George Hewitt reviews the second part of Torchwood: Double!
Check out our review of part one here.
After the roaring success that was Double Part 1 comes the second instalment in Guy Adams’s epic 1970s Torchwood vs Autons duology. Part 2 raises the stakes, gives us some amazing set pieces, and develops our characters in ways listeners would never expect.
Roberta has seemingly switched sides. Realising it was the only way out, she’s now working for the Autons. As with the first part, Louise Jameson‘s performance is exemplary. Her understanding of Roberta’s character is incredible, and this is shown in the moments where the character despairs at herself. These parts are fuelled with raw emotion and are highly impactful to the listener.
Guy Adams‘s story moves along at a swift pace here, building on everything that’s come before to result in twists, turns, and a truly outstanding conclusion. What works so well in this story is that Adams manages to perfectly balance character drama with espionage and action. He manages to give a thoroughly interesting exploration of who Roberta is, while also keeping up the momentum that Part 1 set in place, leading to a second half that never drags but feels utterly pointed at every turn.
Another person responsible for this is director Barnaby Edwards, who ensures that the decisions actors have made are the best ones possible for the audience, and keeps the story flowing naturally and organically – again, every character is drawn out to a point where they feel instinctively real, and this goes beyond the script, so hats off to Edwards and the cast for that. A pair of real standouts were Reda Elazouar on double duty as Mac and Al_Sabah and Anthony Howell as Cornwell.
Similarly to Part 1, Blair Mowat‘s music and Toby Hrycek-Robinson‘s sound design pair really nicely to evoke the ’70s aesthetic. Mowat’s use of era-appropriate synthesizers and Hrycek-Robinson’s incorporation of original sound effects from Doctor Who Auton stories help to firmly establish the setting of Double.
Overall, this story goes above and beyond what Part 1 had set up, and cements Roberta Craven’s ’70s Torchwood as one of the most interesting and unique areas of the organisation’s history. I really, really hope that Goss, Adams, and Edwards can bring us more from this era – given the ending to this story it would be nice to hear more form Roberta, Neal, and Cornwell. Double is an absolute tour de force for the Torchwood range, and it’s difficult to see anything eclipsing it for quite some time
Torchwood: Double (Part Two) is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com
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