Gabrielle Ketley reviews the latest Torchwood release.
We are rapidly approaching the end of the Torchwood Monthly Range (don’t cry, don’t cry, we survived Exit Wounds and COE, we can get through this), and with every character facing their final hurrahs, the stakes for giving them the perfect send-off are high.
Sometimes cruel, sometimes kind, and always with a quip on his tongue. Norton Folgate (Samuel Barnett) is one of the most intriguing and delightful Big Finish Torchwood inventions. Torchwood: Everyone’s Dead on Floor 3 (Alfie Shaw) is a celebration of his character in all his infuriating and perplexing glory.
It’s 1954, and despite big boss’s; Robert Matthews (Julian Bleach), reminder that Floor 3 is to be left alone, the employees of Matthews and Small rush to respond to the sound of screaming, only to be greeted by Norton Folgate with the news that (title drop!) everyone is dead on floor 3.
Despite typist and office manager, Angela Carr’s (Aruhan Galieva) fears, the cause of death for everyone working for Harkness Industries was not nerve gas, but time itself, and it is down to Norton to weasel out who among Matthews and Small is responsible.
As Norton begins questioning the employees of Matthews and Small, fractures among the colleagues begin to emerge. Matthews, fearful of the potential damage any implication in the crime might do to the reputation of his war time work, swiftly singles out William Ledbury (Alistair Toovey) for his “weak morals” and political views. Ledbury in turn views the sensible Angela’s kindness to the sensitive Timothy Small (Cassius Hackforth) with suspicion and resentment.
In addition to its excellent character work, Everyone’s Dead on Floor 3 is a strong historical piece, utilising the lingering horrors of the aftermath of World War Two, typical 1950s sexism and prejudices, and the cast’s fear of Soviet action, to ground the sci-fi elements with the very real and very human fears and failures at play. As the cast grapple with the deaths on Floor 3, they must also deal with their memories of the war, and the strange and terrifying hallucinations stalking them.
Everyone’s Dead on Floor 3 poignantly blends together mystery, horror and human heart ache, while Norton’s ever reliable wit provides just the right amount of levity.
Everyone’s Dead on Floor 3 is a gripping and engaging story throughout, and the end is its crowning glory. Instead of wrapping everything up in a neat and tidy bow, Shaw confidently prioritizes staying true to Norton’s trickster nature, teaching a lesson as contradictory as Norton himself, that sometimes the most satisfying resolution is one that leaves no one satisfied, and nothing resolved.
Torchwood: Everyone’s Dead on Floor 3 is available on CD or as a download from
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