Gabrielle Ketley reviews the latest Torchwood release
It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s Christmas.
It’s time for a ghost story.
But before we get to the main gift, we have A Christmas Card From Mr Colchester (James Goss) to open.
Mr Colchester’s (Paul Clayton) Christmas card contains more than simple good wishes, but a warning as well against the terror that is the Appledore Family Christmas Letter. Yet what is so terrible about this letter, the contents of which seem to be all things mundane?
As the truth behind the Appledore family is revealed, we find that it’s that exact mundanity, the smug, petty, infuriating mundanity, and the emptiness within it leaves behind, at a time of year which can just easily inspire resentment as it does goodwill, that is the real terror.
Colchester’s Christmas message is dry, chilling, cynical, sinister, yet also tender and uplifting, with welcome advice on how to survive alien conspiracies and the Winter blues.
Torchwood: A Christmas Card From Mr Colchester is available as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com
Now it’s time to unpack the big box under the tree.
Torchwood: Reflect (Joe Lidster) is a two hander between our man Colchester (Paul Clayton), and the legendary Dalek basher, Dorothy McShane, aka Ace (Sophie Aldred).
Ace and Colchester have, for reasons known to themselves, agreed to meet and while the night away telling ghost stories. Of course, neither Doctor’s companion nor Torchwood agent need to look far for a thrilling tale or two. Both have had more than enough encounters with the grim and gruesome to leave M.R James on the shelf this Christmas.
As the night passes, we hear about their first encounters with Torchwood. Ace tells of the time she went ghost hunting alongside Torchwood’s delightfully and vindictively snobbish first head, (cue some very fun mimicry courtesy of Ace).
Colchester shares the tale of the Broken Soldier, featuring mysterious deaths, PTSD, homophobia and blue roses. Colchester’s story is harrowing, poignant, confusing and vivid, for in Colchester’s story, the emotions take center stage over facts and resolutions.
Which fits well into the overarching question, why do we tell ghost stories, especially at Christmas?
The conclusion, to make us feel things.
The central ghost story, the reason for Ace and Colchester’s rendezvous, that of the Lady in Green (Lisa Bowerman), is truly chilling. A social media phenomena, that has seen people take selfies in the hope of summoning the mysterious Lady in Green, whose presence inevitably harkens death, is such a creepy set up, and the commentary on social media users actively trying to summon a ghost, whose presence they know results in death, as part of a trend is so interesting, that it’s rather disappointing that it’s concluded so swiftly.
That said, the true heart of Reflect is the friendship between Colchester and Ace. Their dynamic is a wonderful mix of deadpan wit and sincere warmth and tenderness, that will have you smiling throughout, making this a worthwhile Christmas listen, even if the plot itself is resolved with something of an anti-climax.
Torchwood: Reflect is available on CD or as a download from
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