Synopsis: 1970s Los Angeles – the city of angels and broken dreams. Three remarkable women keep the West Coast safe from alien attacks – they are Torchwood Los Angeles.
So many young girls come to this city hoping for something better. For some, luck is just around the corner. For others that golden ticket never arrives and they just fade away.
But it’s not that simple. Everyone has a value to someone, and Torchwood are about to discover Hollywood’s darkest secret.
Torchwood contains adult material and may not be suitable for younger listeners.
Review: Torchwood meets Charlie’s Angels! First, I’ll stipulate that there would be one hell of a jurisdictional fight between US Intelligence and a branch of a British agency operating in a former colony. However, given that the premise of Torchwood: The Dollhouse makes as much sense as the premise of Charlie’s Angels, I’ll consider that internal logic flaw to be part of the extremely loving homage.
I’m an American anglophile who spent my teen years watching Doctor Who on PBS and Charlie’s Angels in syndication. My first girl crushes were Jaclyn Smith and Mary Tamm. Writer Juno Dawson must be a kindred soul, because she melded the sensibilities of both universes extremely well. Dawson deconstructed everything including sexism, objectification, bondage, minority inclusion, cast changes, and Charlie himself. All the while, she retained enough joy in the experience to make me nostalgic.
That said, I don’t feel the need for a full Torchwood LA spin-off. These characters didn’t live for me as much as the ones introduced in Torchwood: The Victorian Age.
- You can purchase Torchwood: The Dollhouse here.
Written By: Juno Dawson
Directed By: Lisa Bowerman
Cast
Laila Pyne (Marlow Sweet), Kelly-Anne Lyons (Charley Du Bujeau), Ajjaz Awad (Gabi Martinez), Stuart Milligan (Don Donohue), Eve Webster (Valerie Fox), David Menkin (Brad), Guy Adams (Mr Beamish). Other parts played by members of the cast.
Producer James Goss
Script Editor Steve Tribe
Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
- The Good: Story, Performances
- The Bad: It didn't feel spin-off worthy.
- Story9.0
- Performances9.5
- Audio Production10
I’m generally a pretty easy audience, but this was, hands down, one of the absolute worst releases that Big Finish has ever put out, utterly, painfully, absolutely horrendous. A horribly written bland pastiche, with atrocious performances. How anyone could give this trainwreck of a release even a passing grade is somewhat staggering. Truly awful.
I wouldn’t know. Raissa did the review. I’ve not really been following the Torchwood stuff. For me the absolute low was the Starz/BBC co-production. Have avoided everything Torchwood since.