Embankment Station

"There is an even bigger threat than the people with guns."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: March 2017

Series: Charlotte Pollard 2.01

Featuring: Charley

Synopsis

Charlotte Pollard. Space-time traveller. Former emissary of the mysterious and terrifying Viyrans.

Now she's cast adrift and finds herself and unlikely adventurer Robert Buchan brought right down to Earth – but an Earth which is changing rapidly.

Why and how have they crash-landed in the London Underground? Who are the Identical Men? And why is human behaviour starting to change in starling and unexpected ways?

Charley, Robert and their friend the Rogue Viyran must find out if they are the solution or the cause.

Deep underground, something is stirring. Fragments of an alien design are coalescing...

A bumpy arrival, journalism, politics and a security crisis.

Verdict

Embankment Station was a fantastic audio adventure to kickstart the second series of Charlotte Pollard! I'm so glad that Charley got a second series following on from how things finished at the end of the first and we don't take long to carry on where things left off with Charley and Rob coming through the Ever and Ever Prolixity and finding their way to somewhat familiar surroundings, at least as far as the listener was concerned. Pre-titles though, we had a startling warning from Charley herself with some terrific effects to reveal that we were listening to the Memoirs of an Edwardian Adventuress which I thought was just great. It seems that Charley has died and these memoirs were left as a warning, something I hope doesn't quite turn out to be the case as she's such a good character! I'm hopeful of more adventures to come for Charley. The presence of the Rogue Viyran was good and hearing how it had adapted and even sounded different with no helmet at the heart of the Ever and Ever Prolixity was very good. I liked how he came back into the fold later in the episode to be revealed as the source of the wall ruffling that was causing so much confusion. I thought this was a good showing for Robert in filling that companion role to Charley in the series, and learning that the two seemed to have got a bit frisky together when they thought all was going to end presented a fun dynamic and awkward conversation. Charley made it known that whilst she was worrying about him when they were separated, she didn't love him. Charley deducing that they had been brought to 21st century London was good and I like that both characters are displaced in time. Charley owned her interrogation and she revelled in telling how she was from the early twentieth century, and the interrogator was intrigued. The bomb threat that the government were quickly coming up introduced us to an incredible character in the form of Naomi, a journalist for Night News who I can already tell I'm going to love. I thought she was magnificent and I look forward to hearing her search for the truth as the series goes on. The link to the bomb site with six simultaneous deaths from people walking out on the road, who all turned out to be the only passengers on a previous tube ride, was mightily interesting and the seeds were set of something bigger to come. The booming voices of what I can assume were the Identical Men were good and I liked how Charley and Rob's arrival was unexpected for them. Their plan to integrate into human society and remove a threat was brilliant and I'm looking forward to learning more. There really is a lot going on! The mystery of the naked bodies being found and the different two strangers emerging, as killers, is also good and I can't wait for everything to tie back together. The political nature of the episode was also excellent and I loved that we had Woking recalling events and the mystery of Charley and her environment to the Minster, who it seems had disappeared to the back benches and been promoted to something top secret. That excites me. The cliffhanger coming with the Identical Men supposedly neutralising their threat and the danger that posed to Charley and Rob was very good, and a fantastic way to end what was quite then opener! A brilliant listen.

Rating: 9/10