The Five People You Kill in Middlesbrough

"Bombs go boom."

Writer: Yvonne Hartman

Format: Audio

Released: June 2021

Series: Torchwood Monthly 51

Featuring: Yvonne

Synopsis

When a spaceship crashes on Middlesbrough it's very sad, of course. But we at Torchwood have long had a plan to contain such a disaster. 

Only, nothing is happening. And the disaster is spreading. So, I set out to find out what's going on. What has happened to The Icarus Protocol? Who launched a Moonstrike Missile? And why will no-one admit that there's a cloud of deadly particles sweeping across the United Kingdom?

My name is Yvonne Hartman. Don't come between me and my country.

Verdict

The Five People You Kill in Middlesbrough was another great episode to continue my way through the Torchwood monthly range! I've officially reached the halfway mark of the series now after the recent announcement of it coming to an end at the centurion release, and this is where things get controversial as whilst this is numbered as 51 in the Torchwood schedule, we all know that it was unfortunately the fiftieth to be released after the cancellation of Absent Friends. I still can't wrap my head around the decision from Big Finish to cancel this release and whilst I understand the reasoning behind it with the accusations against John Barrowman, surely they would then pull everything else he stars in? It's just such a shame we won't get to hear the Tenth Doctor in a Torchwood story. I have hope that one day it will get released as a special and I think that is likely, but for now I have to skip ahead and go in the release order. Yvonne Hartman is a fine character to carry a Torchwood episode, but I'm not entirely sure why a fictional character is dubbed as the writer for the story! I think it's pretty cool that Tim Foley paired with Yvonne-actress Tracy Ann-Oberman to write this episode but why not just list both names? Regardless, it was a great listen and very political! I think you can get away with a lot more mainstream politics and just everyday life when utilising Yvonne as part of Torchwood One because that's just part of having a London setting. Despite the title, the English capital city is very much where this episode takes place. Sure, there is a big concern in Middlesbrough with the crashing of the ship but it's all about the Government response and that is very much a London thing. I thought the comparisons and parallels to the Covid response from the UK Government was very tongue in cheek and for the most part I liked it. Maybe if I listened at the time of release when we were still very much in the Covid pandemic I'd have had an even better listening experience? Who knows! Yvonne's interactions with Alfie were intense at times as she was very much in the position of authority even if she was told otherwise. Yvonne is a very strong character and that came across massively here. She was concerned about the situation in Middlesbrough with the photon leakage and couldn't grasp why there was such an untimely response. I thought the idea behind the phone app was a little too on the nose as it wasn't really conceivable that photon energy could be tracked by a phone, but it was a cheeky jibe at the track and trace app that seemed to be released way too late. And was pretty useless in all honesty. The waste of taxpayer money being compared here was fun with the budgets and I do wonder just how close this was to what goes on behind closed doors in politics. Who's to know? Simister's interactions with Yvonne were a delight as she couldn't answer the very basic of questions with genuine fact or explanation that was rational. I also liked how Lancelyn was basically made a mockery of by Yvonne as she dealt with him and his podcast in no time. Beacham's fate in going into the cold at the story's conclusion as a powerful moment and really said a lot about the position he was put in. Politics, eh? The cloud was then stopped and Yvonne had saved Middlesbrough and the world. It was nice to think that this would become another forgotten moment like the extraordinary events of The Stolen Earth/Journey's End and Miracle Day, but there's a lot of them in Torchwood! Overall, a really good listen. More Yvonne please! 

Rating: 8/10