Torchwood: One Rule

For the first time, the audio series breaks out of the time period and core characters of the TV series, with a story focussing on Yvonne Hartman and set in the immediate aftermath of the Doctor Who episode Rose. Hartman, of course, is the head of Torchwood One in London, and only appears in one episode, having been killed off before the Torchwood TV series even started.

The plot is, to be honest, fairly slight, concerning the murder of Cardiff mayoral candidates, and doesn't really make too much sense. It's for that reason that I'm knocking this down to three stars, but there's still a lot to like in this release.

For one, there's the portrayal of Hartman herself, expanding on her one guest appearance. We see a very driven and ruthless character, arguably more efficient than many of the main ones in the actual TV series. Her personality and background are fleshed out here, and are really the main focus of the play. Which is as well, because the other main characters aren't really all that believable, something that's lampshaded at a couple of points.

There are also some nice touches of humour, mainly at Hartman's expense. In particular, there's a clear sense of a Londoner's stereotypical attitude towards any part of the UK that isn't London, and of the corresponding Welsh attitude to the capital. This is done brilliantly, and there are plenty of moments that you would never see on DW, in keeping with the different tone of this series.

If you like strong character pieces with a dash of humour, and can put aside the weakness of the underlying plot, you'll probably like this quite a lot. Honestly, I enjoyed it too, and the three stars might be a little stingy, but this series has set a high standard so far. For one thing, I'm glad that there are more stories featuring Hartman later in the series, because the strength of the character is really what's good here.