Parasite: The Man From Room 13

"There's something living in the fog."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: August 2020

Series: Torchwood Soho 1.01

Featuring: Folgate

Synopsis

Enter the world of 1950s Torchwood! 

Gangsters are vanishing from the streets of Soho, there's a deadly Nazi secret on the loose, and something's moving in the smog. Norton Folgate should be sorting this out, but the Torchwood agent is in disgrace. Who's going to save London this time?

Verdict

The Man From Room 13 was a fine way to start the Parasite first series of Torchwood Soho! I think this is a tremendous idea to have an entire spinoff of a Torchwood team from another era because the potential really is rife. Torchwood is well established by this point of the 1950s given how long that is after Tooth and Claw in which Queen Victoria established the organisation, so it makes sense for Big Finish to explore something new. Why restrain yourself to what is established on screen when you can explore the world of the 1950s in Soho? That’s an awfully exciting idea and I look forward to playing with the lack of technology compared to the modern organisation. As the means for an opener, this did all of the right things for an introductory twenty-five minutes. I am of course familiar with the character of Norton Folgate from the likes of Goodbye Piccadilly and his fleeting appearances in God Among Us, but now he gets to be the star of the show. Or at least it feels that way. I am not sure he would be the character I would choose to lead a Torchwood spinoff because I must say I find him very marmite and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about him, but he was a good amount of quirky and energetic here. The mystery of Room 13 was presented well and I enjoyed the relationship Norton had with Lizbeth within. There seems to be a strong dynamic brewing there already and I'm looking forward to all of the threads established in this opener to tie together over the next five episodes. I'm intrigued by the format of the series in being six shorter episodes but it's one that I'm actually really looking forward to. I think blogging them as six separate stories is the correct move despite what TARDISWiki has the story listed as. I'm excited for the journey. I thought Folgate's meeting with Gideon turned on its head quite quickly as they arranged a hasty date and his disguising his Torchwood employment as being a librarian was excellent. I'm not sure Gideon bought it all and that being obvious made it even better. I'm very interested to hear where things go from here with them, especially with him overhearing about Konstantin. It was amusing to hear that he covered it as an overdue book fine when Belle arrived looking for him. He was just interested in dead Nazis which was a fun gag running through his conversations with Lizbeth. It's going to be interesting to hear Norton's ideology on things like this given the series' proximity to the end of the Second World War. Reginald Rigsby sending a memo bemoaning the behaviour of Norton was hilarious. He didn't take him too seriously though and I can't wait for the inevitable meeting later in the series. I enjoyed the focus on the packages and the interest of the Stagnant Pond should tie things together nicely as the series goes on. I'm really interested in where things go and this was just a good introduction! I do feel like this also did a stellar job in reintroducing Norton as a main character now. Just what significance will be placed on the package, alien and Konstantin? I look forward to find out. It was a shame there was no kind of cliffhanger given the episodic nature of the series, but I was still delighted with what I listened to! A strong start for sure. 

Rating: 8/10