Torchwood: One Rule

Writer: Joseph Lidster
Director: Barnaby Edwards
Script Editor: Steve Tribe
Cover Illustration: Lee Binding
Music: Blair Mowat
Sound Design: Neil Gardner
Producer: James Goss

Starring Tracy-Ann Oberman
Released December 2015

Just four releases in, the Big Finish era of Torchwood delivers its first classic as it turns its attentions to a character who never appeared in the TV series. The head of Torchwood One before being upgraded into a Cyberman in the Doctor Who story Doomsday, Yvonne Hartman was a character fans wished they'd seen more of and even writer Russell T Davies wished he hadn't killed her off.

Joseph Lidster, a veteran of TV Torchwood himself, gives us a story set before all of that, in the wake of the Auton invasion of Rose. After what seems like a chance meeting in Cardiff, Yvonne becomes involved in the world of local politics: a creature is roaming the streets, killing anyone in the running to be Mayor.

One of the best decisions taken with this story was to set it over the course of one evening, and into the small hours of the next morning. There is a real sense of escalation as we're dragged from restaurant to pub to nightclub and eventually, as with all good nights out, back to a bloke's flat. As sound as this is as an idea, the execution is even better. Lidster has such a solid grasp on the character of Yvonne that, combined with a glorious performance from Tracy-Ann Oberman, it's easy to see why she quickly received her own spin-off and was brought into the Aliens Among Us/God Among Us series, picking up where the TV show left off.

It's not a pretty picture that the script and director Barnaby Edwards paint of Cardiff but it's a tempting one. Yvonne's disdain for the city soon evaporates but she still has an answer for everything it throws at her. The world Lidster creates is such fun to spend an hour in that the fact there's really only one character who could be behind the murders is immaterial. The guest characters become more interesting the more we learn about them, revealing themselves to be deeper - or shallower - than it first seems.

The production values of this release are excellent, and there is a slightly different emphasis to this compared to the previous three Scott Handcock-directed stories. The Committee are once again revealed to be the puppet masters, but with a lighter touch this time. As with Gwen in Forgotten Lives, Yvonne is well aware of the Committee, which begs the question of why Jack is only just beginning to investigate them in 2008/09 (The Conspiracy).

One Rule is a standout release in the Big Finish catalogue and a great gateway release for Doctor Who fans unfamiliar or not that fond of Torchwood's television incarnation. Fun but with a darker core, this grows better with every listen: essential.