George Hewitt reviews the sixth episode of Torchwood Among Us

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Tim Foley’s second entry into Series 7 brings back two very familiar faces. Not heard together since the dramatic finale of God Among Us 3, Tom Price’s Andy Davidson and Tracy-Ann Oberman’s Yvonne Hartman are reunited here – in a very different context to what we’re used to.

Yvonne is in the most secure prison in the country. Andy is convinced she’s about to escape. Foley’s story takes so many twists and turns it would be impossible to mention them all. The basic premise of the episode is that after receiving a phone call from Yvonne, Andy visits her in prison to try to find out what her plan to escape is. However, things don’t entirely go to plan. Aided by the governor of the prisoner, Charlotte (played by Natalie Grady), Andy’s attempts are met with limited success. He has frequent flashbacks to a date he went on with Yvonne, which go unexplained for the majority of the story but are eventually masterfully contextualised towards the conclusion.

Price and Oberman are excellent in this story, showing off a strong range of their acting talents, with the opportunity to portray several facets of Yvonne and Andy’s relationship. Combined with Foley’s dialogue and Scott Handcock’s direction, the flashbacks to the Parisienne are joyous, filling the listener with a sense that these two are right for each other. However, their present-day relationship has the opposite effect; the contrast between the two is genuinely sad and as the story reaches its climax there’s a particular moment that will undoubtedly have listeners feeling heartbroken for our protagonists.

Foley also makes brilliant use of a concept established in a classic Doctor Who story. In a turn that absolutely no-one saw coming, Yvonne’s plan revolves around ‘block transfer computation’, an idea created for 1981’s Logopolis. No spoilers here, but the way the concept is used is amazing, and it strangely fits into the world of Torchwood really well.

By the end of this story, pretty much every interaction Yvonne has had since her return to Torchwood in 2017’s The Empty Hand can be examined again with new context, and the result is nothing short of brilliant. Foley has yet again worked wonders. 

Torchwood: Among Us 2 is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com