by Phil Ford
Produced by BBC
Audiobooks Ltd.
BBC Audio Published:
6 August 2009
Reviewed by Christopher Fain
Apropos
of the alien threat involved, this audio drama begins with a ringing phone.
Let's
face it, Phil Ford is one of the best at what he does. He tells a story that moves quick and without
effort, mixing humor and drama with human sentiment in his own way. The Dead Line could be considered
formulaic with a script that uses two basic points of view to unpack its plot
through two-voice scenes, but the formula is seamlessly used here to tell a
story that would have been very exciting on the TV screen.
A
Cardiff hospital experiences a sudden spate of patients in identical conditions
that look like a coma which all began with a phone call; naturally, Torchwood
gets involved. The calls are coming from
a defunct line, as they discover. It's a
dead line, as Jack points out upon attempting to make a call of his own to the
four-digit phone number. But, when the
phone rings back, our intrepid team leader answers, his determination
outstripping his common sense. He falls
victim to the strange ticking sound on the other end of the line. Distraught, Ianto calls one of Jack's old
flames, the neuroscientist Professor Stella Courtney, for help.
Stella
becomes the listener's portal into the mystery.
At St. Helen's Hospital, the scientist hears the story of how we've come
to be standing over Jack Harkness' unconscious body. Only, as it turns out, this isn't a coma but
a trance-like state which seems to link every victim; their brain activity is
reacting in unison, as evidenced by the hospital monitors.
The
remaining two active members of the team must identify the source of what seems
to be a computer virus that can reach out and destroy the world through its
most common form of communication, the telephone. Of course, once the source is realized, a
cure must be found.
With
Professor Courtney working on the medical side of the puzzle and Ianto
essentially immobilized at Jack's bedside until very nearly the end, it is up
to Gwen and Rhys to find out what happened at Maddock House thirty-three years
ago and what it has to do with the old telephones found beside every victim.
It's
an interesting premise, the idea of a Rift-borne virus that attacks through an
electronic pulse which, by affecting the biochemistry of the brain, connects
all of its victims to gain strength.
There is no larger villain or rampaging alien to be discovered in this
story, per se; instead, the infection seems to possess a mindless desire to
exist and spread, much like any virus.
Penned
by a veteran TV writer, The Dead Line is a foreshadow of days ahead for
the Cardiff Hub team. This radio play,
coming in at just forty-three minutes, is episode-length but seems like it
should have been much longer. Airing on
BBC Radio 4 only three days before Children of Earth premiered, this
story heralds the impending changes found in Torchwood's third series.
The Dead Line features the regular
series cast of John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper),
Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), and Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), who are joined
by Professor Stella Courtney, voiced by the marvelous Doña Croll.
Phil
Ford is a prolific writer who has penned episodes for such shows as Taggart,
Coronation Street, Bad Girls, The Bill, New Captain Scarlet, The Sarah Jane
Adventures (head writer beginning with series two), Doctor Who, and Wizards vs
Aliens (he was a co-creator, as well), among others. For Doctor Who, he wrote the 2009 special The
Waters of Mars and the animated special Dreamland, while for
Torchwood, his second series episode Something Borrowed is considered by
some to be a Cronenberg body horror romp (Rawson-Jones, 2008). He also penned the Torchwood book, 'Skypoint',
for those fans who would like another taste of Ford's unique style of dialogue.
Citations:
Rawson-Jones,
Ben. "Torchwood' S02E09: 'Something Borrowed'." Digital Spy. 12 Mar.
2008. Web. 26 Apr. 2013.
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