Nightmares: Less Majesty

"Who wouldn't want to be Queen?"

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: April 2022

Series: Torchwood One 4.03

Featuring: Yvonne, Ianto

Synopsis

Yvonne Hartman wakes up in a reasonably nice hotel room next to a dead member of the royal family. Awkward.

Verdict

Less Majesty was another strong episode to conclude the Nightmares fourth series of Torchwood One! This has been a really consistent boxset and I quite like that the series took on the approach of just going with single episodes and no overlapping story arc. That isn't needed each and every time and the nightmarish theme worked well. It was interpreted in different ways by each of the writers which was great as nothing felt repetitive. These were no repeat nightmares! The way this episode started was pretty amusing in having Yvonne wake up in bed next a member of the Royal Family. Except it was a dead member of the Royal Family now. One who was due to give a speech that was supposedly going to revolutionise and save the world. Alignment was on the cards but now that he was dead, that obviously wasn't going to be possible. Given her positioning within Torchwood One, I think it's quite fun for Ianto to be her first port of call when she realised the gravity of her situation, and his reaction upon arrival didn't exactly do much to quench her fears. The hotel room setting was excellent and it's quite crazy to think that this is where the entire episode takes place. There's not a lot of room to venture there but it never felt restricted or claustrophobic which was impressive. I thought they would almost certainly have to venture out for the episode to last an hour but alas I was completely wrong! They were more worried about people getting in which was a delight to hear. Before we got to the humorous ways of hiding the dead body and the unscheduled guests from the likes of room service and housekeeping, Tommy's arrival was not what I expected at all. I wasn't surprised to find that Ianto had told him about the situation, but his shock and comment at seeing the dead royal in the bed was incredible. He had him on a tea towel! I was nearly howling there. Now, my feelings towards the Royal Family are not positive but some of my family would definitely have merchandise for the kitchen like this, but they're not at all like Tommy! I just couldn't picture him in his kitchen with a princely tea towel. I thought they did a good job at not making too much of a gag out of not naming the royal in question, although Yvonne's insinuation of him not being one of the Queen's favourites doesn't leave a huge amount to the imagination. Tommy suspecting it was actually Yvonne who had done the killing of the prince in a bid to become Queen was a whacky theory but one I loved! Ianto coming under the influence in the hotel room and almost convincing himself by Tommy's story was amusing as well. There was a great deal of subtle comedy in the episode which I liked. The chemistry between the trio was superb and the innuendo regarding the dagger when Ianto and Tommy had to squash together hiding in close proximity was fantastic. It wasn't too much and was just the right amount of banter. The reveal of the Unity and their efforts to lure all of Torchwood to the hotel room and then bomb them to oblivion was quite something, but I think it just came a tad too late. It made a big impact, but all of a sudden they were basically defeated and fell victim to their own drug and laughed at the fact they were being blown up. The way the precision of the knife in the Prince was deduced as being manufactured was nicely done and quite impressive really. It all tied together pretty nicely in the end for what was a really strong finale! Whacky in places, but a really entertaining listen for sure. Give me more Torchwood One! 

Rating: 8/10