

There are plenty of references to real-world conspiracy theories in the story, with John Sessions playing a character loosely based on David Icke... but who happens to have described a real race of aliens as the supposed overlords. How much of what he says is genuinely true (in the Torchwood universe) and where he got the information from is a key element of the story and these aspects are done well, at least to my mind.

On the downside, I'm less keen on the use of first-person narration, although this may be unavoidable given the short length of the story. Either way, though, it's good to have Torchwood back.

The second story in the Torchwood audio series features, perhaps surprisingly, Ianto Jones. I have to start off by saying that Ianto is really my least favourite of the Torchwood regulars - not that he's unlikeable (as Owen tends to be), I just find him rather dull. As a result, I was surprised by just how much I liked this story. Perhaps that's partly due to what can be done when the focus of the story is on him alone, but it's also down the quality of the acting and some lovely touches in the script.

The story concerns Ianto being trapped alone on a spaceplane crashing out of the sky, his only contact with Earth a telemarketer in Turkey trying to sell him insurance. The first half is really a disaster story in space, not unlike the Airport movies of the '70s, but with a few added SF twists. Apart from the nice conceit that we're only hearing the phone conversation between Ianto and the call centre, the story is fairly unremarkable at this point - although the fact that Goss has ditched the narration used in the previous episode is an improvement.

But this is merely a necessary prelude to the final segment, which knocks it out of the park as the unstoppable plane heads towards a major population centre. This would not be so effective without the slow build up leading to it, and plays on the fact that Ianto and the telemarketing drone are just “little people” caught up in something much larger - this story would never work with any of the other Torchwood characters. It's a powerful emotional tale, full of little details about the characters' lives.

In short, this makes a stunning success out of the very reason that I'm normally not keen on its central character.

This time we move the focus to Gwen and Rhys, in a story set some time after the events of Miracle Day, but nonetheless still tied in to the loose plot arc of the first two releases. It maintains the full audio style of Fall to Earth, rather than the narration of The Conspiracy, something that will hopefully continue.

Despite the absence of most of the original cast (for obvious reasons, given when it's set) this feels very much like a Torchwood episode. In part, this is because it plays up the Welsh setting, in the description of the landscape and the use of Cymraeg. But there's also at least one genuinely chilling moment, and the fact that we're dealing with a real-world subject that other shows in the Whoniverse would normally avoid.

Specifically, it concerns events at a home for patients with dementia who may, or may not, be the victims of something sinister. It's an emotive, and potentially touchy, subject, but handled with compassion here, making the story about more than just action and alien technology. There's plenty of mystery about what's going on, and how it relates to Jack in particular and, of course, there are also some clear sci-fi elements in the plot to complement the emotional darkness.

So far, this is turning out to be a strong series.

For the first time, the audio series breaks out of the time period and core characters of the TV series, with a story focussing on Yvonne Hartman and set in the immediate aftermath of the Doctor Who episode Rose. Hartman, of course, is the head of Torchwood One in London, and only appears in one episode, having been killed off before the Torchwood TV series even started.

The plot is, to be honest, fairly slight, concerning the murder of Cardiff mayoral candidates, and doesn't really make too much sense. It's for that reason that I'm knocking this down to three stars, but there's still a lot to like in this release.

For one, there's the portrayal of Hartman herself, expanding on her one guest appearance. We see a very driven and ruthless character, arguably more efficient than many of the main ones in the actual TV series. Her personality and background are fleshed out here, and are really the main focus of the play. Which is as well, because the other main characters aren't really all that believable, something that's lampshaded at a couple of points.

There are also some nice touches of humour, mainly at Hartman's expense. In particular, there's a clear sense of a Londoner's stereotypical attitude towards any part of the UK that isn't London, and of the corresponding Welsh attitude to the capital. This is done brilliantly, and there are plenty of moments that you would never see on DW, in keeping with the different tone of this series.

If you like strong character pieces with a dash of humour, and can put aside the weakness of the underlying plot, you'll probably like this quite a lot. Honestly, I enjoyed it too, and the three stars might be a little stingy, but this series has set a high standard so far. For one thing, I'm glad that there are more stories featuring Hartman later in the series, because the strength of the character is really what's good here.

We're back with Captain Jack again for this instalment, that's a fairly direct sequel to the audio series opener The Conspiracy. This time, the play dispenses with the narration, save for a few brief sections at the beginning and end, making the story more immersive than its predecessor.

The story concerns Jack tracking down a reclusive billionaire, an unwitting pawn of the conspiracy who seems to have the ability to be in two places at once. You can probably guess how he's doing this from the picture on the cover, and it's revealed quite early on in the story, which primarily deals with how this came about and the repercussions on the billionaire's emotional life. This all dealt with well, and includes some distinctly Torchwood-esque scenes that confirm the adults-only nature of this series.

But, seriously, if gay robot sex is something that puts you off, Torchwood probably isn't for you anyway.

This almost entirely a two-hander, with just one other actor other than the two leads, and is a slow build where the journey is more important than the denouement. How it all fits together with the larger plot arc is rather incidental although clearly the writers still have some way to go before actually sorting it all out. In the meantime, this is an interesting and unusual story, if not the most powerful in the series so far.

Gwen returns as the central character in what's ostensibly the end of the first “season” of these audio plays - although, in fact, the second season started just one month later, and the season arc doesn't feature in this anyway. At its simplest, this is a “day in the life” story, set after the end of the TV series, with Gwen fighting off various threats as she tries to re-establish Torchwood Cardiff.

There's a fair bit of variety in that, showcasing the various different things that Torchwood does, with a good mix of action and humour, but this isn't what makes it great. Firstly, it's a good portrayal of Gwen, mixing touches of domesticity with her determination to save the world and ten years of experience to back that up. Indeed, she comes across as a very strong and powerful character in this, perhaps in part due to the fact that it's largely told through the eyes of somebody meeting her for the first time.

And that's the second thing that makes this so good. The viewpoint character is somebody entirely unremarkable, but we learn more of him as the story unfolds, creating a slow build to an emotional climax. As a result, the action isn't really the focus, and a fair bit of it occurs off-screen (as it were). Instead, as the title indicates, this is a story that reflects on the implications of the Torchwood universe for the lives of mundane people on Earth, and of the importance of what Gwen is doing in the larger scheme of things.

There's also a guest appearance from Sgt Andy, in some ways paralleling that of the viewpoint character, always on the periphery yet knowing that there is “more than this” - yet reacting to it quite differently. The episode, while essentially standalone (it kind of follows on from Forgotten Lives, but the two stories are independent of one another) is a good introduction to what Torchwood is about, and some of what the TV show did at its best; this is one of the best entries in what's been a remarkably good first season for these audios.

The second “season” of Torchwood audio plays kicks off with the series' first real dud. It's set in 1899, well outside the usual setting, and this really ought to be a good thing, stretching what the series can achieve beyond what the TV show could. And, to be fair, there are some nice touches with Torchwood's history and some good use of Victorian London as setting, from socialist firebrands at Speakers' Corner, to the early Underground.

The problem is simply the believability of the plot. This concerns Jack Harkness and Queen Victoria teaming up to chase an alien across the city, something that completely broke my suspension of disbelief. Assuming you can swallow the inherent ridiculousness of the whole thing, there are some rather good vignettes on the way, and some well-written reflections on age and mortality, and it's really only these that allow me to give this three stars rather than two. I'll add that the final resolution doesn't really make any sense, either, although it probably didn't help that I hadn't bought into the story by that point.

Is this episode going for comedy or pathos? Possibly, it's a bit of both, although, if so, the first part has certainly failed, and the attempts at it undercut, rather than enhance, the latter. Had this been a different character than Queen Victoria, I'd probably have loved this, and if the 79-year-old Empress of India traipsing around London armed with a laser gun and accompanied by only a single chaperone seems the kind of thing you might enjoy, there's a decent chance you will feel differently than I did. But, for me, this just felt too implausible to work.

Finally, it's the turn of Toshiko to get her own episode and, while this isn't the strongest release in what's been a high-quality series, it doesn't disappoint, either. (By this point, Owen was the only character not to have featured, and it was a while before he did).

Here, Toshiko heads to Russia to investigate a mysterious location that has been transmitting a signal aimed specifically at her... since before she was born. The story unfolds slowly from that premise (which is in the pre-titles teaser), moving from Moscow to Siberia as pieces of the puzzle are uncovered and we learn more about what the Russian version of Torchwood has been doing in the area.

It's worth noting that this ties in closely with the multi-season arc in this audio series, so that it may not make much sense to anyone who hasn't listened to, as a minimum, The Conspiracy. If you have, it moves that story on a little, setting things up for future instalments. I'll also note that the actor playing the main Russian character does have quite a thick accent, but never to the point of him being difficult to understand (given the actor's name, it may well be genuine, for all I know).

There's a good mix of character and action here, aided by some good soundscaping, and a sense of isolation for much of the story. Toshiko is at the heart of it, a technical specialist without the combat training of her fellow agents, but gutsy and determined, as well as clever. Naoko Mori is particularly good, getting a chance to shine as the central character for once, and I look forward to further stories featuring her.

The audio series once again focuses on a minor character from the TV show, in this case, Sgt Andy. He receives a call-up to Torchwood, and has to demonstrate his skills by hunting down the source of a strange alien goo. The story features a standard mix of Torchwood tropes, with alien tech, a monster, and a glimpse of some of the poorer areas of Cardiff. Aside from this, while not bad, it's not particularly notable taken on its own.

What's more significant is Andy himself, and the Torchwood “assessor” he is paired with. Goss makes good use of Andy's particular skills, differentiating him from Gwen, let alone the other members of the team (none of whom are in this, of course). Tom Price is excellent as someone who is eager to help, calm in certain sorts of crisis, and yet out of his depth in others. In this respect, the story builds on what little we've previously seen of the character, consistent with what we know, but able to show much more in a story in which he is the focus.

The other main character in the story is Norton, the hologram of a Torchwood agent from the 1950s. He is obviously camp, and uses Polari at a couple of points, in amidst other '50s references, so that's another trope being honoured here. He's presumably being set up as a recurring character, and has some potential in this direction, contrasting with the more serious tone of most of his fellows - some of the banter with Andy is great.

The story is left open at the end, likely all tying into the running plot arc in most of these releases, although it's just another piece of the jigsaw, rather than obviously moving that along. Really, it's the characterisation that makes this another audio episode that's very much worth listening to for fans of the show.

This time the viewpoint character is Suzie Costello, Gwen's predecessor at Torchwood. This is set only shortly before Everything Changes, and, among other things, expands on her motivations in that episode and its follow-up They Keep Killing Suzie. There's a tenuous link to the audio series' ongoing arc, but otherwise, this is a standalone story aside from the obvious connections to events in the TV show.

Suzie wakes up to discover something very strange has happened to Cardiff, but, after this initial set-up is over, the story shifts to something that's initially comedic but gradually becomes much darker as the true hopelessness of the situation she finds herself in becomes more apparent. As usual in this series, the cast is minimal, with just two other speaking parts, but it's the isolation of the characters that's a large part of the point.

There's a good mix of comedy, action, and drama, although the story does start to drag a little bit towards the end, which prevents me from giving it the full five stars. Nonetheless, it's an excellent look at a minor character from the show, both giving her the chance to be the hero that we never really saw on TV, and foreshadowing what she will do not that much later. There's also a strong moral element, much of it voiced in Suzie's conversations with the villain... and the ending is superb.

While Rhys has, unsurprisingly, featured in previous episodes alongside Gwen, this is the first Big Finish release to feature him as the main protagonist. This, perhaps even more so than the Ianto stories, creates an “ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances” set-up as Rhys has to deal with the threat without any Torchwood backup.

The story itself is set inside a hospital where Rhys' mother (played by veteran actor Nerys Hughes) is recovering from a hip replacement and something sinister is going on across the corridor from her room. It's not, admittedly, a terribly deep plot, largely consisting of Rhys and his mother trying to escape from what's chasing them, although it does have a larger cast than the earlier monthly Torchwood releases have, which gives it more of a well-rounded feel.

What raises it above the three stars, though, are the dialogue and the performances from Owen and Hughes, moving from the normality of the opening scenes to the increasing tension as they find themselves trapped and in rising peril. (The producers may have felt that the former go on for too long, since there is a snippet of one of the later scenes before the title music, as if to inform you that something dramatic will happen at some point; I didn't find this necessary).

For this series, this is a middling story, more effective than some and less so than others. But that's a pretty high bar, to be honest.

For the second time, we have a story that focuses on Ianto, albeit this time with Jack also playing a significant role. It's built around the first season of the TV show, exploring the emotional toll that the events of some of those episodes have on Ianto, starting in the immediate aftermath of “Cyberwoman”. The over-arcing plot of the audio series doesn't get a mention, for once, and would have diluted the references if it had.

Much of the play consists of the conversations Ianto has with the motherly barmaid at his local pub, exploring the impact of the TV episodes without directly recounting their plots - this isn't a release for those unfamiliar with the original. It's a great performance from Gareth David-Lloyd, outshining Barrowman in the scenes they have together, as we see his character begin to break down under the strain.

As is implied by its opening teaser, however, there is more to the story than the emotional journey, with some science fiction elements that directly feed into the resolution. But here, it's doing what Torchwood does best, combining the everyday with the fantastic and using the latter as a metaphor for some darker corners of the human mind. It's also, as is probably clear from the cover, something of an LGBT romance, filling in the gaps of Ianto's romantic development as the TV series progressed.

This isn't one for those who are more interested in action, but it is a clever, and beautifully written complement to the TV series that spawned it.

In another strong entry in this series, this time we're back to Gwen, in the era when she's trying to re-establish Torchwood, but so far has no support beyond Rhys. It's set in a seaside town where everyone seems to have suddenly disappeared, combining the bleak setting of an empty out-of-season holiday resort with a remorseless, and seemingly unstoppable, foe. In this respect, it's somewhat similar to the earlier release Moving Target, although it felt to me that there was more variety in the methods that the ‘monster' could employ, keeping things interesting for longer.

Speaking of which, the foe is one that's ideally suited to audio, it being clear from the opening teaser that there is something here that the victim must never look at. One suspects that the Weeping Angels were a major inspiration for it, despite it being a creature that is, in some ways, the exact opposite. A number of scenes even take place in pitch blackness or dense fog, where the characters are relying only on their sense of hearing to guide them, clearly something you wouldn't want to do on TV.

Despite being the “end-of-season” episode, this has no connection with the on-again-off-again plot arc of earlier episodes and, so long as you understand why Gwen is on her own, it's effectively standalone. Which, in this case, is a plus.

This is, essentially, a spoof of Charlie's Angels that happens to be using some of the Torchwood setting as a backdrop. Three attractive women in '70s Los Angeles are hired by Torchwood, via a disembodied male voice, and take part in adventures that involve hunting down aliens and (presumably) wearing flared trousers a lot.

There is both good and bad in this. On the plus side, there's more genuine female empowerment and a more ethnically diverse cast than in the story's '70s inspiration. The plot is also a reasonable one, with women being kidnapped for purposes that eventually turn out to be quite creepy - and are arguably a critique of archaic male attitudes to feminine beauty. The music is good too, the sort of thing one could well imagine in an American show of the era.

On the downside, it really doesn't feel much like Torchwood. It's American (and what is Torchwood doing with a branch in LA anyway?) and done in the style of a glitzy TV show of the era. As a parody of Charlie's Angels, sure, it's quite effective, but that's quite a clash of tones, regardless of the details of the plot. Whether you'll enjoy it will depend a lot on what you're expecting to get. I found myself liking the characters and finding it a fun ride... but it's very much out of place in this particular series.

Owen Harper appears for the first time in a Big Finish audio in this story about life and death. And... well, there's probably a degree of subjective opinion in this, but I'd have to say it's the darkest story of the Torchwood audios so far, and one that absolutely deserves its “adults only” label.

The story pairs Owen with PC Andy, using Torchwood's technology to solve what initially appears to be a mundane cold case about a missing woman. At first, it's quite fun, contrasting Andy's optimism with Owen's nihilism, caused largely by the fact that by the point in the TV series where this is set, he is technically dead. And then, once we find out what's happened to the victim, things get very, very dark indeed.

Much of this has parallels with real-world cases, lending a feel of verisimilitude to the horror that unfolds. Yes, there is a science fiction element, but real women have suffered in the way that the victim does here, and those that survive have been psychologically damaged for life. How uneasy this makes the listener feel compared with, say, a supernatural horror tale, may well be a personal matter - different people find different things scary - but this certainly worked for me.

As I said at the beginning, the key theme here is ‘life and death'. Is Owen right that life is always better than death, or is his view skewed by his own situation and, perhaps, his medical training? The story does not provide any easy answers.

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This is a story about DRM and IP piracy; something one can imagine Big Finish have quite an issue with, working on the margins of profitability as they do. It's most notable for being produced in the form of an apparently corrupted audio file, with skips, jumps, distortions, repeateateateateats, static, and, at times, random clips of content from other stories in the series. It's obviously a matter of taste whether you'll find that clever, or just annoying, but it worked for me.

The plot? Well, it's very Torchwood, with Toshi investigating a series of disappearances linked to a torrent download service that, naturally enough, turn out to have an alien component to them. It's a high-tech story that fully uses Toshi's computer skills as well as filling in some of her personal background and obviously has a strong link to a particular modern issue. At least to my mind, it avoids becoming preachy (although this may depend on how strongly you feel about DRM) instead using its themes to present a sort of modern horror, turning everyday acts into a source of menace.

It's a unique production - although it's probably just as well that it isn't any longer - and one that uses the “corrupted” data theme well, often taking advantage of it to apply context to particular lines by flipping to something else that's nonetheless relevant. It's been a while since BF have done anything quite this experimental and this pulls it off.In summary, I ʬ֍ؾ₴ █ ▐▐▐▐▐▐▐☺

The basic premise here is that Ianto is trapped in an abandoned and apparently haunted office block somewhere in Cardiff. As one would expect for a story featuring Ianto it is, at least at first, about an ordinary person stuck in an impossible situation and does, indeed, feel quite like a ghost story. The opening segments are rather slow, with Ianto necessarily spending a lot of time talking to himself as he tries to figure out a way to escape from the building.

But things do build, and other characters turn up. That only deepens the mystery as it's clear that something very strange is going on, but that it probably isn't what it appears to be. This turns out to be a creepy slow build towards the revelation of what's actually happening, which makes really good use of Torchwood lore to build a plot around themes of taking responsibility and of just how moral some of what the organisation does really is.

It's unexpectedly dark, given who the central character is, but the slow start pays off - even if the ending is far from comfortable.

For the second time this ‘season', the series explores a past period of Torchwood's history, featuring entirely new characters than the ones we're familiar with. It's presumably an experiment that failed, as it hasn't really been tried again, despite an open ending here that's clearly being set up for more. Having said that, it is better than the previous attempt, which went for entirely the wrong tone.

This time, the story is set in occupied Paris during WWII, where monsters are suddenly stalking the streets to the consternation of locals and Germans alike. The twist is that the story is told partly in flashback as an SS officer from the German equivalent of Torchwood interrogates a witness caught up in the events. This results in an ‘unreliable narrator' situation, where it's not entirely clear how much of the truth the witness is really telling, leaving the true nature of events as a puzzle that isn't revealed until the penultimate scene.

It's not one of the strongest Torchwood stories, not least because of the lack of any familiar characters... although it's not one that would have worked with any of them, even if the setting were switched to something more modern. But it's still pretty good, taken as a standalone story, and does have some of the themes that we expect for the TV series. The torture scenes aren't protracted, although they're certainly not pleasant, and the science fiction elements are often in the background (the monsters are mostly off-screen). So, a change of pace, and one that isn't too ill-judged (unlike The Dollhouse) but nothing special for this audio series.

3.5 stars, rather than the full 4, and it's probably a good thing that, for the next ‘season', BF reverted to doing stories based solely around existing characters from the corpus.