Latter Days: The Rockery

"Let it be known that I hate the countryside."

Writer: Tim Foley

Format: Audio

Released: September 2019

Series: Torchwood One 3.03

Featuring: Yvonne

Synopsis

Anne Hartman has retired to the country, which comes as a surprise to her daughter. Has Yvonne met a problem even she can't solve?

Verdict

The Rockery was a decent conclusion to the Latter Days third series of Torchwood One! I am still a little baffled that there's an entire series dedicated to retirement, but each story had their own quirks and they worked well and there was no problem at all with the overall direction! It just seems so strange but in typical Big Finish fashion it worked very well and this was a good way to finish. I liked that Yvonne took the limelight as Ianto got that role in Retirement Plan and it was really interesting for us to meet her mother. Anne Hartman was a fun character and very much like her daughter so I was impressed with the writing and her characterisation as you could really see where Yvonne got a lot of her traits and personality from. I liked that Anne knew all about Torchwood and what her daughter got up to, but she was clearly hurt by something with Yvonne being very shocked to find that her mother had retired to the countryside of Shropshire. That was a long way from the flat she had in Kensington and it was clear that the death of Anne's husband, Yvonne's father, still loomed large in their minds. Yvonne challenging to her mother about her depression was a stark injection of emotion and I couldn't blame her for going to the countryside if that's how she felt and was dealing with her grief. William was a very amusing character and he was so nice to his new neighbour and didn't take long to take on her gardening duties which was a nice offering. However, he was a little too nice for Anne's liking which was a bit of a shame as they clearly got on well and their chemistry developed throughout the episode which was nice to hear. I'm glad they got on good terms again after the dinner with Yvonne given how Anne was a little harsh in the garden regarding how nice he was after asking her out. That was a nice moment and I really think they should have just gone with it. Yvonne tasking her mother with looking after an alien plant known as the haunt was good and it was a nice reason for her to come back and visit on occasion, although her mother was challenging her on that once the plant was done for and there was no reason left to come. One element of the story I really enjoyed was the talk of the ghosts that had recently arrived which was a nice link to Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and Yvonne talking of the ghost missions was excellent. It was also an eery foreshadowing of events to come for Yvonne as head of Torchwood as she promised her mother that she would be coming often once the final ghost mission took place, but of course she wouldn't make it past that final mission which was a harrowing reminder of how dangerous Torchwood can be. Anne using weed killer on the haunt was amusing given the effects it had in becoming a widespread killer in the garden, with Yvonne picking up on the squirrel deaths being quite something! Overall, this was a decent story to conclude the series and it was nice to meet Yvonne's mother and explore her family. 

Rating: 7/10