Torchwood – Ex Machina – Review

The Torchwood range is one of the strongest from Big Finish at the moment, it’s a run I hope they keep going into the new year, but I’ll be honest I wasn’t sure what to make of Ex Machina, especially given the cover which didn’t inspire much hope in me. But as the old saying goes, never judge a book by its cover.

Alfie Shaw delivers his first Torchwood script here, hopefully, its the first of many, and as the cover suggests, it focuses on Ianto who finds himself in a Cardiff that’s a ghost town, the streets and shops are empty, and he seems to be the sole protector of this land against the rift. If some of that sounds familiar, it’s because whether intentionally or not, depending on when the script was written, it does reflect current lockdown life in this COVID-19 world we are currently in. The story however was recorded during the first lockdown, using remote recording techniques, so that also adds to the isolated feeling.

A story that focuses on Ianto isn’t a bad thing either, and I assume this story takes place sometime in Series 1 as there are many references to his ex-girlfriend AKA the dreaded Cyberwoman and it feels like Ianto is just the butler. So it’s nice that this story gives Ianto something really exciting to do in this debut series, rather than changing tea flavours!

Shaw makes sure Ianto has a confidence about him I don’t think he had ever had because he’s forgotten the other members of the team. This memory removal is explained in the story, down to the alien baddie, but because of this, he finds himself as Torchwood, the only one, and as the cover depicts, he gets to wear the long coat! Also interesting to the character is that Shaw makes sure Ianto knows he should have a team around him, but he can’t remember why.

The other character involved is also enjoyable, Abigail Forehill, who doesn’t so much fall victim to an alien but stumbles across a device that wants to help her get over a breakup. Of course in typical Torchwood fashion, this snowballs and eventually ends up with virtually all of Cardiff vanishing. Its a good and original plot and Abigail is a perfectly flawed character do be in a Torchwood story and works nicely as the secondary character and Laura Aikman’s performance is very fun to hear.

Gareth David-Lloyd is always excellent as Ianto and he really shines here, getting to lead the show. I’ll admit, probably because of the first series, I never really took to the character but through audio, I’ve come to really love Ianto and hope we get more stories like this one, I know at some point we get a story with him and Rhys, but some more solo tales, please!

Ex Machina really surprised me. It wouldn’t set the world on fire, nor is it one of the really strong entries to the range from this year, but it’s so much fun to hear. Alfie Shaw has done a brilliant job here and his script and plot are excellent. This is another story that’s well worth a listen!