The Green Life

"This is a bug hunt."

Writer: David Llewellyn 

Format: Audio

Released: April 2019

Series: Torchwood Monthly 26

Featuring: Captain Jack, Jo

Synopsis

Many years ago Jo Grant met Professor Clifford Jones, fell in love and saved the world. It all happened in the idyllic Welsh community of Llanfairfach. 

Josephine Jones has come back to Llanfairfach and she finds it a bustling place with a thriving economy. The little town is now at the spearhead of a healthy-eating revolution. And yet, something's missing. It feels like the heart has gone out of the place.

She falls in with a dashing stranger and realises that although the past was a lot simpler, not everything's changed. There's still something nasty in the mine, and it's been waiting for Jo for a very long time.

Verdict

The Green Life was a very fun story to continue my way through the Torchwood Monthly adventures from Big Finish! I have been waiting a very long time to get to this particular run of stories as I love the idea of Torchwood tackling old enemies and villains from Doctor Who. It started off incredibly with Night of the Fendahl and following that up with a sequel to The Green Death is no bad way to go about things! I thought it was so much fun to pair up Captain Jack with Jo and whilst the latter was quite a way removed from the companion we knew who travelled with the Third Doctor, she was still the woman we loved and saw in The Death of the Doctor. Jo is so likeable and that was evident right from the off as she wanted to be careful about the maggots and wanted Jack to shoe them away gently instead of his more aggressive method typical of Torchwood. I liked how the relationship between UNIT and Torchwood was touched upon here with both organisations having different morals and methods, so the pair clashed well in that regard. Returning to Llanfairfach is a brilliant idea and it was lovely to revisit that setting as it had such a profound impact on the Third Doctor's era with it being the scene of Jo's emotional departure. Jo touching upon that and thinking that her decision to stay with Cliff would have broken his hearts was great and the perfect response to Jack's namedropping of how other companion stopped travelling with the Doctor. She was no Sarah Jane being dropped off in the middle of nowhere or Rose being lost in another universe, it was all her. That was a fun moment and Jack referring to his own enforced departure and being left behind because he got scary was very nicely done. I liked how this was a direct sequel to the aforementioned Third Doctor tale and even getting a return of BOSS was not something I anticipated! That was a really strong moment and the way Jo reacted to being referred to as Miss Grant was tremendous. That was a shining moment for Katy Manning. I enjoyed the chemistry and conflict she had with Jack as he didn't seem too keen on her being an environmentalist, but they gelled well by the end. The return of the maggots was excellent and whilst they were much different and unable to have the same impact without visual aid, the idea of them communicating and just being more intelligent was brilliant. For a Torchwood monthly story, this didn't half feel more like Doctor Who and that was absolutely fine from where I was sitting but it was fun for Jo to take the lead. I'm glad that happened as she was the one with the experience and she could easily see what had changed at Llanfairfach. The fate of BOSS after all of the time waiting for Jo was slightly underwhelming, but I did appreciate the way it wound down and fell into nothingness. This one had a lot to live up to for the serial it was a sequel for, but it did a really good job and paid homage to the original in a really nice way. Overall, a great listen! 

Rating: 8/10