One Rule

"All of those alien invasions and nobody talks about it."

Writer: Jospeh Lidster

Format: Audio

Released: December 2015

Series: Torchwood Monthly 04

Featuring: Yvonne

Synopsis

It's been three weeks since the Mayor of Cardiff was killed by a shop dummy and the fight is on to see who will replace him.

Yvonne Hartman is visiting the city to retrieve an invaluable alien device. She's in charge of Torchwood One, she's saving the British Empire and she doesn't care about local politics. But she is going to find herself caught up in that fight. There's a bloodthirsty alien stalking the streets and there's a specula offer at the all-you-can-eat Chinese nugget.

It's the 26th of March 2005 and it's day that everything changes.

Verdict

One Rule was a very good continuation of the Torchwood monthly range from Big Finish! I thought this was great to give some spotlight to Yvonne Hartman who clearly shined in her role during Army of Ghosts/Doomsday so giving us an adventure in her past set shortly after the events of Rose was really enjoyable! A Torchwood adventure set before the first episode of Series 1 on television is a fantastic idea but the way it tied in with the start of the revived era of Doctor Who was just terrific. I really liked the simplicity of having Yvonne call Ianto on the phone back at Torchwood One and the mention of him fancying Lisa was also wonderful in foreshadowing Cyberwoman. Her ability to place a time lock over Torchwood Three so she could break in and look on was really interesting and set the tone for some really intriguing comments as the story rolled on. Her sighting of Jack, Suzie and Tosh all frozen in time was superb and quite the image! The way the first murder occurred at the hands of the blue beast was pretty brutal and in good Torchwood fashion with Ross ending up decapitated! That's not an everyday occurrence in the Doctor Who universe for sure. He wasn't the only individual to endure this fate with councillors standing for the office of Cardiff Mayor suffering the same horrible experience. Yvonne's mission in Cardiff being to retrieve a Drahvin scanner was an unexpected delight and a brilliant throwback to Galaxy 4! The fire that started at her hotel mid massage was humorous and her interaction with Barry centring around that was very good. His knowledge of Torchwood and the murders of councillors worked well and Yvonne believing that he caused the fire to get close to her was very good indeed. The continued references to the Auton attack was excellent and the way it was already shunned to being a terrorist attack rather than extraterrestrial in nature was great stuff. Barry also being a runner for Mayor was good and the scenes at the Chinese buffet were a lot of fun. Tracy-Ann Oberman was able to shine in her role here and the call to Julie Jones, a fellow councillor, and her turning out to also be at the buffet was great but then she died pretty quickly in similarly gruesome fashion to her fellow runners. Barry's wanting to know why Torchwood weren't there to stop the events of Rose was a very powerful comment and one I loved and the story from Yvonne that followed with Alex Hopkins as a former head of Torchwood killing his entire team on New Year's Eve 1999 because he claimed he'd seen what was coming was outstanding. I loved the analogy to children in 1938 and World War Two looming when Yvonne explained how humanity wasn't ready for alien intervention. The meeting with Helen at the pub was humorous and Yvonne was not in a comfortable environment which was tremendous. The dynamic of London versus Cardiff was lovely and a lot of fun given my proximity to the Welsh capital. I could appreciate the humour more than most I imagine. Yvonne joining forces with Barry and Helen to keep them safe was good and the sharp comment of her wondering which councillor had hired the blue monster to wipe out the competition was great! Yvonne's lack of trust towards Torchwood Three was intriguing and I hope that we get more development on that in the future. She thought they were unprofessional which will be wonderful when the different organisations encounter each other (should that happen before Aliens Among Us). The monster's killing of Helen was not unexpected and Barry's lack of remorse made him a decent villain. The importance of him becoming Mayor because of his being a part of the Committee was a fun development and the revelation of the monster being from another dimension was good, but I think a little more elaboration on it would have been good. Yvonne's use of the phrase "if it's alien, it's ours" was a lovely moment and her continued mentioning of Torchwood Three and Jack not doing it for Queen and country was delightful. Yvonne being proud of who she was and having spent years to get there was her time to shine and the way she threatened Barry on the balcony with a covered-up suicide was incredible. The desire for Torchwood to find the one 'particular alien' meaning the Doctor was pretty good and Barry being left alive to keep her posted seemed a tad strange, although the satisfaction she had in stabbing him in the leg as a reminder was a fine way to finish. Overall, a really strong audio!

Rating: 8/10