STORY PLACEMENT

 THIS EPISODE TAKES

 PLACE BETWEEN THE

 BBC RADIO 4 AUDIO

 DRAMAS "ASYLUM"

 AND "THE DEAD LINE."

 

 WRITTEN BY

 JAMES GOSS

 

 DIRECTED BY

 KATE McALL

  

 RECOMMENDED 

 PURCHASE

 'GOLDEN AGE' AUDIO CD 

 (ISBN 1-408-42665-4)

 RELEASED IN AUGUST

 2009.

  

 BLURB

 on the trail of a

 dangerous energy

 field, TORCHWOOD

 ARE LED TO DELHI.

 THERE they witness

 the simultaneous

 disappearance of

 hundreds of people,

 AND Jack discovers

 that the field centres

 onan old colonial

 mansion - Torchwood

 India.

 

 JACK IS Shocked to

 find that Torchwood

 India is still going

 strong - he shut it

 down himself over

 80 years ago. he's

 even more surprised

 to find its members,

 including his old

 flame the Duchess,

 haven't aged a day.

 

 WHAT IS THE SECRET OF

 THEIR ETERNAL YOUTH,

 AND HOW IS IT LINKED

 TO THE DEADLY ENERGY

 FIELD? THE TEAM MUST

 FIND OUT - AND THEY

 HAVEN'T A MOMENT TO

 LOSE, FOR ALL THE TIME

 THE FIELD IS EXPANDING.

 

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Golden Age

2ND JULY 2009

(45-MINUTE EPISODE)

 

 

                                                       

 

 

The meat in this week’s BBC Radio 4 Torchwood sandwich is James Goss’ Golden

Age; a remarkable play which once again sees Captain Jack Harkness and his two loyal companions taken off the beaten track.

 

Yesterday’s Asylum explored a new side of the series by placing PC Andy Davison right at the centre of a relatively intimate plot. Golden Age, on the other hand, takes all three of our heroes out their familiar Cardiff habitat and deposits them in a location that is perhaps as exotic as any alien vista that Jack has ever found himself in – Delhi, India.

 

The overseas setting of Golden Age will inevitably encourage listeners to draw parallels

with the inaugural Torchwood radio play, last year’s Lost Souls. In fairness though, Lost Souls could have been shot for television relatively cheaply in a studio, whereas Golden

Age would most probably have cost a veritable fortune to produce to any sort of decent standard. However, unimpeded by budgetary constraints, here director Kate McAll does

a marvellous job of bringing India to life through a rich and vibrant soundscape, making it very easy indeed for the listener to buy into the story.

 

“That building shouldn’t exist. I shut it down over eighty years ago… Welcome to Torchwood India.”

 

What is more, Goss’ story also has one hell of hook to ensnare listeners – Torchwood India. Right from the series’ first episode, numerous veiled references have been made to Torch-wood’s mysterious fourth base, but I dont think anyone ever imagined that it would take the form of an old colonial mansion in Delhi. Nevertheless, Goss does a fantastic job of making the idea work, even throwing in references to salvaged Yeti spheres and other alien artefacts plundered from the Raj.

 

“And all that time you just wanted to get into my… treasure trove.”

 

What really sells the concept though is Jack’s deeply personal link to Torchwood India, beautifully personified by Nellie, Duchess of Melrose – the lover that Jack betrayed over eighty years ago when he shut down the base and took all of its extraterrestrial loot back

to blighty. The Duchess has not aged a day since Jack last saw her; nor have her staff. It seems that Jack didnt do as thorough a job as he thought – he left behind a ‘Time Store’,

a device capable of freezing time within a defined area and, with enough power, reversing

it.

 

 

John Barrowman and Jasmine Hyde undoubtedly have great chemistry throughout, though

I did feel that the script felt aberrantly tame considering the passionate nature of their rela-tionship. Some will no doubt see the lack of blatantly adult content as a plus, but for me it

did not really feel like Torchwood. I sincerely hope that the series’ much-publicised move

to BBC One this coming Monday will not mark the end for the show’s raunchier side.

 

“The twentieth century was when everything changed.

What wouldn’t you give for another go at it?”

 

Similarly, given the toys that he had to play with and the new elements that he had introduced so very well, the crux of Goss’ story feels a little bland. Though the Duchess’ use of faceless natives for ‘fuel’ is certainly a delightfully grisly proposition, her plan to take the whole Earth back to 1924 – to her “perfect day” - and restore the British Empire to its past glory is down-right barmy, not to mention derivative. At least the ‘Golden Age’ Treehuggers in the Doctor Who serial Invasion of the Dinosaurs had more credible motives.

 

And so although it may well have made for a slightly more satisfying tale post-watershed and with a slightly more plausible plot, there is still far more to like about Golden Age than not. The performances of the cast are, without exception, terrific; the sound design is absolutely superb; and the development of the series’ mythology is sure to put a smile on the faces of the series’ more ardent followers. It certainly did mine.

 

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2009

 

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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