It’s unlikely that the Welsh Valleys Tourist Board will rush to give its seal of approval to the latest standalone Torchwood audio. The first three acts of Gareth David-Lloyd’s witty and entertaining script for The Last Beacon paint the customs, culture, weather, economy and population of small-town, off-the-B-road Cymru in less than glowing terms. However, it’s a hugely affectionate and gentle parody, entirely free of anything grotesque or in any way spiteful. It’s also really funny, all the more so because overly-indulged city-boy Owen finds the place inexplicable and exasperating.
Ianto and Owen have been sent to Wales to investigate the source of an unexplained, and probably alien, broadcast signal. Owen wants to do the bare minimum and then call in the Torchwood cavalry. Ianto, in contrast, is determined to do the best job possible and, in the process, prove their investigative abilities.
The resulting friction between these two characters drives both the humour of the piece and the plot forward. Isolating these two ill-matched researchers in unfamiliar surroundings, away from all the facilities and the teamwork of the Hub, gives the story a sense of displacement and discomfort that David-Lloyd gets great mileage from. His dialogue provides him and Burn Gorman excellent material to feed their acting chops, as the duo bicker and squabble before eventually finding a sense of common purpose.
There’s great fun to be had from the way the mission degenerates. The pair fails to complete a rain-lashed hill walk, get frustrated by an inflexible hotel, are told off by a tour guide, and duped by a pair of teenager slackers. They end up in a pub fight, get outrageously drunk and wreck their cover story. And that’s all within the first 24 hours, as local residents get the measure of these mysterious visitors.
But the tone changes as the secrets of the ‘last beacon’ are uncovered, and Torchwood’s ‘unlikely lads’ reach a shared understanding of what the right thing to do might be. The finale allows David-Lloyd to present a different and more positive view of life, and of community, family and brethren, in the Welsh valleys which puts a new perspective on the earlier humour at the expense of the Cymry.
It’s also an ending which sees an interesting shift in the relationship dynamic between Ianto and Owen, without that about-turn feeling forced or melodramatic. Much lighter than some Torchwood stories, and more focused on questions of character than on Rift-ripping alien anomalies, this is one wet work trip to the back of beyond that does not disappoint.
TORCHWOOD: THE LAST BEACON / WRITER: GARETH DAVID-LLOYD / DIRECTOR: SCOTT HANDCOCK / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / STARRING: BURN GORMAN, GARETH DAVID-LLOYD, ELLIE DARVILL, DANIEL HAWKSFORD, RICK YALE, LUKE WILLIAMS / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 30TH
