The Office of Never Was

"The building is ignoring me."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: July 2017

Series: Torchwood Monthly #17

Featuring: Ianto

Synopsis

There's an empty office block in Cardiff. That's nothing special – plenty of businesses go under, clear out, cease to exist. All that's left behind is an empty building. But there's one office block that refuses to be forgotten about.

There have been stories about that building – strange lights, funny goings on, faces pressed up against the glass. Enough to get the locals worried. Enough to ask Torchwood to get involved.

It's Friday night. Ianto Jones has better things to do with his time than look round a haunted building. But he goes anyway, and it turns out that The Office has been waiting for him.

Verdict

The Office of Never Was was an excellent audio adventure to continue the monthly adventures of Torchwood from Big Finish! I liked the feel of this one right from the off and having a deserted office is a fantastic setting for a Torchwood story. It wouldn't come as any surprise to have a deserted building in Cardiff given the rough and tumble of business life, but when Ianto was investigating the office space he must have been freaked when a voice was calling his name! I know I would be. He soon got trapped in which set us up nicely for the episode and it was a fun addition to have no phone service for him to call upon the rest of Torchwood. The little girl's voice accompany the lift was excellent horror and I liked how Ianto was almost being taunted by another man's voice when an unanswerable phone kept ringing. The guardian of the building arriving was unexpected as I thought it was going to be a house of horrors kind of adventure for Ianto, but it was good to have him able to bounce off another character. The motion sensor lights working for her but not Ianto was brilliant and I liked how causally Ianto asked to leave. The only issue was the building guardians didn't know the way out. She didn't even know her name and she wasn't hearing the voices that Ianto heard. Everything was adding up nicely for Ianto to enjoy some misery. Ianto finding the discarded lanyard and gym bag to go with it sparked him into an amusing story of the type of man who would let you know all shift that he was going to the gym, and after working in an office before the pandemic I can safely say I also know the type! That was fun. What wasn't fun was the swarm of rats on the ceiling as I honestly couldn't think of anything worse. The thought of the rats being above me like that was horrifying and adding in the detail that they were hungry was chilling. The situation worsened as Ianto came across numerous dead bodies in the cupboard that were reduced to skeletons, with one bearing a name tag with Ianto's name on it. Talk about a horror show! The girl revealing that she had a brother who died in the building was an interesting detail and her talking as if someone was listening was great as we neared finding out who was behind this. Her decision to leave them both to it and exit the building to her death was very sudden and it was a brutal introduction of Oliver Milne, founder of Milne Futures. He blamed Ianto for everything he suffered with the closing down and I loved that Ianto couldn't remember because he took a retcon pill. He was the only one from the staff that didn't die which wasn't a surprise considering they worked in brain augmentation! The suggestion of him getting help from the Committee was nice continuity and they really never seem to be going away! They helped implant alien tech in the staff to make a more productive workforce, but Torchwood put a stop to that. Getting the flashback scene with Ianto offering Oliver his own retcon was great and I liked that the entrepreneur wanted to remember. That was the influence for this revenge and wanted to make him remember, but Ianto was in control as he faked begging and took the elevator key to leave Oliver behind before taking retcon again. I thought that was a fitting end! Overall, a fantastic listen.

Rating: 9/10