Description
Enter the world of 1950s Torchwood!
Gangsters are vanishing from the streets of Soho, there’s a deadly Nazi secret on the loose, and something’s moving in the smog. Norton Folgate should be sorting this out, but the Torchwood agent is in disgrace. Who’s going to save London this time?
1. The Man From Room 13
2. Meet Mr Lyme
3. The Mould
4. The Spread
5. The Dead Hand
6. The Liberty of Norton Folgate
Estelle –
The audio drama starts not only with the 1950s Torchwood theme (I love all the different versions Big Finish has given us) but also a retro content warning in place of the usual one and I love this level of detail crafting!
Given the plot, this box-set could have been a classic straightforward Torchwood/Who episode except:
a/ Non-linear shorter episodes allow for more character work than a straightforward adventure would and give new characters the chance to shine. And they do shine. Kudos to Joe Shire and Dervla Kirwan!
b/ Norton is involved so nothing is straightforward. 😉
Cleverly, the box-set spends a fair amount of time setting up the 1950s world and the new characters before Andy Davidson makes one hell of an entrance! Then, what was a really interesting duo with Folgate and Lyme turns into an exceptional trio where the dialogue is filled with great lines and great deliveries.
As mentioned above, Joe Shire is really good as Lyme and, as always, Sam Barnett and Tom Price are brilliant and have amazing chemistry. The whole trio is just *chef kiss*.
I don’t know if it’s new to this box-set but midway through I realised how much Norton is Torchwood. He gets so joyful and enthusiastic when faced with a puzzle or an adventure. I mean, he still is Norton: ruthless, sometimes heartless, seeing it all as a game. But this story shone a new light on a softer and lighter side of him, even though you still find yourself saying “Damn it, Norton!” every so often. That’s what makes him such a great character!
Xandra73 –
I’m a bit undecided how much I liked it. It is somewhere between bloody brilliant and convulted finish I would say.
Disk 1:
Setting up the story and introducing new characters. That was so well done. Gideon and Norton’s boss both really interesting characters which were immediately very interesting. I also liked the 50’s feel, spotliting racism and homophobia during that time period.
Disk 2:
Andy appears and all hell breaks loose. The whole disk is so much fun! I had to laugh out loud so often during that hour, it was just brilliant. And I can’t believe they end up naked. Every. Single. Time they meet.
Disk 3:
This one was a bit disappointing for me, but maybe it will grow in the future. The first half is a flashback to how everything started and didn’t include Norton or Andy. So while it was done in a vry good way I didn’t really felt invested into the story. The finale was a lot better back then, even if it was maybe a bit too big – like with Goodbye Piccadily. I tend to lose the plot when too much happens at the same time.
Overall I enjoyed the box set a lot – Andy and Norton are such a great team-up!