Torchwood: Coffee – Review

2021 marks the fifteenth anniversary of Torchwood and Big Finish have got some nice plans to celebrate, including a special release in a few months featuring the Doctor! But for the next few months, it seems like we are going to be getting some more solo adventures for the Torchwood team, starting off with Ianto in Coffee, which shows us the world of Torchwood through the eyes of two strangers who quickly befriend Ianto.

It’s a great and interesting way to tell the story, not only exploring some of the major events in Torchwood, like Abaddon, Captain Hart, Children of Earth, but they also mention some of the Doctor Who stories too, The Poison Sky, The Stolen Earth and Harold Saxon amongst others. The resulting story from James Goss makes for a charming listen as we roll through some of Torchwood’s greatest hits!

Coffee focuses around an old fashioned café and its owner David and its employee, soon to befriend, Kathy, played by Shaun Chambers and Sara Griffiths respectively as they get to know Ianto who comes in to get the coffee for his teammates. Through him, they begin to learn about aliens and are involved in some of the invasion attempts.

This is a brilliant story for Ianto and fans of his character as much of the opening act is taken up exploring some of the things he got up to between jobs at Torchwood. But what was nice was that Goss did try to give Ianto a reason to enjoy being the team’s butler and getting them their coffees as it meant he could spend some time with his new friends. But given what happens to him in Children of Earth, there is a grim sense that things aren’t going to end well for the group and the ending of this story is surprisingly effective and emotional as David and Kathy piece together what must have happened to their old friend.

Actor Gareth David-Lloyd is always excellent as Ianto and I’ve really come to like his character on audio. I never thought he was an interesting character on screen, so it’s great that authors like Goss have really given him some excellent things to do in the audio format. Also excellent in this story are the guest stars, Shaun Chambers and Sara Griffiths, who are instantly likeable in their roles. David is a character who could have been instantly unlikable but Chamber’s performance stops him from being obnoxious and makes him feel like a real person.

Griffith’s performance as Kathy is just as enjoyable, starting off as the employee in the coffee shop, which allows for some light banter, but as her experience quickly grows and she becomes closer with David, she can finally speak her mind, Goss makes sure that their relationship always feels believable.

For a story made up of quieter and small moments, it could have been boring, luckily though the script and performances don’t make any mistakes. Everything here is completely believable and fun as a look at some of Torchwood’s greatest hits should be. Its sweet, charming and a great way to kick off the fifteenth-anniversary releases!