Set after Miracle Day, Captain Jack and Gwen Cooper have restarted Torchwood. But it’s in a very different Cardiff. Something terrible’s happened to the city. With every day getting darker, will Torchwood need to adopt a whole new approach?
1. Changes Everything by James Goss
Tyler Steele has washed up in Cardiff looking for a fresh start. A disgraced journalist, he’s looking into the Red Doors movement – are they really behind the terrorist attacks on immigrants? Who is stirring up the racism and hatred in the city, and what does outsourcing contractor 3Sol have to do with it? Tyler finds out that Torchwood – a secret organisation that everyone thought long gone – is back in business. Tyler realises that this is the second chance he’s been looking for, and he’ll do anything to be a part of it.
2. Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy by James Goss
Has Cardiff really been invaded by aliens? Tyler thinks he’s found a lead – the daughter of the mysterious Ro-Jedda is getting married and has booked a private party. If Torchwood can infiltrate it, there’s a chance they’ll end up closer to the truth. Free bar, canapes, and the chance to find out what’s really going on. What could possibly go wrong? Soon Torchwood are on the run for their lives, and learning more than they ever wanted to about alien life.
3. Orr by Juno Dawson
Vincent Parry is the most successful property developer in Cardiff. A while ago he made an agreement with the mysterious Ro-Jedda, and it is an arrangement he has come to bitterly regret. Something has to be done – but it’s going to cost him everything he loves. With time running out for Cardiff, Torchwood encounter an alien who knows them only too well.
4. Superiority Complex by A K Benedict
Poverty and homelessness are on the rise in Cardiff. The streets are full of the desperate and the dispossessed. So, of course, it’s the right time to open a 7-star luxury, all-inclusive hotel. And, naturally, the hotel is for aliens only. As the humans stand outside the gates and look hungrily in, there’s one thing that makes them smile. Someone is murdering the guests.
TORCHWOOD: ALIENS AMONG US: VOLUME ONE
Even though the show has been off the air since “Miracle Day” ended, it’s never been a better time to be a Torchwood fan. After establishing a monthly range with occasional special box sets, Big Finish has secured a coup: “Aliens Among Us,” the official “series 5” continuation of Torchwood, created with input from creator Russell T. Davies. Set in the aftermath of “Miracle Day,” the series sees Jack and Gwen rebuilding Torchwood in Cardiff and a new cast of characters joining them against the backdrop of alien colonists living alongside the human population.
“Aliens Among Us” is designed as a full series of 12 stories, released in three box sets of four stories each. As such, it embraces the modern TV storytelling format: each episode tells a self-contained story, but each story has elements connecting it to a larger whole. It’s refreshing to experience this from Big Finish, given that they usually release stories or box sets that stand alone, and it would be delightful if they could explore a format like this for their Doctor Who range. For the first set, I’m opting to review it as a whole, rather than writing separate reviews for each story, but I reserve the right to take the opposite approach when volume 2 comes out.
As an official Torchwood continuation, we see both returning and original characters becoming part of the regular cast. Jack, of course, is still the leader of Torchwood Cardiff, and he hasn’t changed too significantly from the end of Miracle Day. He’s still dealing with the emotional fallout of Ianto’s death, but the writers keep this relatively subtle – on the surface, Jack is his usual confident, flirtatious self. He, along with the series in general, is unafraid to curse or use strong sexual innuendo – this is definitely a return to the more in-your-face storytelling of the TV series over the subtle techniques of the audio stories.
Gwen is the other major returning character, but something doesn’t seem quite right about her from the beginning. Multiple fans, after hearing the first story, questioned why Eve Myles sounded different – well, that’s because it’s not Eve Myles at all, it’s actually Alexandria Riley. Something has taken over Gwen’s body, leaving Gwen herself trapped in her own head, forced to watch the terrible actions of her replacement. Riley plays the possessed Gwen, while Myles still voices the real Gwen inside her head, and Riley is a very convincing impressionist. The end of the second story, furthermore, is genuinely shocking, and not just in how it confirms the listener’s suspicions about Gwen. We don’t really know this imposter’s goals yet; it’ll be interesting to see how this thread develops. Kai Owen has also returned as Rhys, but at least in this first set he is relegated to a few short appearances, so we’ll see if he becomes more involved.
The first new Torchwood member is Mr. Colchester (Paul Clayton), a civil servant assigned to Torchwood to manage its budget. The character was introduced in “The Torchwood Archive,” but this is the first time we’ve seen him in extended action. Despite his official job, it’s clear that he’s been in Cardiff for a while, as he’s very used to Torchwood’s mission and very good at dealing with alien incursions – the budgetary assignment almost seems superfluous. Colchester is gruff and irritable, coming across as a grumpy, aging, conservative, traditional man completely set in his ways. As a result of this, it’s a major surprise to learn that he’s gay and married to a Muslim man – Clayton does a great job of bringing across his character’s emotions even through his deep, gruff voice.
Much of the story involves Tyler Steele (Jonny Green), the point-of-view character that drives the first story in the set. He’s a former tabloid sleaze artist trying to go straight, investigating a new anti-immigrant movement in Cardiff. The racism on the rise might not solely be down to human bigotry, though – there are inexplicable associated events, and his investigation leads him straight to Gwen Cooper and Torchwood in an explosive, entertaining pre-titles sequence. From there, we follow his growing relationship with Torchwood – and the first episode, in which he works alongside Jack and reveals just how suitable he is for the job, is a smart way to introduce a new cast member. We see the story from his perspective, so when Jack refuses to hire him, we feel sympathy – but since we know and trust Jack, we understand his position as well. It takes good writing to make the listener feel torn and James Goss, writer of the “pilot,” is certainly up to the task.
The final recurring character is Orr (Sam Béart), an alien shape-shifter who manifests as whatever an observer desires sexually. This extends to gender, meaning that Orr doesn’t fit into our sexual binaries – even describing Orr as trans isn’t sufficient. Orr’s introductory story, also titled “Orr,” is by Juno Dawson, author of the disastrous “The Dollhouse,” possibly the worst Torchwood story ever produced. “Orr,” however, is anything but disastrous – it’s actually a smart, sympathetic introduction to a character that seems to defy understanding. I’m sure Dawson, herself a trans woman, writes Orr from her own experience – but whatever the inspiration, the script is fantastic. The end sees Jack at his most sympathetic and human and provides arguably the most emotional moment in the entire set – while Orr is perhaps the most “pure” character in the whole thing.
As mentioned above, James Goss writes the first two stories, “Changes Everything” and “Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy.” The first story is a fine pilot episode that lays the groundwork for everything to come while giving us an entry point through Tyler, while the second is pure Torchwood: Gwen and Colchester go undercover to investigate an alien bachelorette party. A spoiled alien princess and her friends devour male strippers before making a late-night booze run? Why not! They also set up the plot for the series, which conflates an alien migration to Earth with the very real refugee crisis. Yes, this leads to some on-the-nose political commentary, but there’s nothing wrong with that in a series hardly known for its subtlety. We spend more time with the aliens in the final story of the set, “Superiority Complex” by A. K. Benedict, which takes place in and around a luxury hotel for aliens. Benedict manages to incorporate both racial and economic politics into the story – the humans massed outside the hotel protest both the presence of the aliens and their ostentatious wealth, while the aliens act like clueless colonials. While the ending is ridiculous, I did like how Orr tried and failed to talk down the murderous “smart hotel” AI.
This is a great start to a new series of Torchwood. All four stories have unique selling points, and each one retains the over-the-top nature of Torchwood the TV show. The performances are excellent across the board, and the mysteries are intriguingly laid out. As much as I’ve enjoyed the monthly Torchwood releases, I’m excited to continue with “Aliens Among Us” and its more explicitly serialized format.
Highly recommended.
8/10