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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 don’t 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 didn’t 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.
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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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