Torchwood

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6.12 God Among Us: Thoughts and Prayers:
Season 6 finale.
Written by James Goss.
Enthralling situation as the world is literally coming to an end.
Eerie the emotions that Orr has here especially with the feelings of love.
Andy kills Jack. Didn't feel that happening.
What a revelation that Andy had been working for Jack all along and that he was his inside man on the Committee.
Interesting when a Stargate, Andy's description, turned up.
With the character called God here, it was amusing when Ng says that God works in but got interrupted by Mr Colchester.
Quite a climax with Yvonne and Orr sending the Committee back to their homeworld of Erebus.
For a moment it was thought that Yvonne was making a self-sacrifice and coincidentally a Flash made a sacrifice in The Flash 6.9 Crisis On Infinite Earths Part Three.
However Yvonne and Orr were saved at the last moment by Jack.

Pretty good how this got wrapped up with God now an ordinary person having given up her powers to Orr.
The season ends with a conversation between Andy and Yvonne and I knew where that conversation was heading.
Wonder whether this will be the chronological end to Torchwood with the team being forced to flee as they get the blame for what has happened or would there be a season 7.

At the same time in listening to this I listened to Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 1: The Red Lady which introduced new companion Helen Sinclair who made the same kind of decision that Torchwood made in Thoughts and Prayers due to similar circumstances.

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The Dollhouse:

The Dollhouse is the second episode of the third Torchwood Big Finish season.
Written by Juno Dawson and released in April 2017.
This takes a break from the usual format as it featured completely new characters although Captain Jack still gets a mention as this presents the Torchwood L.A. branch.
The L.A. team is all female although supervised by a man Mr Beamish.
What makes The Dollhouse fascinating is that this all-girl team is presented in the style of Charlie's Angels and coincidentally the 2019 Charlie's Angels movie came out whilst I was listening to this.
The Dollhouse is a fascinating take on Charlie's Angels with the team in question investigating missing girls.
A solid story based on the said premise with an alien dose to it.

As a result of a tragedy this ends with the team deciding to go their own way and not take instructions anymore.
This certainly left open for more stories with this team but as of yet such stories are not forthcoming.

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Outbreak: Stage Two Prodromal: Love:
This has Norton Folgate turning and what a friction he caused between Jack and Ianto.
Rather intriguingly the premise of love explored in this episode becomes very deadly as Jack due to a certain influence attempts to kill Ianto.
Quite fascinating and horrifying Norton's explanation about the patients especially the antidote for them.
Norton said that Jack looked like Boris Karloff. Coincidentally recent to this I had finished the Thriller (1960-62) TV series hosted by Boris Karloff.
Elsewhere it was funny when Rhys deliberately caused a panic with his fellow drivers including not so subtlety asked them if they know what a dirty bomb is!

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Outbreak: Stage Three Invasion: Kill:
Conclusion.
Due to the current state of the world, quite timely that I listened to this at this point in time with its subject matter.
Enjoyable way to end Outbreak with the cure being the focus of this.
Quite a highlight when Rhys having to get away from his wife Gwen who wants to kill him!
Quite a conversation that Jack had with Frances Godalming.
Before this conversation Godalming had been presented as a strong and ruthless villain.
However with this conversation it showed moments of weakness from her especially with her having no memory of her real name nor her husband Luke Palmer.

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Incoming Message:

The message is by Yvonne Hartman and written by Russell T. Davies who created the character for Army of Ghosts/Doomsday with Tracy Ann Oberman reprising her.
This was released for the Lockdown.
It is not cleared from the message itself but Davies later clarified that this Yvonne is from Pete's World and was presented in Torchwood seasons 5 and 6.
Very enthralling message from Yvonne with the emphasis of staying home and what happens if you don't!

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The Torchwood Tapes:
The Torchwood Tapes is an extra in Outbreak, a tenth anniversary release for Torchwood from Big Finish. This is a chat from Torchwood creator Russell T. Davies, the cast and the production team. Quite fascinating piece with the recall of when Torchwood came about with the TV series to its arrival on Big Finish. Definitely enthralling how everyone involved enjoyed making Torchwood. The Torchwood Tapes definitely made me appreciate Torchwood in more ways than ever before. Fun moment when John Barrowman recalled seeing Julie Gardner in a mini-skirt and on a motorbike. Would have loved to have seen that.

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Save Our Souls:
Save Our Souls is the fourth episode of the sixth Torchwood Big Finish season.
Written by Scott Handcock.
None of the familiar Torchwood personnel are in this episode.
Instead this episode is headlined by Rowena Cooper as Torchwood founder Queen Victoria.
Set in 1898, three years before the queen's death in 1901, Victoria comes to Flat Holm, an island.
The queen came to Flat Holm to investigate an experimental radio mast that has picked up a signal, that of a voice, a very familiar one.
This voice claims to know the future.
Fascinating tale about this voice's claim of knowledge of the future and how it should or should not treated with credence.
There is a member of Torchwood here and that is Florence Driscoll (Gwyneth Keyworth) and the role that she played in the episode's final moments.

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Dinner and a Show:
Dinner and a Show is the third episode of the sixth Big Finish Torchwood season.
Starring Naoko Mori as Tosh and Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto.
In fact this was written David-Lloyd himself.
This isn't the first Big Finish Torchwood that David-Lloyd has written but it is the first that I have listened to.
David-Lloyd has set this episode between End of Days & Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the period when Jack went off when he detected the Doctor nearby.
It's Valentine's Day, Tosh is at the opera waiting for Owen to turn up for a non-date as friends.
Owen doesn't turn up but Ianto does.
Having expected to be a night at a opera with Owen turns out instead for Tosh to be an unexpected Torchwood investigation with Ianto as Ianto has found that the opera is full of aliens.
Very enjoyable piece as it ultimately relates to something Ianto had seen years before.
Funny when Tosh and Ianto had a music debate.
At one point Tosh gets mistaken as Chinese. No doubt David-Lloyd was remembering Captain Jack Harkness when he wrote that as that episode also had Tosh mistaken as Chinese.
While the resolution is not what I had expected nor I was disappointed with, it does cap off this enjoyable narrative.
In the midst of all this Tosh and Ianto compare certain notes with Owen and Jack.
Definitely feel for Tosh when she expressed her frustration with Owen.
She also tells about a joke Owen told her. I'm with her that the joke wasn't funny and definitely not one I would tell myself.

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Rhys & Ianto’s Excellent Barbecue:
Rhys & Ianto’s Excellent Barbecue is the eighth episode of the sixth Big Finish Torchwood season.
Released in November 2020 and written by Tim Foley.
Undoubtedly the title is a play on Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Whether it is coincidental or not and given the title, this came about three months after the release of the third Bill & Ted movie Bill & Ted Face the Music.
Rhys holds a barbecue for his friends when Ianto turned up having been asked to do so by Gwen.
The barbecue it turns out is a wake for a friend of Rhys who had recently died.
Overall not bad to pass the time just like with any barbecue, although it has been quite since I last attended one.
As Rhys and Ianto encounters the problem with the barbecue that came up here a mysterious caller came in the midst of this, a caller is not exactly what he seems.
Also quite emotional when Rhys talks about the said reason for the barbecue.
This episode has the involvement of a time bubble.
Coincidentally this came about a couple of months before Jack was in Revolution of the Daleks in which he employed a time bubble to rescue the Doctor and coincidentally I was listening to Rhys & Ianto's Excellent Barbecue when Revolution of the Daleks came on.

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The antepenultimate episode of WandaVision, Breaking the Fourth Wall has Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) revealing that her true identity is that of Agatha Harkness.
John Barrowman revealed in 2006 that his Doctor Who/Torchwood character Captain Jack Harkness was named after Agatha Harkness
Also WandaVision featured S.W.O.R.D. ( Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division) which in many ways is not unlike Torchwood.

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Torchwood One: Before The Fall: New Girl:
On reflection when Big Finish got the licence to make Torchwood it would be a matter of time before they got around to Torchwood One whose fall at Canary Wharf in Doctor Who: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday served as the prelude to the Torchwood TV series featuring the team from Torchwood Three.
Torchwood One stars Tracy-Ann Oberman as Yvonne Hartman, the character that she first played in the aforementioned Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and then reprising her at Big Finish's Torchwood range in One Rule & The Torchwood Archive.
Torchwood One also featured Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto Jones who we had first seen at Torchwood Three in the TV series as Ianto had worked for Torchwood One prior to Torchwood Three.
The first series of Torchwood One comes under the banner of Before the Fall (referring to the aforementioned fall at Canary Wharf) and it starts with New Girl.
Written by Joseph Lidster, the said New Girl refers to Rachel Allan played by Sophie Winkleman.
Set in 2005, this takes place a few months after Doctor Who: Rose as Rachel has just joined Torchwood as has her first day here.
Funny how Rachel first meets Yvonne before going to see Pippa, the Head of Human Resources.
Pippa is played by Lorelei King (who also voices the Lift) and incidentally she had a role in the Doctor Who TV series as she was the narrator in A Town Called Mercy.
Other Torchwood personnel includes Tommy and Millidar both played by Tim Bentinck.
Before the Fall was released in January 2017 and later that year Bentinck was in the Doctor Who TV series playing a Monk in Extremis & Pyramid at the End of the World.
Also in 2017 Bentinck doubled for the Fourth Doctor in the official completion of Shada.
In New Girl, a brief mention is made that Torchwood is on the look out for the Doctor.
As well as being prescient, little did Torchwood know that the Doctor has been working for them in Bentinck.
Another Torchwood personnel is Guleraana Arbid played by Nisha Nayar.
Nayar had been in two Doctor Who stories on TV in Paradise Towers & Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways.
Bad Wolf incidentally is the episode that first referenced Torchwood and before anyone would truly get to know what Torchwood is.
Fascinating and at the same time horrifying when Yvonne told Rachel about their own torturer.
Interesting the Ianto presented here is not someone who is not always willing serve coffee making him somewhat different to the Ianto at Torchwood Three.
Fascinating presenting Rachel as a newcomer at Torchwood and certain occurrences at Torchwood which culminates with the office party at the end.
It has been said that Adeola (but not Freema Agyeman) was at this party.
The office party would turned out to be a trick against Yvonne resulting from a tragedy that Yvonne received the blame for and then having no choice but to run from it.
Somewhat strange this had me feeling sympathy for Yvonne considering that she wasn't exactly one of the good guys when she was introduced in Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.
New Girl is truly an enthralling way to start Torchwood and the person who is really responsible for the tragedy at the party was not someone I had expected and how this person benefited from this tragedy.

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The Crown:
The Crown is the ninth episode of the sixth Big Finish Torchwood season.
Released in December 2020 and written by Jonathan Barnes.
Seeing the title The Crown made me think of the TV series of that name.
Whereas the TV series is about Queen Elizabeth II and her family, the Torchwood namesake is about Elizabeth II's great great grandmother Queen Victoria in another appearance by Rowena Cooper as Victoria.
The Crown guest stars Derek Riddell.
Riddell is not a stranger to things Torchwood as he guest starred in Doctor Who: Tooth and Claw where he played Sir Robert MacLeish, the owner of Torchwood House where the Torchwood Institute got its name and named by the visiting Queen Victoria.
As Tooth and Claw is the Doctor Who episode which established Torchwood's origins, Riddell finally got to be in an episode under the Torchwood banner with The Crown.
Riddell however doesn't reprise MacLeish as he got killed by the wolf before the queen came up with her idea of the Torchwood Institute.
Riddell instead plays new character Dr Gideon Parr.
The Crown meant that Riddell gets to have a reunion with Queen Victoria even though Victoria in Tooth and Claw was played by Pauline Collins whereas Rowena Cooper plays her in The Crown.
No doubt an in-joke when Victoria asked Dr Parr if he has heard of the Torchwood Institute as the listener doesn't hear the answer to this question.
The Crown has Dr Parr being summoned to an asylum to visit a patient there and that patient is Queen Victoria or at least she claims to be her.
Intriguing how this plot ensues but the resolution to this had me confused on so many levels.

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Drive:
Drive is the penultimate episode of the sixth Torchwood Big Finish season.
Starring Naoko Mori as Tosh
Written by David Llewellyn.
This episode is notable for providing the Big Finish producing debut by Emily Cook, the creator of the Doctor Who: Lockdown event.
Drive refers to the taxi that Tosh takes and employs the help of its taxi driver Fawzia.
Fawzia is played by Suzanne Packer and I could not believe Fawzia was played by the same person who played General Eve Cicero in The Tsuranga Conundrum in the Doctor Who episodes as her two characters are nothing alike.
With Fawzia's help, Tosh tracks down someone for his unsafe use of a teleporter.
This is an enthralling adventure and Tosh and Fawzia makes for a good team.
In fact it is this team up between Tosh and Fawzia is the main reason for my enjoyment of this story before it reaches its resolution.
Fawzia also makes a couple of jokes to Tosh which I am not sure was that funny.
A very good episode and definitely a very good vehicle (pun may or may not have been intended) for Emily Cook's Big Finish producing debut.

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The Office of Never Was:
The Office of Never Was is the penultimate episode of the third Torchwood Big Finish season.
Starring Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto.
Released in July 2017, written by James Goss and directed by Scott Handcock.
Before listening to this I had read from TARDIS Wiki that Handcock had described this episode as Ianto Jones being Emma Peel from the Avengers episode The Joker.
(As a point of fact, I should mentioned as it wasn't mentioned here, that The Joker itself is a remake of the earlier Cathy Gale episode Don't Look Behind You).
GIven the premise from The Avengers episode, The Office of Never Was has Ianto investigating on his own an empty office block.
He was initially alone until he meets a girl who can't remember her own name.
The unnamed girl was played by Bethan Rose Young and this character on The Avengers: The Joker character Ola played by Sally Nesbitt and before that in Don't Look Behind You, an unnamed girl (just like her counterpart in The Office of Never Was) played by Janine Gray.
Quite enthralling and very suspenseful Ianto investigating this building all of which leads him to meet a man called Oliver.
Oliver is played by David Shields and this character is based on The Joker character Prendergast played by Peter Jeffrey and before that in Don't Look Behind, an unnamed man played by Maurice Good.
The climax between Ianto and Oliver has the revelation of what led to all this and fascinating hearing this played out.
Very haunting the resolution decided by Ianto that brings this mystery to the close.
Also very creepy during this episode is the voice in the lift!
On listening to the said interviews interesting to learn how this episode came about after fulfilling the request of Torchwood doing its own version of the said Avengers narrative.

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The Great Sontaran War:
The Great Sontaran War is the sixth episode released of the seventh Torchwood Big Finish season.
Written by James Goss and it was released on Torchwood's 15th anniversary on October 22 2021.
Personally I have no idea why this became the 15th anniversary episode but nevertheless I enjoyed this very much.
Starring Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto and as usual Dan Starkey plays the Sontaran, this time in the form of Major Kreg.
Major Kreg was sent to carried a strategic assessment of Earth when he was captured by Torchwood.
Torchwood decides there is only one thing they could do with him and that is to send him to a caravan park.
Kreg gets handled by Ianto.
The Great Sontaran War is a very fun episode as Kreg learns what Earth culture is like including having a cat, which Ianto gave him, and Kreg names the cat Group Marshal Cat!
What definitely makes this fun is the interaction between the episode's two leads and Kreg in many ways is not unlike Strax in adjusting to Earth culture.
Then again it is probable that any Sontaran would have behave in exactly the same way in such circumstances.
The Great Sontaran War is jolly good fun especially since it mostly does not touched on the said war.