In Review: Big Finish: Torchwood: The Last Beacon

Synopsis: A signal in a Welsh mountain is calling an ancient battlefleet to Earth. Owen Harper and Ianto Jones head up into the Brecons to stop it.

The problem is – Ianto really loves camping.

(Torchwood contains adult material and may not be suitable for younger listeners)

Review: Gareth David-Lloyd penned Torchwood: The Last Beacon as a double-act love letter to the Brecons. He and Burn Gorman absolutely shined throughout. I bring up the rapport between the actors first because David-Lloyd purposefully crafted a script in which plot took a back seat to the performance level stuff.

I hadn’t realized how much I missed Gorman as Owen Harper. He played the gloriously not chipper fish out of water perfectly. That said, David-Lloyd set the story early enough in the Torchwood timeline that Gorman didn’t play Owen with quite as dark and jaded an edge as he later acquired.

For his part, David-Lloyd wrote and played Ianto as still grieving for Lisa and struggling to prove himself. He could’ve highlighted how maudlin it all was. Instead, he brought the humor. One of many highlights was finding out how much of a coffee snob Ianto truly was, especially while on assignment.

As I said, the plot took a back seat to the character beats, and that was alright. The story plays like an episode of Scooby Doo for adults. Instead of a human being unmasked by those meddling kids, two bickering and bantering Torchwood agents saw through the human mask of a particularly poignant giant alien badger. It turned out the giant alien badger loved the Welsh countryside as much as Ianto Jones did.

• You can purchase Torchwood: The Last Beacon here. 

Written By: Gareth David-Lloyd

Directed By: Scott Handcock

Cast

Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Ellie Darvill (Pat), Daniel Hawksford (Bryn), Rick Yale (Bashy), Luke Williams (Brogan), Charlotte O’Leary (Kerys), Kristy Philips (Jemma), Laura Dalgleish (Receptionist), Richard Elfyn (Ryan), Marilyn Le Conte (Ianto’s Nan). Other parts played by members of the cast.

Producer James Goss

Script Editor David Llewellyn

Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs