George Hewitt reviews the seventh episode of Torchwood Among Us, which sees the return of the terrifying Bilis Manger…

---

Tim Foley returns again for a story very unlike the previous instalments of this series. Cuckoo doesn’t feature any of the main Torchwood cast, and indeed is almost entirely standalone from the rest of Series 7. It sees the return of Murray Melvin’s Bilis Manger, a character originally created for Series 1 of the show on TV.

However, Cuckoo’s focus is very much on the trio of urban explorers that is Vijay (Nathaniel Curtis), Diana (Cecelia Appiah), and Bryn (Henry Nott). The three have discovered the Torchwood Hub, previously seen – and destroyed! – in 2019’s Thoughts and Prayers. Typically for a Foley script, though, things aren’t as simple as that. Vijay just wants to make content for his vlogs, Diana’s allegiances are called into question at various points throughout the episode, and the revelation that Bryn is secretly tagging along so he can find somewhere to build houses in Cardiff casts a question mark over the relationship of the three protagonists.

Any plans they may have had are swiftly cast aside when not long after finding and entering the Hub, the trio is confronted with Bilis Manger and his trolley of alien artefacts. Murray Melvin’s performance is fantastic here, and his rapport with the main cast will have listeners fearing for the lives of these naïve young people. Such fears are justified, as Bilis is at his nastiest and most maipulative in this story, Melvin clearly revelling in his dialogue.

About halfway through, Cuckoo switches from being merely creepy and discomforting into becoming a full-on horror story, with the sound design in particular helping to contribute to some of the most unsettling scenes Torchwood has ever presented.

Cuckoo is as disturbing as it is brilliant, and the final scene in particular is gloriously open-ended and listeners will certainly have different interpretations about what it means. Gareth David-Lloyd also cameos in this story, appearing as the Hub’s security protocol taking the guise of Ianto Jones. This is a very different performance from David-Lloyd, as it isn’t the Ianto listeners are used to. However, he is entirely convinving and – at times – chilling.

Episode 7 is a lovely detour from the main arc of Among Us, although there are a couple of lines in there that cement it firmly within the series. Blending dark horror with an interesting and unexpected deconstruction of what Torchwood is, Cuckoo is a resounding success.

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