Torchwood: Asylum

After last year's Lost Souls special, Torchwood returns for more radio episodes, and on the strength of this opener, it's finally found its stride.

It took a few minutes to get into, but about a third of the way through I realised that I was hooked. It helped that this was written well for audio, and played effectively by the regular cast. The scene in which Gwen is interviewing the girl at the police station, and we can hear all of her non-verbal responses, had me listening intently.

The script was excellent too. The girl in question comes from later on this century, complete with slightly different vocabulary. The actress who plays her delivers it all so naturally. This sure doesn't sound like actors reading their lines for the first time.

I guess it helps that this was broadcast at 2:15pm in the early afternoon, when all the sex, violence and swearing had to be toned-down or left out. What we had instead was a more thoughtful dialogue-based show, which required one to engage one's brain.

Yeah, this was maybe the best episode of Torchwood so far.