Jamie Revell

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.

This is essentially a collection of six one-issue stories, albeit with a plot arc in the background about Cliff trying to rediscover his humanity and heroism and going about it all the wrong way. Some of the individual stories are good and some less so. The story about Flex's former beach being threatened by a villainous spandex jockstrap is, for example, exactly the sort of thing that this comic should be about, and there's a good story that brings back some characters from an earlier run in a suitably peculiar way. On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure what was going on with Larry, as that part of the plot seemed to disappear after issue #2, and the episode in cyberspace felt surprisingly formulaic. At times it feels that Way is overdoing the weirdness at the expense of plot or characterisation. Yes, even in Doom Patrol, that is possible.

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.

After a couple of rather hit-and-miss volumes, the series is back on form with this release. While the (perhaps overly large) supporting cast of the previous run is largely absent, the sense of fun and craziness has returned, and most of the stories here work on that level. The sword-and-sorcery segment is perhaps a little too daft, and some of the others rather slight, but Humphries is building his own background, and, for example, the story poking fun at Batman does a good job. Perhaps best is that the anarchy is offset by a rather more sombre subplot, introduced in the Christmas story at the beginning of the collection.

After the fragmented nature of volume 1, this time we have a consistent story that all fits together. It's nothing grand or universe-threatening, and, indeed, even the street-level crime and the new supervillain in town aren't the real focus. It's more about Gwen trying to come to terms with her new life, and her powers starting to fail her again. In this respect, it works really well, bringing a feeling of reality to the character that befits a good spider-comic. The downside, unfortunately, is that the story is still incomplete at the end of the volume, and, wherever it was concluded, it's not in this series. That's been Ghost-Spider all over; it's a bolt-on to something else that's not confident enough to stand on its own two (eight?) feet.

Scott's run on Batgirl comes to an end, and prematurely so to my mind. There are three stories here, the first of which is about an assassin trying to kill a senatorial candidate in the run up to an election. The final story follows up on this, as well as setting up some changes that will presumably form the basis of the next writer's run. In between, there's a one-issue story about James Jr. which doesn't achieve much or go anywhere - again, it may just be setting things up for the future. That aside, there's a good mix of action and characterisation here, and in the first half, in particular, it's not always clear who the real villains are. Scott continues with her rather dark take, with some surprisingly graphic violence for a regular comic, combined with some good reflections on Batgirl's double life. The ending feels abrupt, with things stopping midflow, but overall, the good points outweigh the bad.

The Doctor and Constance arrive at an archaeological dig on an alien planet shortly after they uncover a mysterious artefact covered with ancient runes. As such things are wont to do, it contains an ancient evil, albeit an alien one rather than something like, say, the being in The Satan Pit. The basic concept, while perhaps not hugely original, is decent enough for Doctor Who, and would serve as a respectable mid-season story.

There are a couple of drawbacks, however. The American accent of the human villain is particularly poor (granted, I wouldn't do any better, but nobody's going to pay me to do accents, American or otherwise). This is somewhat grating, and there's no particular reason for it that I can see.

Then there's the fact that much of the second half of the story relies on a particularly clumsy plot device in the form of a technological gimmick of the Doctor's that will (presumably) never be mentioned again despite its obvious utility. The device adds nothing to the story that could not have been achieved with more mundane means, and it feels like a cop-out - partly because it's driving the resolution rather than just cutting out the dull bits as the sonic screwdriver does (at least, when written properly).

Having said all that, I don't truly dislike the story; much of it is fun, there are some call-backs to the Second Doctor's run, and, that one accent aside, the acting is good. But there's nothing particularly new to it, and it fades into the background in comparison to other releases in the series.

The Early Adventures series returns to series three of the TV show, with Peter Purves (Steven) now joining Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) as co-narrator, and also voicing the Doctor.

This is a straight historical, of a form often seen in the TV show at the time, where the Doctor and companions become separated from the TARDIS and then become involved in various other events on their way to regaining access to it. This takes place over a shorter period of time than most of those did, lacking a lengthly sojourn, but in other respects, is quite true to the formula.

Here, the TARDIS arrives in early 16th century Florence, and the main characters soon become separated from one other, giving each of them their own story. As the title indicates, the story is about a conspiracy, the sort of complex plotting that the Italian nobles of the time were notorious for. It's also a celebrity historical, of sorts, featuring three real-life figures (one of whom, admittedly, is fairly obscure). Of these, Pope Leo X is particularly well-written, benevolent in comparison with his contemporaries, but clearly not a ‘good guy', either.

And Machiavelli, of course, is suitably... machiavellian.

The story is mostly serious, but there are some light-hearted moments here and there, and, while there are also some darker elements involving threats of torture and the like, it's more an exciting adventure than a grim and gritty tale. The plot is reasonably complex, with plenty of twists and turns - largely courtesy of Machiavelli - although the two-hour length means that it isn't rushed, and they aren't difficult to follow. Vicki also gets some good writing here, being more assertive and independent than she generally was on screen.

Aquaman returns to its regular continuity, and its mostly a good story about homecoming, with a bunch of exposition about the history of Amnesty Bay and a number of guest characters. The segments with Arthur himself are good, with some Lovecraftian themes (and some rather indirect references to the game Call of Cthulhu) and even the big fight scene at the end showing more of the collateral than such things normally do. Aside from the flashbacks with Arthur, the scenes with Mera are less interesting; she seems to be stalling for time, and arguably, so is the comic. Black Manta is back with a big robot in tow, but that's obviously set up for the next volume and isn't very interesting on its own. This makes the story less interesting than that in Vol. 1, but it gets us back on track, as was needed after the lengthy sojourn elsewhere. I'll give it 4 for DeConnick's writing and the high-quality artwork, more than for the plot.

What seemed a potentially interesting quest to discover the real reason for Krypton's destruction turns into a lengthy slugfest with the thinly developed villains responsible. On the plus side, there are some worthwhile diversions between the fighting, and some use of places such as Thanagar that tie the space opera into the wider DC universe. There is also some characterisation of Kara that pits her inner rage against her ideals, which harks back a little to the ‘Red Lantern' plotline of the pre-Rebirth New 52, although obviously without connecting to it. Andreyko's story didn't really grab me here, but his writing remains better than his predecessor's. But, for all the nice change of scenery, I'll be glad to be getting back to Earthly settings with the next volume, and seeing what the next writer has in store.

This is essentially a ghost story, with the Doctor and Romana accompanying a spiritualist on his way to investigate a haunting at a remote house in the 1920s. There's a good deal of fun at the spiritualist's expense in the first half, with the Doctor and Romana championing science while still managing to argue with one another about the finer details. This pro-science stance is perhaps most reminiscent of The Masque of Mandragora and therefore seems a good fit for the this general period of the show's history, although it's perhaps fallen a little more to the wayside in some more recent outings.

The confidence with which our heroes make these assertions means that there's little surprise when the explanation for the haunting does turn out to be a rational one - albeit more within the context of the DW universe than that of our own. The build-up to it, though, is a good mystery with plenty of suspects and a suitably spooky mood in the Gothic tradition that the Fourth Doctor was well-known for. It's clear from the beginning (and the cover) that the events have something to do with the horrors of World War One, but the clues as to what's actually going on are carefully placed amidst some red herrings, keeping one guessing (or, at least, it did me).

While many of the Fourt Doctor audios have been on the weak side, this is a good fit for the era in terms of both atmosphere and outlook, and has a nicely poignant ending - although one could argue that Romana comes across as more bossy than witty, which might be a weakness for some.

Another collection of four hour-long stories in which classic era Doctors face off against monsters from the modern series. This time around, all of the monsters are from the Tenth Doctor's run, which is quite a while ago itself by now, especially since none of them have so far made a repeat appearance since their first one.

• Night of the Vashta Nerada - We begin with the Fourth Doctor encountering one of the more memorable Tenth Doctor monsters for the first time. The story concerns a group of hunters/pest exterminators trying to find out what has been threatening an off-world amusement park – and kill it. It effectively contrasts the Doctor's attitude to those of the hunters and their employer as well as providing a tense story as the (initially) mysterious foe starts to stalk them. It's a bit like Aliens, only with a less tangible opponent and more one-liners (mostly from the Doctor), and it builds up a great atmosphere as well as fleshing out the personalities of the team. 5 stars.

• Empire of the Racnoss – The Fifth Doctor travels back billions of years to a time when the then-nascent Time Lord civilisation was fighting against the Racnoss (who he had believed were destroyed when he encountered them later in The Runaway Bride). On the face of it, the Racnoss are just rather nasty-looking aliens with a propensity for bloodlust, but the story manages to make more of them than this. It shows further elements of their culture as well as depicting them as more complex beings than we see on screen, although still staying true to the televised version. Despite the lack of companions, it also manages to convey some of the themes of Five's television era, with the most peaceable of Doctors caught up in another bloody war. 4 stars.

• The Carrionite Curse - I can't say that I find the Carrionites particularly interesting in their own right, but I'd have to admit that this story does have a number of things going for it. Not least among these is that it's a sequel to The Shakespeare Code rather than a prequel - at least from the perspective of the witches. Links to that earlier story abound, including cheeky references to Harry Potter, and there are connections to other aspects of DW lore as well. It's let down slightly by the Carrionites' weakness to words making some of the scenes come across as too reminiscent of The Knights Who Say Ni, but the supporting cast are great (I love the idea of the Goth girl in the surrogate companion role) and there are some nice touches in the story. 4 stars.

• Day of the Vashta Nerada - We come full circle for the final story in the collection, although the links to the first one are largely incidental. Here we see the Eighth Doctor crossing swords with Cardinal Ollistra (from the War Doctor audios) on a space station where the Time Lords are sponsoring genetic manipulation of the titular monster in order to use them as a weapon in the Time War. Like the first story, it is a base-under-siege, although arguably more typical in its format and with it being harder to feel sympathy for most of the supporting characters. It doesn't break much new ground, modified monsters aside, but at least the Time War provides obvious connections with the new series. 4 stars.

This consists of two stories, as the Flash returns from the larger “quest” plotline of the previous volume... and is actually rather better than it. It starts with the story from this year's annual, in which Barry has to face up to the fall out of Heroes in Crisis, and follows up with a four-issue story about the original Trickster. The latter does a reasonable job at exploring the villain and his background, within the space available, and has some nice touches as he uses an unusual method to take over Central City.

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.

The second in a set of releases consisting of two one-hour stories rather than the usual two-hour one, this features the Sixth Doctor and Flip in two unrelated tales.

* Vortex Ice - By far the stronger of the two stories in this collection, this sees the TARDIS materialising down a mine in Mexico and encountering a team of researchers on the trail of an unearthly particle trace. There is a monster involved, but it's largely incidental - the story is really about it appearing that what's going on may, in some way, be the result of actions that the Doctor hasn't yet performed. Cue a timey-wimey story about predestination and causal loops in which Flip turns out to have a particularly crucial role. As always with this sort of story, you need to pay close attention to resolve what's going on, but it's a beautiful fit for the one-hour format. 4 stars.

* Cortex Fire - The second story is set entirely on an alien planet that is undergoing a wave of what appear to be terrorist attacks but that it's clear from fairly early on are something else entirely. The story is, surprisingly, slightly more confusing than the prior one since, while what's actually going on is comparatively straightforward, there are segments (mainly near the beginning) where it simply isn't clear what's supposed to be happening. It all makes sense in the end, although the science behind the explanation is pretty ropy and the story suffers from the alien setting lacking the sort of grounding that a human-based tale would have. Plus, as anyone who has watched Game of Thrones knows, that's not how you pronounce ‘sigil'. 3 stars.

Castellucci takes over as the new writer in a collection that features two stories. The main one is by far the better, continuing on from the previous run without much of a blip - there's far less of a jolt than there usually is when a new writer takes over an ongoing series. But here, we keep many of the same characters, and the plot pretty carries on where it left off, despite the “Year of the Villain” arc intruding here and there. The actual villain in this very much works as an idea, and there's good use of the supporting cast, too, as Batgirl faces a foe who knows entirely too much about her and her methods.

Unfortunately, we then get the second story, which runs for just a couple of issues but is nowhere near as good. It's a fantasy story, something that never seems to work in these types of comics - it may just be a genre that Castellucci isn't as good at as he thinks, or the fact that it's deliberately supposed to be hackneyed may be overwhelming whatever else he's trying to do. There's a lot of guff about love that may or may not actually go somewhere in the end... and, yeah, it all drags the average down after quite a good main story.

The first half of this consists primarily of the big fight with Black Manta that we were promised in the previous volume. It's not bad as fight scenes go, with some fun use of Mera's powers and flashbacks to Manta's childhood to contrast his relationship with his father to that with his own son - although the latter aspect isn't really explored, since they don't talk much. After that, though, we jump back to an earlier point in Arthur's life, for a story that's supposedly about his feelings about having a child, but is largely another random fight. After the main plotline resumes, we then jump forward to a particularly lame fight and a story about a missing dog. (I'm guessing this might be intended as a comedy? It doesn't really work, if so). The really good bit is in between, with Mera's life in the balance, but that ends prematurely, so that the climactic story beat comes five-sixths of the way through the collection.

Yes, there's some good stuff in this volume, but the jumping about in the second half detracts from the main thread for no particularly good reason (well, okay, partly it's because they had to put the story from the annual somewhere, so it likely worked better in the individual issues). At least the mandated “Year of the Villain” inserts are minor enough that they don't get in the way.

Here, the TARDIS crew land on an artificial planetoid that's used entirely as a landing facility for private spacecraft. The result has a lot in common with Paradise Towers, albeit primarily in terms of the setting rather than the plot. A key similarity, for instance, is that the primary inhabitants of the planet are divided between a tribe of post-apocalyptic looking scavengers and the Wardens - a divide that's reminiscent of the Kangs and the Caretakers, although we've moved from a tower block to a multistory car park.

There's quite a lot of running around, as well as a mystery about the identity of terrorists blowing up some of the spaceships. The latter is more complicated than it first appears, and eventually leads the plot in an unexpected direction - although there is a weakness in that some of the revelations are overly drawn out. (There seemed to be a recurring theme of a villain saying “but isn't it obvious?” to which my reply was consistently “yes, so I don't know why the Doctor hasn't worked it out yet.”)

Good points include a story that plays to Mel's strengths and that allows her to save the day on more than one occasion. Less effective are the tribe of the Lost, where both of the speaking characters have a distractingly flat delivery - given that it's both of them, I'm more inclined to suspect the director's hand in this than the actors'. On the other hand, the villains are well portrayed (and, ironically, they're played by the same actors, doubling up on the roles via the magic of audio) and are given backstories that do a good job of explaining their motivations.

It's not one of the greats, but it manages to do what it's trying to do rather better than Paradise Towers did, so that's a plus, too. In fact, if you're a particular fan of season 24 of the original TV series, you'll probably like this more than I did.

This time around, Stross tackles the issue of vampires within the world of the Laundry Files. On the face of it, this is a different horror trope than the ones typically seen in the series, although, of course, vampirism is cast within the context of the series' wider setting and, as such, makes perfect sense within it. Indeed, a key plot point (mentioned pretty much in the first sentence of the book) is that nobody within the Laundry actually believes in vampires. Which makes hard for to combat them effectively.

It's another good Laundry book, with the usual mixture of horror, action, and humour. A fair bit of the action takes place in the Laundry itself, so that we get to see a bit more of its higher-level workings. There's also a change from earlier books in that we see a larger proportion of events that take place when Bob isn't around - almost all of it still narrated in present tense, as Stross tends to prefer, but not so much in the first person. This helps by expanding the scope, as well as allowing us a better view of some of the characters that Bob doesn't interact with very much.

As for the vampirism itself, this is a clever take on the creatures that both utilises some of the familiar tropes while undercutting others. In most respects, they're clearly the vampires we're familiar with, but the explanation for them has a logical rationale, and some of the details differ accordingly (they're not literally ‘undead', for example).

Although Mo is away for most of the story, the toll that having to live through this is taking on the main protagonist is not ignored. Bringing back the vicar who appeared the previous volume as a new Laundry employee experiencing its world for the first time has a similar effect. While there are some background events that seem to be setting the ground for future developments, the larger plot arc of the series isn't much advanced here until the very end of the book when a large and dramatic change takes place.

The TARDIS arrives in Merseyside in 1991 as a re-opened shipyard tries to revitalise the local economy. As is often the case with any new startup in Doctor Who, especially one that claims to have a revolutionary technology (in this case a new steel alloy), there's something sinister and deadly going on with a science fiction twist.

It's a while before it's revealed what's going on, with a few red herrings thrown in along the way. Both Ace and Mel have their own distinct plotlines while the Doctor potters around investigating, with Ace's particularly suited to her strengths. Mel's, on the other hand, involves her encountering an old flame (it's very nearly the ‘present-day' for her) and this is somewhat less believable. It also doesn't really go anywhere and it does make you wonder what they ever saw in each other in the first place.

The main threat, once it presents itself, is more about black magic than science. This has, of course, been part of the TV show since The Dæmons and has featured in the modern show in the form of the Carrionites, so it's not inconsistent. But I'm not generally a great fan of it and that remains the case here, with some of the spells being arbitrary and implausibly effective. (It's also arguably a little gory, as the title might imply, but not really in a way that's an issue on audio). At least the way of fighting it is more in keeping with typical SF, and there is a clever use of a video arcade game towards the end.

If you don't mind the magic, it's a pretty decent story and better plotted than its immediate predecessor. Indeed, one can see that it wanted to be something a bit more than it was with its references to unemployment in northern England and attempts to develop Mel's backstory. But neither of those elements ever quite gel and we're left with what is admittedly an above-average piece of filler.

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.

This is the first of a three-volume ‘season' of stories set some time after the events of Miracle Day, once Torchwood has been re-established. It's all a single plot arc, albeit with a number of threads, but each story is distinct, as one might expect from a modern TV series. New characters are replacing those lost in the actual TV season, and, on the whole, they're interesting and well-written. There's also a pretty major plot twist that takes advantage of the audio format; it's done subtly enough that it was a while before I noticed that one major piece of the Torchwood set-up isn't quite what it should be. It's for that, and the fact that I really like Mr Colchester and Orr that I'm going to nudge this one up to the full five stars, even if some of the individual episodes are more in the 4-star range.

• Changes Everything – Our first real look at this new version of Torchwood is seen through the eyes of an investigative journalist and potential recruit. Much of this story is setting up the main plot arc and introducing us to the new characters – Tyler Steele and Mr Colchester, a civil servant briefly seen in previous release The Torchwood Archive and sent to help re-establish the organisation. The latter is the better of the two at this stage, although Steele does have some potential that's perhaps obscured by the need for him to be the fish-out-of-water here. As for the actual plot, it concerns apparent terrorist attacks that may have something to with aliens. It doesn't really go anywhere, and is arguably taking something of a back seat to the characters, but it's clearly only intended to set the scene for later.

• Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy – Well, what else would you call a story about an alien hen night? (That's “bachelorette party” for those in America). Gwen and Colchester gate-crash the aforementioned party to see what they can learn about possible new alien arrivals in Cardiff, and naturally it gets out of hand. In many ways, it's a fun story, with some amusing details about the aliens and a particularly spoiled bride-to-be. But there's also a serious edge to it (including a sizable body count), and a rather clearer view of what the plot arc will be about than we got in the first episode. With Jack and Tyler almost entirely off-screen, Colchester also comes further into his own, proving himself to be both practical and capable.

• Orr – What initially appears to be another investigation into the aliens' schemes soon turns into an episode about trying to save a different sort of alien from their clutches. Orr, as it turns out, has been genetically engineered to perform a particular function and one that opens up some new story possibilities – as well as fitting right in with Torchwood's usual themes. It's perhaps the strongest story of the set, it not being clear where it's going to go and prominently featuring a genderqueer character (it actually surprises me that, to my recollection, this is the first time we've seen one on the series). There's also a more sinister subplot burbling away in the background, although it appears that we'll have to wait until at least the next volume for it to bear real fruit.

• Superiority Complex – The Torchwood team investigate a series of murders at a new hotel built for the wealthier alien visitors. Even though they're the victims this time around, the story does portray them in an entirely negative light, perhaps not quite deserving what's happening to them, but with few redeeming features. The mystery element isn't the strongest, and it soon becomes clear who the killer is, but it does build up to a dramatic denouement as things spiral out of control. It ends – perhaps more so than the previous three episodes – on a cliffhanger.

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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₴ █ ▐▐▐▐▐▐▐☺

This is really more of a prequel to the War Doctor audio series than it is a continuation of the regular 8th Doctor stories. It's also a single four-hour story, albeit with the two authors taking turns in writing the hour-long ‘chapters', each of which has a different setting.

It starts out in the style of any typical DW story, with the Doctor stumbling across sinister goings-on on a luxury cruise liner in space. Subtle hints that the apparent mystery is merely a sideshow build up until the effects of the Time War arrive, and everything completely changes direction. From there on, we're pretty much just dodging Daleks in a story that's focussed on the Doctor trying to get a group of refugees to safety.

Much of this is fairly standard Dalek fare, although Eight's personality is strongly contrasted with that of the War Doctor, doing everything he can to avoid fighting and getting involved in the larger conflict. The third segment of the story, set on a Gallifreyan army base, is the strongest, with the Doctor standing up for individuality in the face of the dehumanising nature of military training.

It's really only that, and a few decent twists in the story, that raise it up to the 4-star level, although anyone who's a big Dalek fan may well find more to enjoy. Apparently, it was originally intended as a companion-free story although one of the characters does end up travelling with the Doctor at the end. That this hadn't been planned at the time of writing probably explains why she's missing for long chunks of the narrative, although she seems heroic and capable, the sort of companion that's going to be useful in a series about a war. If anything, it's the other guest characters who stand out more, making this more a story about the effects of war than about the war itself.

Which is a good thing.