Reviews Torchwood: Gooseberry by Tony J Fyler

 

When Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), Torchwood’s medic, sometimes walking dead and King of the Weevils, and Andy Davidson (Tom Price), the organisation’s on-again off-again traditional police liaison, star together in an audio drama from Big finish, 90% of the time, some really dark and creepy stuff invades the next hour of your life. 

They’ve been caught up in domestic prison/torture horror in Corpse Day, searched mountains for victims of a grisly child killer in The Hope, and…erm…chased the ineffable monkey of good luck around Cardiff. 

OK, 66% of the time, some really dark and creepy stuff invades the next hour of your life. 33% it’s just weird. Fun, and still with dark moments, but weird. 

So which side of the dark and creepy/mostly just weird divide does their fourth pairing, Gooseberry, fall on? 

Well, it’s fairly dark in that it develops into a study of addiction or obsession that leads both to tragic consequences and to a deeply human disregard for those consequences on the part of the obsessive. But it would be a mistake to say it’s dark…by their standards when they get together. It’s certainly more than half-past light and frothy, but by their standards it’s about quarter-to dark. That feels like a deliberate decision by writer James Goss – there would be ways to go much darker with the story of this premise than he goes here, but you’d run the risk of straying into audience-depressing territory if you went much further than Gooseberry goes. 

The premise of the story? 

Andy Davidson has a girlfriend. 

Exactly – it’s not what you’d call earth-shattering, as a premise, is it? 

There’s so much to it than that, and James Goss draws you in to the complications that arise from Andy Davidson having a girlfriend before the credits even roll, with a single, economical line from Owen. The thing about which is, if we’re keeping you all pristine and spoiler-free, we can’t tell you what it is. 

To know would really blow the impact of that moment, and that moment’s worth preserving because its consequences collapse in on you while the theme plays, and the drama expands in your head as you begin to understand the ramifications you’re about to hear played out.

Andy’s girlfriend, Caite, is played with a fabulous joie de vivre by Lois Chimimba. And Caite has a secret. A secret Andy has yet to notice, despite convincing himself he’s in love. And a secret which Owen clocks within seconds of meeting her. 

That inevitably draws the two of them into an immediate, intimate-but-different relationship. It’s not a relationship of traditional lust, but there are elements in their dynamic that make it feel interestingly transgressive. It’s more than ‘my friend fancies my girlfriend.’ In fact, it’s much more visceral and primal than that, because Caite’s secret is something that can make Owen – dead man walking Owen – feel alive again. 

Imagine that for a moment. You’re dead, but you’re still here, in your body. Your senses don’t work. You can’t smell coffee or enthusiasm, bacon or raindrops, you can’t taste love or chips or regret or tears. 

And then you meet someone who can give that back to you. 

What would you not do for them? For more of that feeling? 

That’s the actual premise of Gooseberry – Owen gets a chance to feel alive again. But to a dead man, life is more addictive than it ever was when he had it the first time round.

In some ways, there’s a positive message to be taken from that premise – enjoy everything you have, because you have so much more than you’re conditioned to knowing. But in the tack we take in Gooseberry, Owen begins to exist for those moments when, with Caite’s help, he can peek back through from where he is, and feel life in all its rancid, wonderful complexity. 

It’s not traditional lust – it’s a lust for life. And it’s only fair to say that Louis Chimimba plays it straight – the lust is very much one-sided, Caite sharing her gift with Owen more and more only because he wants and needs it. Her love for Andy feels real the whole way through, and she never displays what in TV Torchwood you’d almost expect – some sign of being out for a bigger prize, some verbal tick which on re-listening you’d point to and go “Ahh, you see?”

It's also worth acknowledging the levels on which the story works. Sure, it works on its surface level, as Owen increasingly demanding something he feels he needs, and Caite’s consent to it starting off eager to share with him but becoming increasingly resentful of his demands over time. 

Especially because there are consequences to her gift. Consequences which aren’t immediately clear as the two explore what it can give to Owen, but which increasingly, Caite warns him of, and Owen stops caring about. Even when the consequences come home to roost, Owen wants to carry on, wants to use his Torchwood privileges to make sure Andy doesn’t find out about what the Gooseberry has been getting upto with his girlfriend.

This is the interesting duality at the heart of the story. You can listen to it on its surface level, and of course, Owen’s journey into moments of ecstasy that make life worth living and damn the consequences also works as a drug addiction parallel. 

But more than that, it works as an actual, traditional-lust affair story – especially because as time goes on and Owen throws more and more caution to the wind, he goes to more extreme lengths to make sure Andy doesn’t find out – destroying lives, memories and on some level his rational morality (such as it is) in the process. 

Andy, he reasons, may love Caite – or at least, what he knows about Caite. But Owen needs her. Physically, mentally, even almost spiritually, which for a man who knows the darkness is all there is beyond his life is really saying something. 

It’s a journey into the sacrifice of every principle, every standard, in the search for moments of light against the darkness, and Burn Gorman was absolutely born to play Owen in this story, his gift for characters on the edge of concepts like good and evil really bolstering the boldness of the writing here. 

Tom Price, meanwhile, is able to show what has at some other points been told – Andy Davidson is no fool. Dogging the steps of the not-couple as they go beyond the reach of principle, he’s a kind of implacable avatar of destiny here. 

For all Owen says he respects Andy enough to lie to him about what’s really happening, it’s an insult from Owen to automatically assume that he can outwit ‘Plod,’ as he calls him, especially as his removal of evidence is so typically…Torchwood. Subtle as a sledgehammer in the face, and self-congratulatory to boot, Owen reckons without the grounded, dogged determination and the copper’s instincts of Andy Davidson. 

That leads to what on screen would have been a classic and impressive visual effects finale. Here on audio – and surprisingly, for Big Finish – the ending feels a little underpowered, the resolution of the fundamental threat feeling a little pushed for time, and lower in Owen angst than befits the ultimate dilemma it offers him: continued feelings of being alive versus…erm…well, versus badness (Spoiler-free, remember?). 

What feels certain at the end though is that the relationship between one of Torchwood’s best Odd Couples will be – or should be – significantly changed in future audio adventures. Andy has given Owen so many chances to do the right thing, and been perpetually disappointed, not so much in terms of the Gooseberry factor of running around with a friend’s girlfriend, but more in terms of doing the typical Torchwood thing, and not crediting him with the intelligence to see beyond it. Whether they can be the almost-sort-of-friends they’ve been before must surely be in question from here on out. 

Pick up Gooseberry for a cracking, fast-paced relationship drama with two of Torchwood’s finest. With the perfectly-pitched help of Louis Chimimba, Gooseberry gets to the fundamental truth of Owen and Andy’s friendship, and leaves it in a very different state to how it finds it. It’s a high-octane ride into life, death, love, need and lies, with a light touch and a Torchwood twist. 

Articles Captain Andy by DJ Forrest

Sgt Andy Davidson is to Torchwood what Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is to Doctor Who

PC Andy Davidson and WPC Gwen Cooper had worked together for four years before Gwen discovered Torchwood.  In all the time that Andy had worked with Gwen, not a single criticism about her work was uttered, not until the tussle in the pub where Gwen received stitches to a cut to her head did Andy begin to doubt her. 

     It wasn’t possible that four people could vanish from sight on the Plass, there one minute, gone the next.  The fact that Gwen had followed a hunch by tearing after the SUV from the incident in the hospital, in the squad car,  leaving poor old Andy to walk to her location in the sodding rain didn’t go down well.  “I’ve walked, I have bloody walked!”

     Or that strange creature in the blue boiler suit with the sharp teeth that had attacked the hospital porter, that she’d seen with her own eyes, that couldn’t have been real, because details in the hospital records disproved her story about the porter. 

     And the American in the RAF greatcoat, who by all accounts couldn’t be the real Captain Jack Harkness as he had disappeared in 1941, and couldn’t possibly be the same person. 

     When Gwen followed her hunch and uncovered the truth and was taken on by Torchwood, it left Andy without a partner, but by ‘Day One’ he was with another WPC, standing outside in the cold, same as usual, while investigations into the death of young lad Matt Stevens, continued inside the Night Spot nightclub.  Upon seeing Gwen, out of uniform, in her new role as Special Ops, was a sight for sore eyes for Andy, but it bothered him a lot that she was now the one issuing orders.

“Boss of me now are you?”

     If there was one thing Andy could not accept it was the existence of aliens, this was something that never happened, least of all in Cardiff, so when an exuberant Roman soldier found his way into the police cells spouting Latin and mentioning a fort in Gelligaer it was worth phoning Gwen, who might shed some light on it.  Because when the past starts entering the present, the only ones likely to have any answers are the secret organisation that your best friend works for!

     Yet there was still an element of doubt about how real the situation was with the events in ‘End of Days’ as far as Andy was concerned.  The world was going crazy he couldn’t deny that, and the prophecies of End of the World didn’t sit too well with him but...

   “Alright, Mulder and Scully say I do believe you, which I don't, because it's bollocks. But say I do. How exactly are we meant to handle a prisoner from two thousand years ago? I mean has he got the same rights as everyone else? How is this going to work with the CPS?”

     Once again, Gwen remained tight lipped about Torchwood.  About whom they were and what they did and when Andy questioned Gwen about the possibility of the end of the world, she did that all too familiar smile that she used for when deep down, she knew everything was going to shit.  At this point, Andy knew that as much as he loved Gwen, that whatever was happening, he’d never get a straight answer, not now, probably not ever.  

     

     When 15 year old Jonah Bevan vanished from the barrage, several months prior, Andy called on Gwen for help, although it wasn’t so much her help, but clarification as to why her boss, Captain Jack Harkness was on the barrage a few moments after Jonah vanished.  Andy smelt a cover up, and with Gwen’s evasive answers, he was certain she knew more than she was letting on.  The truth was however, that Gwen was as much in the dark as Andy.  Investigating further, Gwen did discover the truth, but again it was something Andy was not going to be privy to, and heading to Flat Holm on her own just proved it, leaving Andy holding the teas on the jetty. 

Although Jonah was found, he would never return home to his Mum, as would none of the other people who had been spat back from the negative rift spikes, all residing at Flat Holm Island, run by Torchwood.  Again, Andy may have been told that Jonah had been found, but he was as much in the dark as to where the boy had been, and just how much he’d changed on his return.

     Yet the friendship between Gwen and Andy was still just as strong as it had been when they were partnered together in the early days.  Although it was all one sided and Gwen only considered Andy as a friend, Andy’s friendship with Gwen was a little stronger, he loved her, and may have only made one pass at her, at a party perhaps, but he found it hard to switch his feelings on and off like a tap, and he despised her choice in boyfriend, positively loathed Rhys, but had never until Jonah’s disappearance said anything to Gwen about how he felt.  “How's Rhys, other than hungry?”  And the only reason any of it had surfaced, was because of his absence at Gwen’s wedding.

     As the years progressed, the knowledge of Torchwood increased and the acceptance of aliens finally sunk in, ‘Asylum’, with the discovery of an alien child from the future, falling into theirs, and connected with Torchwood.  Even though when he realised who the girl was, his reactions were less than calm and relaxed.

     Andy became the link with which Torchwood used, through locating prisoners to be released into their custody – Clem McDonald ‘Children of Earth’ to name but one, or for any other information that deemed important to their investigations.    

     When the station was under attack by weevils and hoix towards the end of Series 2, it was Andy’s turn to call Gwen.

     Andy also provided the service of driving Gwen and Rhys to Rhiannon Davies’ house to break the sad news of her brother’s death, in COE, and to hopefully take her children somewhere safe before the Army came to take them.  But when they entered the house and saw more than just two, it was down to Andy to act as decoy while Gwen and Rhys with Rhiannon smuggled the children to safety when the Army stormed the estate. 

     This tested Andy’s loyalty for his job.  A defender of the Law, but to serve the people, he couldn’t simply stand by and watch as innocent children were ripped from the heart of their families, he had to act.  Tearing off his fluorescent jacket and ripping off his stab vest, Andy stormed into action and took a valiant stand against the oppressors.

It’s hard to say whether his actions on this day earned him the promotion to Sgt, but it would be nice to think that it was.

     On the day that nobody died, Gwen received a cryptic phone call while she’s holed up in a safe house by the beach. 

“This is Sergeant Davidson confirming reports of one suspect, male, in the vicinity of St. Helen's Hospital, Cardiff City. Suggest rendezvous 0200 hours in the agreed position.”

It brings Gwen back to Cardiff, and back to Andy, who now as Sergeant has a lot more clout.  But he’s as much in the dark again as to what the Miracle is all about and why people are now suddenly not dying, and why the Americans are interested in Gwen and Torchwood?

     Sergeant Davidson proved to be an asset to Gwen during the time of the Miracle.  He safely moved Rhys and Anwen to a safe house but despite his efforts, those desperate to seek Jack Harkness, managed to kidnap Gwen’s family and hold them hostage.  This was the first time in Andy’s life as a police officer that he had ever had to fire a weapon.  It shook him up and it took him a little while to recover.  He’d never killed anyone before and probably hoped he wouldn’t make a habit of it.

     The link with Torchwood increased again when instead of Gwen calling for assistance, it came from the dashing Captain.  In ‘Mr Invincible’ Jack contacted Andy to inform him that Gwen Cooper had been killed and he’d seen it, although things weren’t quite as simple as all of that. 

     It would be interesting if when Torchwood returns for a 5^th series if Andy receives a further promotion to perhaps a title more fitting – Captain Andy!

   I think we’ll just have to wait and see.

©BBC Torchwood 2006

Interviews Tom Price by DJ Forrest

The first time I saw you on television it was as PC Andy Davidson in Torchwood, but you’re actually also a stand up comedian, what came first in your career, the acting or the comedy?

Tom: Acting. But I always got cast as the funny part. So then comedy was a natural monster born from the husk of a frustrated actor. I find it hard to do anything serious without people laughing. It’s a nightmare when you’re angry. Which, obviously, I never am. Apart from when Kai Owen calls me all the time. One a day! It’s not much to ask for a bit of down-time.

I love the outtakes from Torchwood and most especially the blooper reel from Adrift where Andy asks if he could join Torchwood, and as the cameras roll he says Captain Andy.  Creases me up every time, but it’s led me to think that over the years Andy has come up the ranks to Sgt, but do you think he will ever get a position within Torchwood itself, or will he always be on the outside looking in?

Tom: His role is on the outside looking in. Like a strange man in a mac. But it’s a police uniform instead.

Sgt Andy Davidson has a lovely Welsh accent so it came as a bit of a shock to me to hear that you don’t actually have a Welsh accent. I was born and brought up in N. Wales and I still don’t have a Welsh accent unless I put it on, but I was surrounded by English speaking people so I guess it was never going to happen, was this the same for you?

Tom: Yes. I come from a small border town called Monmouth. It’s always been a source of dispute as to its origins. People often used to say you were either Welsh, English, or from Monmouthshire. I would go with that, but we’d have a RUBBISH rugby team.

Aside from the Torchwood audio stories have you ever narrated or appeared in any other audio dramas that we can look out for?

Tom: Big Finish just did a thing with Chase Masterson and I was in that. Lovely times.

The Scum Also Rises was a tv movie in 2007 where you played Billy, can you tell us anything about this film and your role within it?

Tom: This was a 30 minute sitcom pilot. It was fairly terrible, despite having a great cast. Much like Torchwood’s episode “Meat”.

You played the role of Tim Rice in the film Holy Flying Circus (2011) a 90 minute BBC comedy film about the television debate over Monty Python’s Life of Brian (one of my favourite Python films), how did the role come about and were you a fan of Monty Python prior to landing the role, and did you have to research a lot on Tim Rice beforehand?

Tom: Massive fan. I’m not such a huge fan of Tim Rice now I’ve learnt he’s a UKIP supporter. But up until then I certainly was. It was a joy to play someone whose name is so similar to mine. Apparently Kai’s already a shoe-in for the biopic of Welsh rugby player Ken Owens.

There are always a lot of sad moments in Torchwood, there is always someone dying somewhere, but I have to say that the moment when your character sat with that girl who had nobody when the Miracle ended, was fantastic.  Do storylines in the series ever get to you, like when you’re playing the role, do the scripts often affect you (tearfully)?

Tom: I was super jet-lagged when I was doing that scene, so anything was making me tear-up a bit. It was touching, yes. It’s odd how sometimes these scenes sneak up on you and you can really find yourself emoting. Much like in Adrift when Gwen bogs off in that boat. I stood on that shore and cried for three days. The producer had to come and talk me down.

How often do you make it to the Torchwood Cons and are you going to any this year?

Tom: Just got back from Gallifrey in LA. That was ace. I enjoy going but I only tend to do these about once a year. So keep your eyes peeled!

What got you into acting and who is or was your greatest influence when starting out?

Tom: I wanted to be James Bond so I could kiss ladies. So I guess my biggest acting influence is Roger Moore. I am also a long-time admirer of Harold Bishop. I often act a lot like him. I’m not even slightly joking.

Comedy is all about timing – when you’re doing your stand up how much work do you put into your act and what do you cover, and where can we find you performing?

Tom: Follow me on that Twitter: @pricetom. All updates there.

When you’re not on set or on stage how do you chill out, relax or are you still formulating ideas for whichever project you’re working on?

Tom: I read a lot of crime thrillers and history books. When I’m not being distracted by my dog or wife or child.

The Torchwood novels often give the character a lot better scenes than we see on the actual series, would you have liked to have seen Andy deal with the zombies in ‘Bay of the Dead’ if it had been made into an episode of Torchwood?

Tom: Yes that would have been fun. He would have run away and they would have won. You don’t see that enough. Poor zombies.

Are you a console or a computer Gamer and if so which games do you enjoy playing?

Tom: I have an Xbox 360. Love COD and FIFA, I do.

If you could play any character in any genre who would it be and who would be your leading lady, and who would be your arch nemesis?

Tom: Jesus! Uh….Jesus? I’d like to play Jesus alongside Eve Myles as Mary Magdalene. I would also very much like to see John reprising his role as God.

Putting yourself into Andy mode for a minute or two, given that Andy holds a torch for Gwen do you think as Andy, that had the right circumstances been there, that he would have stood a chance with her, or is it more of a fantasy of Andy’s that he’d have someone like Gwen? 

Tom: Andy is now settled and happily married with a lovely lady he met online. Via a Torchwood lookalike website. Say no more.

Are you involved in any new projects or programmes or Radio shows that we can look out for, or that you can share with us?

Tom: So much going on at the moment. I’m hosting a new weekly topical show on Radio Wales starting in September, called The Leak. I am also producing a comedy panel show for them with Nick Hancock hosting, and I’m helping to develop a sitcom for R Wales too. On top of that I’m thinking of maybe going to Edinburgh this year. Watch this space…

Are you a fan of action heroes, super heroes from comics and books and which are your favourites, and would you ever like to be a super hero in a film? Lots of Marvel ones out at the moment, I quite like the look of Guardians of the Galaxy out in August.

Tom: I love Iron Man. I think Andy is v similar. Maybe Stainless Steel Man?

Do you have a website where the fans can follow you at? 

Who do we need to contact, write to in order to obtain a signed photo of you as Sgt Andy, or as yourself?

Tom: @pricetom is my twitter. I’m with independent talent for all that other stuff.

Questions from fans

Mickie Newton: Hi Tom what did you most enjoy about playing Andy?

Tom: The uniform was a thrill!! And the free food

Doreen Freitag:  Which TW season is his favourite Andy season? Also thank you for playing Andy so emotional in MD. I really liked him there. The moment Andy was there for the lonely dying girl was heart-breakingly played by him.

Tom:  Children of Earth! And thanks for your kind kind words Doreen

Claudia Lindner:   Would Tom have liked Andy to have joined TW (the team, I mean) at some point?

Tom: Nope.  He belongs on the outside.  In the rain.  With a grin on his slightly confused and miserable face.

Pauline Howard:  Hi Tom what was it like working with Eve Myles on Torchwood

Tom: Nightmare.  She kept trying to French Kiss me

Annika Gabriella Brink:  Would he be prepared to put the uniform back on if there ever were a new season of Torchwood.

Tom: Yes, of course!

Kirsty Price:  Is he ever going to become Captain Andy?

Tom:  I already am, in my pants! Sorry – heart.  In my heart.

Molly Lyons:   What was it like working with Eve and John, and what were they like on set?

Tom:. Friendly, inclusive and spontaneous.  And loud.  I would recommend it to anyone who likes to see a range of sanities on display.

Photo source

©BBC Torchwood 2006

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The Coffee Shop Best Andy Moments!

From Constable to Sergeant, Andy Davidson is our favourite copper on Torchwood.  He cares!  He throws himself into the action!  He’d like to be a member of Torchwood!  And he holds a torch for Gwen Cooper and really doesn’t like Rhys Williams. 

He is a part of Torchwood - he just doesn't know it yet!

From quotes, to audios dramas, stories and books to the episodes over 4 seasons, what have been your Best Andy Moments?

Annika Gabriella Brink The episode Adrift where a teen-age boy disappeared had several of my favourite Andy-moments.

Jennifer Ings Fave Tom Price moment: Getting fangirled by him and dragged in front of his panel at Gallifrey One this year because of our Costumes.  They’re actually REAL Welsh Heddlu uniforms.

 “CSI Cardiff, I’d like to see that, they’d be measuring the velocity of a kebab”

Jess Emma Towey:  Two quotes of Sgt Andy’s stick in my mind, both in the first episode ‘Everything Changes’. The first is “CSI Cardiff, I’d like to see that, they’d be measuring the velocity of a kebab’ when he and Gwen go into break up the fight at the pub and the second is ‘I have walked, I have bloody walked’ when he catches up with Gwen on the Bay after she takes off from the hospital in pursuit of the SUV.

If you have any favourite moments please post them below, we’d love to read them. 

©BBC Torchwood 2006

Reviews Mr Invincible Audiobook reviewed by DJ Forrest

Read by Tom Price

Written by Mark Morris

Produced by AudioGo Ltd

Running time 1hr 3min

Number of CD’s: 1

Release Date: 1/6/2012

The first thing you notice about this story is that Captain Jack Harkness does not have an American accent.  And the narrator doesn’t have a Welsh one, but when you get passed these two issues, the story is fantastic, Mr Invincible comes across like an overage, over weight Mr Muscle, and Captain Jack along with Sgt Andy, (remember this is after the Miracle) have to solve the case of people ageing before people’s eyes, or being thrown back into childhood. Time is shifting and changing all the time, people are ageing and dying and decomposing in front of others.

Mark Morris, writer of ‘Bay of The Dead’ amongst other titles has us captivated from the first introduction.  When Ross Chapman is shot several times by a would be robber in the petrol station where he works, something is seriously going on, and when Chapman becomes Mr Invincible, a super hero, Sgt Andy knows that Torchwood would be interested in this case, but when Captain Jack Harkness comes to break the news to Andy that Gwen has been killed, and that he saw it happen, that’s when the story really starts getting interesting. 

     
This is the first time I’ve heard Tom Price narrate and so it obviously came as a shock to me that the typical Welsh accent we’re so used to hearing actually belongs to Andy. 

     
Mark Morris knows how to tell a story and knowing how well ‘Bay of the Dead’ had me nervously turning over the pages, Mr Invincible was somewhat different, in the fact there were no zombies, but you had to pay attention, you couldn’t wander off and do something else, and return picking up where you left off.  This story required a lot of thought, mostly because there was more than one person to think about, what was causing these people to die, to come back to life, what was causing the Mr Invincible to be Mr Invincible?  Initially my thoughts were that this was about Jack and without Gwen to help him, this was a story of Jack relying upon another of Cardiff’s finest.  Sgt. Andy Davidson.