It’s been three weeks since the Mayor of Cardiff was killed by a shop dummy and the fight is on to see who will replace him.
Yvonne Hartman is visiting the city to retrieve an invaluable alien device. She’s in charge of Torchwood One, she’s saving the British Empire and she doesn’t care about local politics. But she is going to find herself caught up in that fight. There’s a bloodthirsty alien stalking the streets and there’s a special offer on at the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.
It’s the 26th of March 2005 and it’s the day that everything changes.
TORCHWOOD: ONE RULE
Joe Lidster takes on quite a challenge in “One Rule,” the fourth release in the first series of Torchwood audios from Big Finish. Unlike the first three stories, “One Rule” features a regular character that was never seen in Torchwood! Yes, it’s Yvonne Hartman (Tracy-Ann Oberman) from all the way back in Doctor Who TV series 2 finale “Army of Ghosts” and “Doomsday, in a story set back in 2005, right after the Auton invasion. Yvonne was a multifaceted character on TV – she was lined up opposite the Doctor, but she was genuinely concerned about humanity – and Lidster expertly portrays this here. There’s a great moment where Yvonne, who has been take-charge and unafraid of violence or intimidation, expresses dismay at Barry’s (Gareth Armstrong) racist comments. It’s moments like these that make her a sympathetic character: we might not agree with her methods but we know she’s a concerned, well-meaning person underneath. I also like how her sneering disregard for Cardiff rapidly disappears the longer she spends there, and how the hidden beauties of the city are nicely represented by Helen (Rebecca Lacey), who fakes her drunkenness to put her opponents off guard. “One Rule” is an intriguing character piece, ably directed by Barnaby Edwards, that fleshes out an underappreciated Doctor Who character. It’s another in what is becoming an unbroken string of hits from the Torchwood range.
8/10