Torchwood: Fallout
Torchwood: Fallout – Written by David Llewellyn & Read by Tom Price – CD / Download (AudioGo www.audiogo.co.uk)
Okay, this is different. Very different. But, fear not, different is good. In fact, different is very good. ‘Fallout’, thinks outside the established Torchwood “box” and instead of being centred on ad around one of the main, more established characters, focuses on Sergeant (PC as was) Andy Davidson (played, incidentally in the series by Tom Price), Gwen Cooper’s old, pre-Torchwood, “partner in crime” in the South Wales Police. Following the events of ‘Miracle Day’ and with Gwen still Stateside and Torchwood, as far as we’re aware at the moment, consigned to history, it’s left to Sergeant Andy to prevent the extermination of the human race when an intergalactic biological weapon of mass destruction is discovered half buried on a Cardiff allotment. It’s a frantic race to prevent the weapon being unleashed, as Andy stumbles across and into the path of Russian secret agents, cybernetic silicone based alien assassins on the way to a climactic, guns blazing, showdown in the British Museum. The pacing is spot on, the story interesting with great characterisation (especially Pavel and his self-indulgent tales of woe fuelled by bitterness and jealousy of his brother) and Tom Price does a wonderful job of bringing the tale to life, ensuring that as ‘Fallout’ finishes, you’re left wanting more. Aliens, super-viruses, foreign intelligence agencies hell bent on tracking down, destroying and secreting away dangerously advanced technology? It’s all in a days work for Andy Davidson, after all, anything can, and frequently does, happen in Cardiff, and hopefully ‘Fallout’ will be the start of something new and interesting for the Sergeant. It’s about time that he was allowed to step out of the shadows, and I hope that this isn’t the last we hear of him, as there’s a world of possibility left for him to explore, I just hope that he’s given the chance to do so. Fingers crossed… Tim Mass Movement
