Partly wanting to hear other people’s thoughts on the ‘Norton Era’ of Torchwood, partly wanting to remind myself to get round to listening to Ascension at some point.
Torchwood Soho is a Big Finish series focusing on Torchwood One during the 1950s, featuring Andy Davidson from the main show, Norton Folgate (spinning out of his appearances across TW audio), and new characters Gideon Lyme, and Lizbeth Hayhoe. Uniquely for Torchwood, the boxsets for this range each tell a single story throughout the episodes contained within. Each set is 6 25 minute stories, so almost reminds me more of the classic era in terms of tone and style compared to the modern one.
So far we’ve had four sets
Parasite
Ashenden
The Unbegotten
Ascension
And a few other Torchwood Main Range stories in that era
Ghost Mission (Not in that era, but first appearance of Norton and features him meeting Andy
Goodbye Piccadilly (A personal favourite)
Madam, I’m (featuring the return of Adam from the episode of the same name)
The Black Knight
The Restoration of Catherine (also not in that era and I’ve not listened to it, but it’s Norton and Andy so worth mentioning)
So as always, a few questions to get things going:
Have you listened to any of the sets? Which is your favourite?
Have you listened to any of the main range stories? Which is your favourite?
How do you feel about Big Finish doing stories about other eras of Torchwood? Are there any eras you want them to explore more?
Are there any aspects of the 1950s that you think could make for a great Torchwood story?
What do you think about Norton (and/or Lizbeth and Gideon)?
Having listened to all of them, I couldn’t really tell you a thing about what actually happened. My favourite Soho audio is probably Goodbye Piccadilly, and is the only one I own in disc. I kinda wish they did 1 hour audios instead of 30 mins.
Gideon is great in the most recent boxset, as are his tensions with Norton.
I enjoyed listening to the stories but struggled to visualize them due to the fast-pace of the episodes and the scene switching.
I kinda wish we had more smaller moments for the audios to tell us what things look like, or who the characters are. Because it quite literally drops you in the deep end, doing the same with Andy so at least you’re confused with him.
Though I am curious about what actually happened in the latest boxset…cuz it may or may not contradict The Torchwood Archive audio. And now I’m realizing how convoluted Norton’s timeline is
Edit: by comparison, I found it much easier to follow Torchwood One, and Torchwood The Story Continues, because I could clearly imagine the setting.
Definitely interested in listening now if I wasn’t already
Norton’s timeline is… strange, to say the least, with The Torchwood Archive and The Story Continues both already implying different things about his fate (without saying too much)
I didn’t listen in chronological order, but I was still surprised by the complete lack of introductions to the characters too.
It’s like they quite literally wrote “Outbreak” said, yeah that’s good enough, and then it’s full throttle into Soho . I suppose it just needs time to breathe which is why Goodbye Piccadilly and Madam Im- are my highest rated Soho audios.
Yeah, I’ll definitely agree with that, I enjoy the sets, but my favourite Soho content is definitely the main range stuff (Goodbye Piccadilly is just a blast, and Madam, I’m is a great use of Adam)
To be fair, I’m a bit ‘eh’ on The Black Knight, but it was fun enough. Just feel Norton needs some of that supporting cast to balance him properly (and doesn’t help that it was the Absent Friends replacement)
I have the first two box sets but haven’t listened to them yet. I think I’ve asked this before, but what would people recommend I listen to in preparation? I’ve heard Ghost Mission but that’s it for Norton.
Yeah like @Jamie said, Ghost Mission and Goodbye Picadilly
The later probably isn’t required, but I think it’s worth listening to
Honestly I’d probably recommend just looking at Norton’s page and listening to the main range and soho stories (ignoring Archive, The Story Continues, and Outbreak) in release order
Being the TW Timeline gal, it’s not too bad (though I would say that)
Basically it’s:
Ghost Mission → Archive Flashback → Outbreak → Goodbye Piccadilly → Restoration of Catherine (probably, I’ve not listened to it yet but seems to be here???) → Madam, I’m → TW Soho Boxsets (in release Order) → The Black Knight → The Story Continues → Archive??? I need to relisten tbh
The Soho series kind of ignores the whole Norton is a committee agent and secretly a bad guy thing. Also we still need and explanation for him escaping flight 405.
Eh, I’d argue it’s not ignoring, but putting to the side, he’s an agent but it’s not important for the story they’re telling (plus he can be a bad guy without being a bad guy)
Yeah this is why I say I need to relisten to archive (after listening to ascension that is)
He’s both evil and a bit of a pathetic little meow meow (if you know what i mean), the Soho series just leans on that second side a bit more than his other outings
In my view Soho is after Gods Among Us for Norton. It feels like a continuation of his arc from there, I see it as he narrowly escaped death like the Master does all the time
I think it is Jack, but I don’t think they’re going to recast him. It’d be nice if they did but they’d have to avoid using JB’s likeness on any covers, right?
. I suppose it just needs time to breathe which is why Goodbye Piccadilly and Madam Im- are my highest rated Soho audios.