Monday 6 May 2013

Reviews Lost Souls by Steve Taylor-Bryant



Produced and directed by
Kate McAll
First broadcast
BBC Radio Wales, 19 January 2008
Written by Joseph Lidster

Continuing on from the end of season 2, we find a team in mourning. Despite protestations of being fine the team are really struggling to come to terms with the loss of Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato

The Torchwood team and Martha face danger at CERN in this special BBC Radio episode, starring John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd and Freema Agyeman. Following the tragic deaths of two of their colleagues, only Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones remain of Torchwood, protecting humanity against the unknown. Martha Jones, ex-time traveller and now working as a doctor for UNIT, has been called to CERN - the world’s largest particle physics laboratory in Geneva. They’re about to activate the Large Hadron Collider, designed to recreate conditions after the Big Bang and thus give an insight into what the Universe is made of. But so much could go wrong: it could open a gateway to a parallel dimension, or even create a black hole. Voices from the past are calling out to people from the LHC, and scientists have started to disappear. Where have they gone? What is lurking in the underground tunnel - and do the dead ever really stay dead?

This was a great story with some deep emotions touched upon. The premise of the tale is very good and Lidster really is becoming a top drawer writer. Should another season of Torchwood become a reality then surely Joe Lidster is nailed on for a contribution.

Martha Jones from Doctor Who makes an appearance helping the team and Freema Agyeman is very good. The only slight disappointment I have is John Barrowman. I am a huge fan of John and his on screen performances but in this radio play he seems a tad flat and uninterested. You seem to miss the excitement from John you get whilst he's running around saving the world on screen, so maybe audio drama just isn't his thing.

This doesn't distract from a great audio play though and really is just me nitpicking.

An excellent drama written by an excellent contributor to the Torchwood family.

2 comments:

  1. Great review Steve. I thought the same about John. But I must imagine it's very hard to re-interpret your character on audio when you're not physically doing it.

    I found it with the odd Doctor Who too, such as a couple of the animated versions!

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  2. it's a very good story; lidster, as always, thrills. I think you're spot on about the difference in how John Barrowman used his voice in this one.

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