Torchwood: Drive

Big Finish Torchwood #47

by David Llewellyn

They know everything about Cardiff – they hear the city's secrets, they move between its hidden places, they understand its nightmares. And they're the people you turn to if you're in trouble. They are taxi drivers.

Toshiko Sato, wounded and desperate, wakes up in the back of a cab. She's got one night to save the city, and the meter's running.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published February 16, 2021

About the author

David Llewellyn is a Welsh novelist and script writer. He grew up in Pontypool and graduated from Dartington College of Arts in 2000. His first novel, Eleven, was published by Seren Press in 2006. His second, Trace Memory, a spin-off from the BBC drama series Torchwood, was published in March 2008. Everything Is Sinister was published by Seren in May 2008. He has written two novels for the Doctor Who New Series Adventures: The Taking of Chelsea 426, featuring the Tenth Doctor, and Night of the Humans, featuring the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond.

In addition to writing novels, Llewellyn wrote the Bernice Summerfield audio play Paradise Frost and the Dark Shadows audio drama The Last Stop for Big Finish Productions.

Llewellyn lives in Cardiff.

Reviews

[Taksya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nuova avventura (quasi) in solitaria per Tosh.
Contrabbando di attrezzature aliene, furto di un dispositivo rischioso per la vita, necessità di recuperare il manufatto e impedire che le cose precipitino... una normale nottata di lavoro.
Fortunatamente per Tosh, dopo che la sua auto viene resa inutilizzabile, per correre da un lato all'altro di Cardiff può sfruttare il servizio taxi cittadino, assumendo per la nottata Fawzia, che sembra ben presto prenderci gusto nel rincorrere il misterioso ladro.
Come storia non è nulla di speciale, ma l'interpretazione di Naoko Mori e di Suzanne Packer rende l'ascolto interessante.

[The Post Monument · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Marcel Driel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid story, solid execution, great acting.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The twist in this story, if you can call it that, is that it's mostly told from the perspective of a taxi driver ferrying Tosh around Cardiff. Which has the potential to be one of those Torchwood stories that's about the effect that the organisation has on the regular residents of the area and somewhat is, although the chase she's being led on across the city is at least as important. However, unlike some other stories with that premise, this one feels rather slight.

It's not bad by any means. Nice touches include the driver trying to deal with her family over the phone between the sci-fi elements, and, in particular, how her detailed knowledge of the city and its inhabitants is key to saving the day. It may well be that those more familiar with Cardiff than I will get a lot out of this that I didn't. Numerous real-world locations are mentioned and the story makes good use of the geography, in a way that I'm sure I'd appreciate were I a local.

But I'm not and, while this story certainly works and has some good acting, there wasn't much else in it that stood out. For instance, there's no particular reason that Tosh is the Torchwood character here, beyond the fact that any of the others might have overshadowed the taxi driver's side of the narrative. It's a decent, middling story, not bad but not remarkable either.

[Debra Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story just not one that stands out. Tosh drives around in a cab to find a tranporter.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun comedic story with a heartwarming ending.