The Crown

"We are your Queen."

Writer: Jonathan Barnes

Format: Audio

Released: December 2020

Series: Torchwood Monthly 45

Featuring: Queen Victoria

Synopsis

The Ferryman stands in shadow and waits.

The Ferryman giggles, hungers and hates,

The Ferryman comes to carry away

All who behold the crown and disobey.

Christmas Eve. Dr Gideon Parr is summoned to an asylum to check on a patient. A patient who claims to be haunted by a terrible curse. A patient who claims to be Queen Victoria.

Verdict

The Crown was an excellent episode to continue my way through the Torchwood Monthly series! It's unfortunate and incredibly prejudice of me but whenever I see that the next release features Queen Victoria as the lead character, I struggle to get excited to listen. Well, I've been wrong before and that trend continued here because this was a stellar audio adventure! The events of Tooth and Claw are so important to the world of Torchwood and the monarch obviously played a huge role there in creating the Torchwood Institute, so to revisit it with her seemingly playing an active part in its mission is actually rather fun. It's also pretty refreshing to do Torchwood in the Victorian era because that's so different to what we're used to. There's not much fancy technology about to tackle alien incursions there! Big Finish does the Victorian era so well with the likes of Jago & Litefoot and the Paternoster Gang ranges, so it's no surprise that the atmosphere felt incredibly authentic. This somehow just felt foggy throughout and that was exactly the kind of way it should have been. Right from the off things are eery and it's intriguing to think that someone is claiming to be the Queen. Especially when that someone is the Queen herself! Now, I am very firmly an anti-monarchist so I enjoyed the comments from Henrietta towards her Queen regarding it just being luck that she was born into power and riches whilst she was a commoner. The land was once common land and Victoria was taken aback by how she was being talked to! And I was a big fan of it. It's not often the monarch gets challenged on such a personal level so I really enjoyed that. I'm not sure how believable it is that Victoria would be actively involved in events such as what occurred here, but there she was impersonating an alien presence for nearly the entire hour! That was a good twist and one I wasn't expecting! Once it happened though it didn't shock me and made a lot of sense. I thought that she was under a hold by the Ferryman that would be relinquished, but it turns out it was all a ruse! The reaction of Gideon Parr there was magnificent as he realised he'd been duped, just when he seemed to think he had the upper hand. That was a really strong shift in events as he went from mocking her and about to reveal to the truth, to being a few steps behind at a rather crucial time! Maddox was another good character to go alongside Parr and his being with Henrietta was good and a strong reveal at the end when Victoria revealed the truth. I thought the mystery that came from the Ferryman story was magnificent and I honestly don't think they quite tapped into it enough! We could definitely have had a few more renditions of the rhyme in my opinion. Not that we didn't get enough but there was room for more in terms of really selling that creepy feeling. I thought the Christmas setting was also utilised well and it was good fun for Victoria to wish a Happy Christmas at the end. It felt wintry throughout the episode but I wouldn't exactly call it festive! It makes sense though with the December release. Overall, a really strong atmosphere and setting that saw Victoria proudly boast about Torchwood which was nice. It's early days indeed and that's fascinating to explore. A good twist and a creepy mystery of the Ferryman. A superb listen! 

Rating: 9/10