Big Finish Reviews+ The Helliax Rift by Tony J Fyler

Oh Helliax, yeah, says Tony.

It’s often said that we only saw the best of Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor when his Tardis team had thinned out to just one companion in The Caves of Androzani. That move gave the Fifth Doctor time to flex his Doctor-muscles, to fill up space with his persona and really take events by the scruff of the neck, for all they took him right back on Androzani, faced with a planetfull of venal people.

The Helliax Rift, by Scott Handcock, has that same Androzani vibe – the Fifth Doctor arrives on Earth alone, chasing an enigmatic alien signal, only to run into UNIT, but not as we know it.

This is a UNIT somewhere between the comfy days of Lethbridge-Stewart, Yates, Benton and Harry Sullivan and the stompy ‘Oh, shhhhame’ days of Bambera and Zbrigniev. As such, the members of this incarnation of UNIT are an unknown quantity, and for the most part, they regard the return of their scientific advisor as rather a pain in the bum as they too are on the trace of a peculiar alien signal…and quite a bit more.

This is the UNIT of Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Price, Corporal Linda Maxwell, and Lieutenant Daniel Hopkins, successor to Harry Sullivan as UNIT’s chief medical officer. It’s Hopkins (played by Blake Harrison) who becomes the Doctor’s de facto companion on this adventure, but crucially, Handcock pushes the Davison Doctor forward, being less diffident than he sometimes was on screen, with space and time to strut about a bit, check-mate those who threaten him and simply get on with the business he believes is his. Like Androzani, it’s a Fifth Doctor story that shows you what the Fifth Doctor was really capable of, and that earns it many a gold star. The new UNIT mob are at the very least, interesting in this outing – they’re scheduled to come up against Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor and Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh in subsequent releases – even if, throughout this story, you begin to wonder whether Lieutenant-Colonel Price, played by Russ Bain,  is really fitted to a career in UNIT, so regulation army does he seem. But then, back at the very beginning, who knew that Lethbridge-Stewart fellow would come so good?

The fundamental story of The Helliax Rift has resonances in other corners of the geekiverse – there’s a research facility where aliens are experimented on, bringing a later-Buffy vibe to proceedings, and there’s a story of intergalactic love which tips its foldable panama hat at Guardians of the Galaxy II, but the heart of The Helliax Rift has more in common with Kramer Vs Kramer or Mrs Doubtfire than anything more obviously geeky – the lengths to which people will go to ensure the welfare of their children, and the inherent bond between parents and children, no matter what the cost, no matter what the distance.

While the Doctor and UNIT pursue their various inquiries, alone and together, there are plenty of mini-puzzles to solve, allowing the Davison Doctor to show his mettle and his mental agility, and prove why UNIT really works better with a genius on board. The action elevates in logical steps, giving the story solid stabs of cliffhanger that keep you listening and spin the time away without you being too distinctly aware of what happened to the couple of hours of the runtime. If there are occasional pauses where people stand around asking questions – there’s quite a lengthy interrogation sequence when UNIT catch up with the researchers – they do at least add that essential sense of UNIT procedure that made the Seventies UNIT stories what they were. No-one quite has to call Geneva for authority or back-up, but the pauses show the fundamental difference between the Doctor’s maverick approach and that which would be required of an Earthbound military organisation.

The Helliax Rift is a story built on those three pillars – New UNIT, family connection, and a barnstorming role for the Fifth Doctor. Of the three, it’s really the Fifth Doctor that you’ll take away from The Helliax Rift though, Davison, who’s been given some sublime scripts recently, like David Llewellyn’s The Serpent In The Silver mask, pushing the Doctor to the front of the action and the front of the listener’s mind as well or better than any of the other incarnations have ever done. Davison of course is long past the point of needing validation of his incarnation, but stories like Androzani and The Helliax Rift show the strength and development of his Doctor’s character from his uncertain ‘never quite sure what you’re going to get’ beginnings into the Time Lord in full command of his powers and skills. That later, more confident Fifth Doctor is the one who turns up in UNIT’s backyard to tackle The Helliax Rift, and it makes a story of family ties and UNIT running around a forest into something brighter, stronger, and more indefatigably stamped with the flavour of the Fifth Doctor at his absolute best.

Reviews Moving Target by Tony J Fyler

Tony Fyler takes aim.

‘I’m the target?’

‘Obviously.’

‘Why?!’

‘Why not?’

‘I haven’t done anything!’

‘No, but I’m sure you’ll be terrifically entertaining soon enough.’

The joy of the Torchwood audios from Big Finish so far is that they’ve had their cake and eaten it. Yes, there’s some sort of overarching plot with a Big Bad called The Committee, but beyond that, the stories we’ve encountered have felt free to bounce us all the way around the Torchwood universe of time and space – back to the days of Yvonne Hartman of Torchwood One, back before Ianto died, so he could plummet to the ground in a rocket while on an insurance sales call, back even to the early days of Torchwood with Jack shepherding Queen Victoria around London and out of the path of a time-sucking alien slobber-beast. They’ve even gone forward, beyond the realms of TV Torchwood to investigate extraordinary creepiness at an old people’s home. What this gives us is both the thrill of trying to piece together a conspiracy theory plot in terms of The Committee and the excitement of freedom – if there’s a good enough story from any point in Torchwood history, it can be told.

Which is presumably why Suzie Costello, first of the Torchwood Cardiff team to die on-screen, is back from the dead (again) in Torchwood: Moving Target by Guy Adams.

Indira Varma, who played Costello in two TV stories, gets the chance here to do something that’s never been seen before – she shows us ‘Normal Suzie.’ Before she began plotting and breaking too many rules and becoming at least a notional baddie, this is Suzie Costello in the Torchwood world we’ve never really seen before, the pre-Gwen Cooper era when Suzie was one of the Hub’s main agents.

Adams and Varma together create a Normal Suzie who’s likeably everywoman – we can’t help but agree with her immediate sentiments when her alarm clock goes off at the start of the day (though arguably, ‘lead character wakes up’ is one of the great clichés all new writers are told to avoid). And as Moving Target rolls along, we get a sense of her as a woman who’s friendly-by-Torchwood-agent-standards, but flawed down a faultline that will eventually lead to the Suzie we know from the screen.

The plot is very simple, Adams generally preferring to keep his event-structures fairly uncluttered to allow the characters to fill in the majority of the action: alien fat-cats have paid to go on a hunt, like a bunch of American dentists who go to shoot lions. Earth has been designated a hunting ground, but all non-prey have been frozen in time so they remain unaware of the incursion. In fact, there’s only one prey-animal on this hunt, a young woman named Alex, whom Naomi McDonald invests with a curious combination of adorable verbal diarrhoea and annoying lack of consequence, like a young, doe-eyed, pre-Doctor Donna Noble.

Fortunately, for complex reasons explained late in the day and largely to do with Suzie’s predilection for (*cough, cough*) borrowing unauthorised bits of Torchwood kit, Alex is not left alone on a planet full of dickless alien dentists who like to shoot small squealing things. Suzie steps in almost instinctively to the role of protector in what is, to all intents and purposes, the plot of Predator, only British, and funnier, and with a gloriously arch and snippy robot from the corporate hunt organisers to fill in the exposition-gaps.

Is it the most intense episode of Torchwood you’ve ever experienced? No, it wouldn’t even get out of bed to enter such a competition. But what it does is deliver a fairly straightforward ‘hunting is bad’ lesson (also previously delivered in Star Trek DS9’s Captive Pursuit episode) to get our heroes running, while really being a lesson in Suzie’s character and priorities.

There are developments later in the story that we’d love to tell you about, but aren’t going to, because they’d ruin the start for you – suffice it to say that the snippy robot, voiced with a highly effective Hitch-Hiker’s Guide tone by Nicholas Burns, not only makes us question our species’ sophistication and right to a place in the universe, it makes us question our own individual place in the universe, as well as the realities behind the softening fictions we tell ourselves to inflate our own worth and keep putting one foot in front of another.

‘You fight wars because imaginary friends in the sky tell you to. Frankly, I’m surprised you can dress yourselves.’

There are moments towards the end where Adams’ script becomes tough listening if you happen to be inflicted with anything so terrifying as a sunny disposition, and certainly, the choice that’s left to Suzie as to where her priorities lie – and the decision to which she comes – is startlingly bleak. But there’s a certain creeping bleakness even before that, as Suzie and Alex get drunk on vodka while killing alien hunters, and the honesty of these two flawed women trying to make themselves matter in the world is barbed and shocking when they turn it on each other. It’s enough to make you swallow down the humour of their interactions and look for a moment at the reality of most human lives – the bare, naked drives and needs that push us on to do the things we do, and the cold swash of anaesthetising optimism we need to make us ignore the nakedness of those drives in ourselves and others. When Suzie is faced with a seemingly impossible choice, the very nature of its impossibility makes her options clear, and she makes an unexpected move to fulfil her own needs. There’s an element in our optimism that makes us whine at that point that the ‘right thing’ to happen would be for the unending fleet of violent alien dentists to realise our importance as sentient beings and stop their cull, but you only need to look around the world with honest eyes to know that’s not what happens. In the same way that rich idiots continue to pay insane amounts of money for the pleasure of killing impressive (but as far as we know, not sentient) creatures – and in Adams’ script, the metaphor of consequence is extended to meat-eaters who don’t stop eating meat despite the inhumane treatment of animals en route to the roasting tray – so the threat of an army of fairly pathetic aliens who want to bag a human is not going away just because we want it to. Adams makes it clear that to pin your hopes on such an outcome is to be a chicken wishing really quite hard not to become a McNugget.

And so Suzie Costello makes a move that not only meets her own psychological needs but has the added bonus of restarting time in the world. She makes a decision that seems impossible, and we learn that that’s essentially who Suzie Costello is – a saver of worlds and a maker of hard choices, inspired by her need to make a difference, to be special, to be good at what she does.

Guy Adams is a writer who lures you in with normality and character comedy, and more often than not, delivers a stunning rabbit-punch to the face before he lets you go. Moving Target is another impressive entry in his growing Torchwood resume. Where to place it in the inevitable fan-ranking of stories is a tricky call, but probably right alongside another of his face-punchers, More Than This, would be its natural home.

The return of Suzie Costello to the Torchwood universe is a very welcome development, and Varma gives her a capability and a charm that makes return engagements a thrilling prospect. Moving Target finally teaches us enough about Suzie Costello to make her inclusion in the Torchwood team make sense, as well as bedding in the flaws that eventually lead to her death.

Give Moving Target a spin today – you’ll think you’re in for a fun hour, and you are, but be aware, the fun comes with a price.

Interviews Scott Handcock by DJ Forrest

From Doctor Who to Big Finish, Scott Handcock has been involved in the Whoniverse since 2006, from production runner, writer to director, plus acting roles in Big Finish. Scott is also involved as director for the new series of Torchwood audios, directing all but One Rule and Uncanny Valley to date.

Hi Scott, I wanted to ask you about Doctor Who first before we moved onto Torchwood if that’s OK? When did your passion for Doctor Who really begin and do you think it’s grown stronger over the years with the new incarnations of the Doctor and indeed the many stories that have grown with Big Finish, keeping alive the Doctor’s that have long since regenerated on the television. (There always seems to be a great many Who audios involving the 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th Doctor).

Scott: I got into Doctor Who through a friend of mine, Tim Jones, way back in the early ‘90s. It was kind of an unknown quantity then. We were about seven or eight years old, and hadn’t quite been old enough to catch the tail end of the original series. Then, in 1992, BBC Two started repeating some of the classic episodes - I vividly remember the cliffhanger to The Sea Devils part three, I think that’s my first distinct memory - and from then on, I was hooked.

Those repeats were a bit of an intense introduction to the series, come to think of it. You had five different Doctors - from Pertwee to Sylvester - and so quickly got your head round the idea of regeneration. And the stories they chose were really strong. I still can’t watch Davros in Genesis of the Daleks and eat a bacon sandwich at the same time. That says a lot about my Friday teatimes, growing up in Birmingham!

So yes, I got into it that way first, then Tim revealed he had some of the VHS tapes, so my education broadened rather rapidly. I started reading the magazine, and collecting the New Adventures (though they were way over my head at the time). Plus, of course, there was the glorious TV Movie in 1996, offering so much hope for the future!

I’ll admit I drifted slightly away towards the late nineties. Exams began to dominate my time, and with no sign of a new series, it somehow slipped by the wayside… then I remember wandering into the Northfield branch of WHSmith, and seeing a copy of Doctor Who Magazine that offered a sampler CD of a new Paul McGann audio story, Invaders From Mars, along with an original standalone with Colin called The Ratings War. Needless to say, I gave them a listen, and was instantly hooked once more!

It was very much Paul McGann who got me into the Big Finish audios. I picked up The Chimes of Midnight and Seasons of Fear first of all, then The Apocalypse Element shortly after that. It’s strange to think - after over a decade of new Who - how the idea of the Sixth Doctor and Romana was such a massive thing. But it was, and it was thrilling - and it evokes those memories, every time I listen to it! I loved those first two seasons with Paul McGann - I think they’re some of the most brilliantly executed Doctor Who Big Finish have ever produced, really embracing the fact they were effectively steering the course of the series’ future. They made me fall in love with the series all over again!

Of course, when the series came back on television, I still listened to the audios, but there was a real buzz about the idea that Doctor Who was coming back to where it belonged. I was in my second year of university at the time, and a lot of my mates were faintly aware of Doctor Who as an idea, but had never really seen any, nor could they understand why I was so excited about the new series. Suffice to say, that quickly changed. We ended up having gatherings to watch them go out live. (I even put a Doctor Who spin on my final dissertation… which is slightly embarrassing, looking back on it now).

I graduated back in 2006, then a few months later started work at BBC Wales, thanks to a recommendation from script editor Gary Russell. It was only meant to be a month as a runner on Doctor Who Confidential, but that in itself became several years… and they were such a brilliant team. It was a real baptism of fire for me in terms of TV production, but they were very generous and encouraging, recognising what I could do and keeping me on. Plus we also covered Torchwood: Declassified and Totally Doctor Who, so we really were across all Who output for a number of years!

I then spent a year on the second series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, and later joined Doctor Who itself for series six, which is how I came to know Arthur Darvill who’s subsequently appeared in a few Big Finish audios for me (and coincidentally grew up on the same road as me in Birmingham - who’d have known?!)

So yeah, it’s weird to think, when I was growing up and there was never even a glimmer of a potential series on television, that I’d later find myself working on the series in various capacities, alongside new, unknown Doctors finding their feet, and the veterans of the classic series keeping the flame alive. It’s a series that means an awful lot to me, and I know it’ll be having the same impact on the next generation even as we speak!

When did your passion for writing begin and can you remember the first piece you wrote?

Scott: I always loved reading and writing as a kid, so I suppose I was always doing it. None of it was ever any good, of course, I lacked the discipline to tell a properly-focussed story. But the enthusiasm was certainly there! To paraphrase Big Finish’s own slogan, I simply loved stories. I studied English Literature, and also Classics, so I was exposed to a broad range of drama and prose throughout my teens. I loved how engaging writing could be, and really wanted to achieve something similar. Whether I have or not is for other people to say, but it’s lovely when you received feedback for certain things - The Confessions of Dorian Gray, for instance - and realise you’ve managed to make an impact, somehow. Ultimately, you’re wanting to provoke a response and for your readers or listeners to engage, even if their reaction’s not always positive. I’d far sooner someone but critical and explain why than simply come away not particularly having felt anything even if they enjoyed.

As for the first thing I wrote… I can’t begin to remember the very first thing - I have faint memories of a story at school about a giant, and actually a terrible Doctor Who play I performed for my class (Tim Jones was the Doctor, I was a Cyberman - we made the heads out of plastic tubs and everything!) Professionally, my first commission was for one of Big Finish’s Bernice Summerfield audios, The Oracle of Delphi. Write about what you know, that’s what they say, so I set it during the Peloponnesian War and had Benny meet up with Socrates. It’s a bit of a romp but, my god, I don’t think I could ever listen to it again. Like my early Dark Shadows scripts, I look back on them now and cringe. I can hear how unfamiliar I am with the nuances of audio, and character, and just drama generally. I’m extremely grateful anybody stuck with me and gave me any more opportunities after those first few, if I’m honest!

I really enjoyed the story ‘The Conspiracy’, the return of Torchwood, Captain Jack back where he should be. It’s nice to feel that old Torchwood feeling again, such as it was back in the early seasons of the show. I loved the good old thumping theme tune, so it came as a bit of a surprise to hear the new upbeat funky theme tune for the new audio series. Why was there a need to change it?

Scott: You’d have to ask James Goss about that! I don't think there was any need necessarily… but the Torchwood theme has had a few different variations on screen, with Children of Earth and Miracle Day, so it didn’t seem odd for Big Finish to have their own version. Plus Blair Mowat, our brilliant composer, knows both Murray Gold and Ben Foster very well, and just wanted an opportunity to give it a bit of an update. I remember we played it to Russell and it got his blessing instantly! I think it’s great… And I can’t wait for people to hear The Victorian Age.

In ‘The Conspiracy’ you had two recording teams. John Sessions, Sarah Ovens and Dan Bottomley in the UK and John Barrowman in Palm Springs. How difficult is it putting the story together when you don’t have the full group all together in the same place, at the same time?

Scott: It’s a challenge, obviously. In an ideal world, you’d have your entire cast present all of the time. It just allows for flexibility in recording, and means you can work around any problems if they arise.

Practically, it meant we had to engineer a split day with later starts. Where recording might typically start around 10am and we would work through to 6pm, we knew we wouldn’t be able to start with John until 5pm (UK time). Thankfully, David’s script always featured a substantial chunk of narration from Captain Jack, which I knew we could tackle with John alone at the end of the day… So we were able to get a few hours recording with the UK cast on their own (scenes between John Sessions and Sarah Ovens as father and daughter, for example, plus Dan’s blogger entries, etc) and there were some scenes where John B only had a few short responses, so we could pick those up later and get the bulk of a scene recorded. There’s always something you can record!

Also, when John Barrowman was recording his scenes, as much as I know he was in the studio in the US, how was it set up, was he able to hear the others in the studio in UK or were his scenes similar to that of Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf in The Hobbit, where all his scenes were spliced together afterwards?

Scott: Unlike conventional radio drama, Big Finish always records everybody on individual tracks, locked away in their own booths, to allow flexibility in post production, so to be honest, it didn’t make a world of difference. When you’re working through a scene, the actors focus on their script, and the voices in their headphones - and John Barrowman was one of those voices. The fact he wasn’t in a booth in Ladbroke Grove, but instead in a studio in Palm Springs made no difference to the process whatsoever! Laughs were still had, anecdotes were still shared (John Sessions shared the John Gielgud story, which ensured we lost John B for an entire two minutes on account of his laughter) and everything felt very natural. It’s astonishing how easy these things are to achieve in 2016!

In the audio drama ‘Forgotten Lives’ it actually felt as if this was an actual episode of the television series. I remember a documentary years ago that had people making all the familiar sounds of someone running across gravel and you could sometimes get the feeling that this was a recording in a studio, but this story and indeed a BBC audio drama ‘Asylum’ felt very much as if the Torchwood team were actually at their computers, were actually in the car, were actually acting out the scenes rather than standing or sitting around a mic with their scripts in their hands, or tables, or however they record. Were they?

Scott: I’m afraid not. Because of the way Big Finish works - with environments and effects in post-production - our studio sessions with the cast focus entirely on capturing the vocal performances. Each cast member has their own mike and script stand, and they perform the scenes purely with their voices. It’s my job as a director to be aware of what sounds we need. So, for example, if Gwen takes her mobile phone out of her pocket, I might ask for a split second of fidgeting from Eve to marry up with the rummaging effects we’d put on later. If we get it right, you shouldn’t even notice because it will sound exactly as you’d expect it to sound. It’s a very precise skill, I think, recognising what elements are needed. Particularly when Torchwood deals with a lot of domestic scenes.

There’s a running thread throughout Series 1, which I look forward to finding out the conclusion of, and I’m really keen to find out what the story arc is for Series 2. Are you involved in the directing of the new series also?

Scott: So far I’ve directed four of the six releases for the second series, and am across James Goss’s plans for the others. It’s another cracking run. Lots of humour, tons of action and plenty of Cardiff!

Is it easier directing audios than it is to direct a visual episode or are the principals the same?

Scott: Every director works a different way. The same applies to actors. At the end of the day, anything creative needs to be collaborative, so you adjust your way of working to match the people around you, and vice versa.

Technically, I wouldn’t say either TV or audio is easier. Both have their challenges. On audio, you have to make up for having removed an entire sense, and typically have a fraction of the time you would for a TV episode. We record an hour-long drama in a day, for instance. If you were shooting the TV equivalent, you’d likely have just over a fortnight. But they really are so different, I’m not sure it’s wise to compare!

What drew you to direct the first story in the Series, The Conspiracy written by D. Llewellyn?

Scott: I was asked by James if I wanted to do it - it’s as simple as that, really! It all happened very quickly. The original script had been sitting around for a while as Big Finish drew up their plans, then suddenly John became available to record. I think we had perhaps just over a week to sort everything out.

Thankfully, I’d already read a draft of the script, so I knew the basics - and I’ve worked with both James and David Llewellyn on many occasions - so it felt extremely comfortable in that regard. As a script, it also appealed to my sensibilities by really focussing on the characters and the conspiracy. It felt extremely truthful all the way through, which made it all the more fun when you had to go through and track the various strands of lies and double-crossing all the way through. Often the most interesting scripts to direct aren’t the ones with all the crashes and explosions, but the more intimate, concept-driven dramas.

I actually think it’s one of the strengths of Big Finish’s current take on Torchwood. By focussing on one or two characters at a time, it really helps to focus the stories, and draw the listener in. It actually happened on TV all the time - each character had stories where they were the focus - so it’s not straying to far from the series’ origins. I dare say there will come a day when we can get schedules to align and get a few of the gang back together all at once, but I also think you’d struggle to find enough for all of them in just a single hour.

Your Wiki Page needs updating! There’s no mention of your Big Finish: Torchwood involvement yet. (Not a question, just thought I’d mention.)

Scott: Ha! I’ve never found out who started that page, and I wouldn’t want to find myself updating it. There’s a reason I stay behind-the-scenes! (And blimey, just taken a look, and there’s barely anything on there, you’re right. Whoever my online stalker was, they clearly lost interest, way back! Ha…)

The Torchwood audios have been greatly received, the fans love them. There are however a lot of fans who are unable to enjoy the audios as much as others because of hearing difficulties. Will there ever be novels for the audio stories/dramas that we are enjoying on Big Finish, would this ever be something Big Finish would consider doing for those ‘hard of hearing’ fans?

Scott: I can understand the frustration. Ultimately, however, it comes down to rights. Big Finish are an audio production company, and thus have the rights to produce Torchwood on audio. If they don’t have the publishing rights - and I’m sure if they did, they’d be making use of it - their hands are tied, as they’re legally not allowed to publish original novels, etc…

Oh, that feels like a bit of a downer to end the interview on. Can I just rave about the series two stories coming up? I mean, I know I can’t get too spoilery, but… there’s Jack and Queen Victoria! Toshiko Sato on a mission in Russia! Sergeant Andy Davidson and the fabulous Norton Folgate! Suzie Costello having a terrible day in Cardiff! And I’m actually back in studio on Thursday for an as-yet-unannounced story which ticks all my directing boxes…

Strange to think all this is yet to come, when this time last year, new Torchwood seemed like wishful thinking… Long live Torchwood! And long live Torchwood at Big Finish!

Yes, long live Torchwood! Thank you again Scott for a wonderful interview.

Profile photo courtesy of Scott Handcock

Photos of audios courtesy of Big Finish

Articles The News We've All Been Waiting For - Torchwood Is Back!

“The 21^st century is when everything changes and Big Finish IS ready!” – Captain Jack Harkness

The biggest and best news to discover on your birthday is that Torchwood is coming back, in September 2015 and although it’s only audio, it’s still a return.  To those who are hard of hearing the news may not be as pleasing as actually seeing their heroes on the TV screen. 

The first story in the series is ‘The Conspiracy’ written by David Llewellyn and directed by Scott Handcock.  Knowing David Llewellyn’s work from ‘The Baby Farmer’s, a short story in the novel ‘Consequences’ and ‘Trace Memory’ which I really loved, I know his work will be nothing short of brilliant.

But for now, the return of Torchwood to Audio is fantastic news.  In an interview with Scott Handcock, director of the first story in the series, John Barrowman tells of his delight at the return of the show and how much he is looking forward to doing more in the series, which makes me wonder, will there be more than the handful that were first mentioned by Barrowman earlier on this year.  I surely hope so.

The podcast of the interview was released today through Big Finish.  Due to a number of our fans being hard of hearing, we have transcribed the interview for all to read.  Please note however, we will not be transcribing the Torchwood audio series – as we don’t want our wrists slapped or worse!

Thank you to everyone at Big Finish for taking on Torchwood so the fans can enjoy it for years to come, including all new generations of fans.  And thank you to John Barrowman who loves Captain Jack as much as we do and will keep coming back to do more Torchwood!

We thank you both!

The Interview transcribed:

Scott: My name is Scott Handcock and I’m the director of Torchwood ‘The Conspiracy’, the first of the Big Finish’s Brand New Series of Audio Dramas.  And now we shall hand the baton over to Captain Jack himself.  Hello John.

John: Hello, how are you?

Scott: I’m very well, how are you! 

John: I’m very good thank you.

Scott: What is it like being back as Captain Jack Harkness?

John: Well I’ve always said this and I’ve said it to many people over the course of time, getting back with Captain Jack is like putting on an old pair of shoes or a very comfortable coat, which ironically I am sitting here with the coat on at the moment.  (laughs) Just to help me feel the part.

Captain Jack is such a core part of me as John Barrowman because I absolutely adore him. I, you know, I could go on and on but it’s great to be back playing him.  It is so easy! He’s so comfortable, and I just absolutely love him.

Scott: And a bit like Captain Jack, Torchwood is immortal!  Did you ever think when you were filming back in Cardiff Bay almost a decade ago that you’d still be playing the part 10 years on in Palm Springs, in 80 degree heat?

John: You know what; I’m going to just be honest here.  I knew he was going to be a part of my life for a very, very long time because I as a little boy, who was a very big Doctor Who fan, when I got the role as Captain Jack and then also was given the TV show Torchwood, I knew I was going to be given what I call, the Whovian World, which you’re a part of for the rest of your life. So whether it was something, and I know the fans, I know the fans are passionate about it, I just knew they had to keep bringing him back. And lo and behold they have.  And it’s great. It’s great to see that they’re finally getting, particularly at Big Finish, they’re finally getting that there is an audience out there that is hungry for more Torchwood and I’m so glad and very grateful to you guys for doing it.

Scott: Absolutely and you know it’s no secret that you’re a big fan of Torchwood, you really love it.  What do you think is the appeal of the series?

John: I think the appeal of the series to the fans, and also to me is that we were one of the first shows to represent, actually kind of real people with real emotions.

We opened the doors for so many other people to start talking about so many different things because I’m very proud as an actor, to partly be one of the first openly gay…I mean I know there’s other openly gay actors out there, but openly gay actors playing a hero, which is probably one of the first.

Scott: We were talking earlier about a whole new generation finding Torchwood now, those who grew up with Doctor Who, now at an age where they can enjoy Torchwood, so there’s a new influx of people discovering the series for the first time.

John: Yeah it’s really interesting for me, for the first time, I’ve watched for over the last 5 or 6 years, the groups in the States and other countries around the world who are just getting to know Chris Eccleston’s Doctor, David’s Doctor, Matt Smith’s Doctor.  Kids who are getting used to Doctor Who are learning about our characters – Captain Jack, you know Martha, Rose, all the characters they’re getting introduced to, so they’re wanting to know more about them which bringing the audience then goes back and they’ve said this to me.  They’ve said, ‘We saw you on Doctor Who, now we’re going back and watching Torchwood because we’re now old enough and also we were just introduced to this through Doctor Who.”  It’s just a cycle, it’s just never ending.  It’s amazing!

Scott: Fantastic! And finally to wrap up, what do you think Big Finish fans and Torchwood fans will generally have to look forward to in the future?

John: I am looking forward to doing a lot more of these and I know a lot of the fans ask me all the time – Bring Torchwood Back and they say it to me like I am the sole person who can do it. (Scott laughs).  But you know what, it’s a team effort. And we’re bringing it back.  And showing the support for this and for the things that Big Finish are doing with Torchwood – this will mean that there’s going to be more. I want to do more and I know if I’m saying in one word what can fans expect?

Torchwood!

Scott: Mr John Barrowman, thank you for a lovely day.

John: You’re very welcome, thank you.