Torchwood Among Us: Volume 1 – Review

Torchwood is back this time with Volume 1 of Among Us, which follows on from the cataclysmic events of Aliens Among Us and God Among Us. This time we see the new Torchwood team having been split up and gone into hiding, (yet again), but we also get some closure for a couple of characters as well as introducing a genuinely interesting new modern-day threat!

It’s been four years since the finale of God Among Us ended with Torchwood having to split up and go on the run, Ash Darby’s Aliens Next Door kicks off from those cataclysmic events. What I liked was that this story, and indeed the rest of the boxset, had tales that focused on a couple of members of the new Torchwood team, creating smaller and much more self-contained stories and because of this, Darby really gets to flesh out the characters of Ng and Orr, played by Alexander Riley and Samantha Beart, who find themselves renting a room at a house owned by the seemingly sweet Betty. Actress Melanie Kilburn really nails it as the curtain-twitching nosey neighbour Betty and while she seems loveable there is a much darker shade to her character that gets explored to an explosive conclusion when she is upset by how strangely she believes her neighbour Hakan – a refugee, is behaving.

This leads the quiet street they live down to erupt with fear and hatred as the title Aliens Next Door takes on a whole new meaning. I had thought it would be about Ng and Orr trying to fit into normal life, but a much darker story about racism and phobias of people deemed as an “other” really take hold. Darby handles these topics well, drawing the listener in but never tricking us into thinking this will be an easy ride. It forces us to ask questions of ourselves and our neighbours and how we would think they might act if something similar happened to them.

And I was pleased that nothing here felt completely over the top, a trap that Torchwood can sometimes fall into. This felt grounded and real and terrifying and it’s hard not to feel really sorry for poor Hakan as events unfolded around him. While some prior listening or knowledge of the various Torchwood audio series is probably needed, Aliens Next Door does do a decent job not only of telling a great story but re-introducing us to characters we haven’t heard from for many years and is an excellent start to a strong boxset.

Shifting from the gritty streets of Cardiff, Una McCormack’s Colin Alone sees Mr. Colchester’s husband Colin well… alone. Colin is played by newcomer Joplin Sibtain, taking over from Ramon Tikaram as Colin and while Sibtain’s voice does take a minute to get used to as Colin, it isn’t too long before you can see him as the character that Tikaram has been playing since 2018.

Again like Hakan in the previous story, it is hard not to feel sorry for Colin who is getting the brunt of the punishment for the Torchwood team’s actions as his life is slowly unravelled seemingly by two government officials he has to be interviewed by every week. First his flat springs a leak, then he’s mugged and his phone stolen, then he has no money and then loses his job.

While the story does threaten to get a little repetitive at points, McCormack makes sure to keep things interesting slowly unveiling a new mysterious threat who sees to it that the repetition doesn’t descend into boredom. Unlike many Torchwood outings, this story doesn’t quite feel like a Torchwood story, its very character driven but by the end it’s clear why it has been included in this boxset, not only working to strengthen Colin’s character but that of Mr. Colchester’s too. If anything Colin Alone proves that you don’t need Torchwood to tell a blooming good Torchwood story!

The location shifts again in the third story, Tim Foley’s Misty Eyes which gives us a chance to catch up with Gwen Cooper and her husband Rhys, who hasn’t been seen in the new series since 2017! Right from the get-go actors Eve Myles and Kai Owen are in fine form, slipping back into these old characters like one might do a comfortable pair of shoes. While Kai Owen is due to come back in the final boxset for this Among Us series, he does deliver a fantastic performance making every line feel as believable as he did when the show was on television. And Eve Myles also plays this darker Gwen with as much gusto as she did on television.

A lot happened to Gwen in the 2017 series which saw her taken over by Ng, who was then evil and tried to kill her and take over her body. So pairing Gwen and Rhys with Ng gives Gwen and Rhys a reason to have one final adventure. And Alexandria Riley as Ng gets the chance to play her character with an air of sympathy we haven’t heard from her yet.

While Foley’s script starts off slowly, it quickly becomes apparent this is to give us a chance to get to know two characters we haven’t heard from in six years and soon the action ramps up as Ng’s past comes back to haunt the trio as the ghosts of those she has killed try to invade Gwen and Rhys’ new home. While this story might not have the high stakes we’re used to from Big Finish’s take on Torchwood, Misty Eyes isn’t about creating terribly high stakes, instead focusing on the very best Torchwood can be. For the time being it seems this is to be the swansong for Eve Myles as Gwen and if it is to be her final appearance as the character she’s been playing since 2006, then she went out on a belter!

The concluding story of Among Us 1 is Moderation by James Goss, which sees the return of Jonny Green’s Tyler Steele who was last heard in Rani Takes On The World. Tyler is working for an online news company moderating their comment sections while being plagued by Mr. Colchester who is following him around seemingly disrupting Tyler’s life all while undercover as an Uber driver.

Despite these two characters playing a big part, the main character in Moderation is Petra Malik, played fantastically well by Maya Saroya a journalist who finds herself the victim of online hate concerning her religion. Goss’ script is a hard listen as we hear Petra having to put up with racism, sexism and Islamophobia from seemingly all sides and no one seems willing to help her. There are shades of homophobia too which adds to the sense of horribleness this story has. Both Saroya and Green make for a fantastic pairing as their characters delve into what’s going on at this news company and eventually are pitted against their boss Barry Bean, played with evil relish by Silas Carson. Carson is brilliant as the bad guy here and it’s nice to finally have an out-and-out baddie to fight as opposed to morally grey characters.

At times though this story does feel like it’s trying to do too much, covering things like crypto-currency, conspiracy theories, DNA testing, hashtags and manipulation of the media, all of which are things that occur online in these modern times. But they do threaten to bend the story under their weight which ultimately should be about the vile attitudes that Petra has to withstand throughout the story.

There is also the returning villain from the first episode of this set called The Child. A creature that seems to know the ins and outs of everyone’s lives it manipulates. I think it’s going to be a Torchwood take on internet trolls and I think that this villain will be one much closer to home than the vanguard of an alien invasion which will be a chance to see the Torchwood team face off against a homegrown threat this time around.

Among Us 1 is a huge success and successfully begins what promises to be an interesting and exciting brand-new adventure for our heroes. From what I’ve heard, this could possibly be my favourite Torchwood boxset so far, and it seems that the detached second and third episodes will be something continuing into the next set while the first and fourth ones will continue the overall narrative. This set proves that format works and so long as it continues, this could be one of the best stories Torchwood has ever told.

You can pick up Torchwood: Among Us 1 on CD (including digital) for £34.99 and on digital for £29.99 now from Big Finish.