Torchwood Soho: Parasite

This is a single three-hour story although, for some reason, split into six individually titled episodes. Although nominally the first in a new series of stories featuring the 1950s version of Torchwood, it is actually a direct sequel to the earlier release Goodbye Picadilly which it would certainly help to listen to first.

This time, Norton Fulgate is the primary viewpoint character, although Sgt Andy does also play a major role and there are a couple of extended flashbacks where we see events from the perspective of other characters. Fulgate is certainly developing here; we get to see a more sympathetic side of the character than before, although he remains manipulative and prone to innuendo. Indeed, it's probably the latter and the oblique references to sex that are the main reason for the “adult” rating of this story - one of the other characters does face some racism, but there's nothing too explicit and the central threat is probably no scarier than much of what we get in Doctor Who.

There's a good mix of drama, action, and social commentary (it's kind of easy to take a pop at '50s London when one character is gay and another is black) with plenty of references to the pop culture of the day to set the scene. There are also quite a lot of one-liners, not all of them courtesy of Fulgate, which prevent things from getting overly bleak and serious. It's a strong story taking advantage of its unusually long run-time to bring in a lot of detail and I look forward to seeing where Goss takes these characters next.