Save Our Souls

"The afterlife is cold and dark"

Writer: Scott Handcock

Format: Audio

Released: July 2020

Series: Torchwood Monthly 40

Featuring: Queen Victoria

Synopsis

An experimental radio mast has been set up on a remote island. It has been picking up signals – a voice that claims it knows the future.

Five people have come to the island to hear the voice. A scientist, a soldier, a medium, an alienist and the most powerful woman int he world. The voice has something to say to all of them. It starts by saying who will be the first to die.

Verdict

Save Our Souls was another tremendous Torchwood episode as I make my way through the monthly adventures from Big Finish! For whatever reason, I was a little disheartened and honestly far from excited to find that the next story was focused on Queen Victoria, but the quality of Torchwood rarely waivers and this was another stellar listen. Victoria is actually a really strong character and whilst she’s played here beautifully by Rowena Cooper, this isn’t quite the version we saw in Tooth and Claw on screen. Torchwood is firmly up and running here with Florence a member and at the island with her Queen for her protection. I love exploring the Victorian era of Torchwood so this was a good insight into its early running. It being set up to protect the interests of the British Empire is really strong and this extraterrestrial threat here certainly warranted attention. This was a good mixture of a whodunnit and the supernatural by combining both, except the threat here called its play before it even happened. It was brash and confident which left little doubt as to who did the killing, and yet blame was still bandied about. I thought the first death of Okonjo was really well done and giving a warning of six minutes was very good because that stayed real time with the listener (I assume! I didn’t count but it felt like six minutes). Captain Henry wanting to go to the extreme to prove the transmitted voice wrong by just shooting Okonjo before the six minutes were up was quite a fun and incredible suggestion that of course wouldn’t get approval. And with the Queen around that was something that was certainly required. The use of a voice from seemingly the beyond fed in nicely to the grief felt by Victoria regarding Bertie. With Albert passed, Victoria did wonder if Torchwood would get the same kind of funding which I enjoyed. Okonjo being suggested as a fraud and then dying in a quite complicated and confusingly humorous way with a trip and a gun shot was intriguing. The voice was right and it didn’t want to stop with just one prediction. They’d all be dead by the morning, except one. That was an ominous warning but not once did Victoria back down and that was fantastic. She was such a strong character. With just her and Florence back, she provided a test to her Torchwood subject and she failed miserably. Offering her a gun and Florence actually going to shoot Victoria was a big surprise but the twist of her not having loaded the gun was excellent! Florence was confused and then the moment where Victoria revealed the gun came in pairs and shot her was sensational. She would survive. She endured. On she went. Her discussion with the creature at the end was a really fitting way to conclude things as the calm nature in which she just had a discussion with it was interesting and it just felt right. I think that’s because it was a different pace to the rest of the audio and it made Victoria feel totally in control. I didn’t share her sentiment about not caring what the creature actually was because I actually would have enjoyed to know, but that exuded power. Overall, a great listen! I actually look forward to more Victoria!

Rating: 9/10