Drive

"Thanks, drive."

Writer: David Llewellyn

Format: Audio

Released: February 2021

Series: Torchwood Monthly 47

Featuring: Tosh

Synopsis

They know everything about Cardiff – they hear the city's secrets, they move between its hidden places, they understand its nightmares. And they're the people you turn to if you're in trouble. They are taxi drivers.

Toshiko Sato, wounded and desperate, wakes up in the back of a cab. She's got one night to save the city, and the meter's running..

Verdict

Drive was another excellent episode to continue my way through the Torchwood monthly range! The run of stories I've been doing over the last few weeks and months has been pretty stellar and I'm a big fan of the focus on individual characters. The nature of Torchwood is naturally that there's a team but with three or even five main characters, it's difficult for a main focus. In just having Tosh here whilst the rest of the team had swanned off to Brecon was good fun. She's probably the most underrated of the five main Torchwood team in my opinion so I really appreciate the focus on her here. She absolutely deserves to be highlighted and this did so brilliantly. I was initially a bit sceptical of the episode beforehand as the name didn't exactly excite me but this was basically another instance like Coffee where I need to just go in with a free and open mind and enjoy things. This was a wonderful hour of audio. I thought Fawzia was a magnificent character and whilst it has been a very long time since I have frequented a taxi – in Wales at least – I certainly have experience. I thought Tosh highlighting how scary of a job it is was actually completely understandable as I'm not sure I'd enjoy driving with a stranger in the backseat directing me. I have only learned to drive eighteen months ago and it's fair to say I much prefer being a solo driver! So to have Fawzia driving Tosh around the capital when she was almost on death's door was tremendous. She embraced the challenge and she was just a really likeable character. I thought the way we caught her side of the phone calls at the start of the episode was good and we got to know her really well. She felt relatable. I work in Cardiff when the office requires me so it's always nice to hear some of the familiar Welsh names and suburbs. Torchwood feels very personal as a Welshman and I just love it. We got to explore a lot of Cardiff here jumping across town and I liked how as a taxi driver and the things you hear, Fawzia realised she was getting involved in Torchwood. Tosh presenting the cause for concern in explaining how each time Chris used the stolen alien teleport, he was losing a bit of himself. A couple of times were not a big problem, but the rapid rate in which he was utilising it to perform robberies across town was putting the entire city in danger. An atom bomb explosion literally waiting to happen. Not the split atom you'd like! I thought that was a strong threat and the urgency that came from Tosh being driven round town and tracking the device was terrific. It was exciting and the way the atmosphere captured that this episode was firmly set at night was tremendous. I was listening on my lunch break but this took me to the evening for sure! Chris was actually not that bad of a person and that's saying something for someone robbing! He didn't care that he was going to die because he considered himself a failure to his family. He was trying to provide them with something monetary before he perished, but Fawzia was wonderful in explaining how he could make amends. He was still here now and that was a success. There's always time for reparations and forgiveness. Tosh and Fawzia had people on their tail after the device though and the way they perished with the controlled explosion was pretty final! It rounded everything up nicely and it was nice to know that Chris would be back on his way to putting things right in his life. Fawzia was also incredibly kind in giving Tosh the drives on the house, but the Torchwood member paid her fare and then some with a very generous tip. That was a lovely way to finish what was a fantastic episode! A mad dash around Cardiff was right up my alley. And the amount of times I've said my quote when getting off a bus. Typically Welsh! 

Rating: 9/10