As we approach James Marsters‘ highly anticipated return as Captain John Hart in Dark Gallifrey: The War Master Part Two next month, now feels like a perfect time to revisit one of Big Finish’s often overlooked hidden gems, Torchwood: The Sins of Captain John.

Review by Scott Lopes

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Released back in 2020, The Sins of Captain John was a one-off Torchwood special release made as a parallel to The Lives of Captain Jack, similar to how the first War Master set originated. The set saw the return of Jack’s ex-Time Agent lover and Master equivalent character John Hart in his first ever solo lead stories.

The set sees John, having recently left the Agency, hired by an extremely wealthy family to track down the resurrection gauntlets, as seen in Torchwood season one. His quest takes him across time and space forcing him to deal with zombies in Restoration London, infiltrate a wooden prison, quite possibly discover actual paradise all in time to crash the biggest funeral in the galaxy. Unfortunately for John however, there’s something waiting in the Dark…

It’s honestly very surprising and a bit disappointing the series didn’t continue past the first set because not only is it one of the Torchwood range’s best releases, it’s really one of Big Finish’s best in general in the past few years. James Marsters perfectly returns to the role and right from the first scene he’s just as fantastic on audio as he was on TV .

The entire set is a perfect blend of comedy, drama and adventure, and like the Master’s many spin offs, constantly has you rooting for John even though you know you probably shouldn’t be. As well as being one of the strongest Torchwood releases, The Sins of Captain John is one of the high points of Big Finish’s villain centered series. Often, many of these can start to feel a bit repetitive, especially if it’s a character like the Master who isn’t exactly short on spin offs or stories.

This is where one of the set’s strongest points comes into play. Not only does it explore a character that at the time had virtually nothing outside of a handful of TV appearances and one audio, the entire set feels fresh, exciting and lots of fun while never feeling repetitive or stale. Many people tend to write John off as nothing more than a one-off Master parody, but this set proves the exact opposite.

John is an extremely underrated Whoniverse character and is absolutely the highlight of not only this set but really anything he’s been in, either on TV or audio. After nearly five years of silence it’s so exciting to be able to say he’s finally back, and I hope Dark Gallifrey sets a precedent for even more stories with him.

If you’re a Torchwood fan, villain centered story fan, are anxious for the next installment of Dark Gallifrey or just want a fun new audio to listen to, you really can’t go wrong with The Sins of Captain John. As John himself once said “Come on, you know you want to”. 

The Sins of Captain John is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com