Bad Connection (audio story)

Bad Connection
Main character(s):	Suzie, Emlyn
Main enemy:	Orthopteroid
Main setting:	Penarth Pier, 2000s
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Aaron Lamont
Director:	David O'Mahony
Producer:	James Goss
Music:	Blair Mowat
Sound:	Rob Harvey
Cover by:	Sean Longmore
Release details
Story number:	10.5
Number of parts:	1
Release number:	89
Release date:	7 November 2024
Format:	1 CD Download
Production code:	BFPTWCD89
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-80240-411-1 (physical) ISBN 978-1-80240-412-8 (digital)
Torchwood - Monthly Range
← Previous	Widdershins
Next →	Reflect

Bad Connection was the eighty-ninth story in the Torchwood - Monthly Range by Big Finish Productions.

Publisher's summary

A lonely man is walking past a telephone box when he notices it's ringing. On the other end of the line is a woman telling him he’s in terrible danger.

Will someone finally listen to Suzie Costello? And will she save Emlyn Crook?

Plot

Emlyn Crook answers the telephone in a phone booth on Penarth Pier and is warned by Suzie that he is in danger and must stay on the line. She temporarily alters his sensory receptors with an unpleasant signal which allows him to see an Orthopteroid outside the booth, one which he initially believes is a hallucination and which he tries to disprove by asking a passerby if he can see it. Although the man is unable to see the Orthopteroid, he is eaten by it, proving Suzie's claim that it is a camouflaged alien. She explains that he must not attempt to talk to anybody else, look at the Orthopteroid or leave the booth until she arrives by taxi. Despite this, he leaves the booth in an attempt to save a young woman who accuses him of being a pervert for trying to get her inside with him. She manages to get by without issue, however, and Emlyn returns to the booth believing that the Orthopteroid has gone.

When Emlyn realises that the Orthopteroid is on top of the booth and slowly breaking in, Suzie explains that the signal allowing him to see the creature is only functional if he remains within three feet of the telephone. Suzie distracts him by talking about herself and asking him about her day and the Orthopteroid loses interest in him when it spots a man walking past, devouring him and flying away with the body. Emlyn scares a group of people away to save them, which inadvertently draws the Orthopteroid's attention back to him until he stares it down at Suzie's instruction to show it that it is beneath him. As Suzie arrives nearby, she loses signal and Emlyn confronts the Orthopteroid to save an old woman. Suzie fires at the creature with a beam emitter, but she is unable to see it and has only two shots left.

Suzie joins Emlyn in the box and explains that she wants the Orthopteroid to absorb enough muon particles from the emitter for a rift to open around it and send it home. She adjusts the signal to cause the Orthopteroid pain and make it more aggressive so that it will attack, making Emlyn realise that Suzie has been using him as bait to keep the creature there all along. He leaves the booth so that Suzie can get a clear shot and open a rift to get rid of the Orthopteroid, but he is upset at having been used by Suzie and leaves her. He retires from his job as a librarian to enjoy his life whilst he is still living and is one day called by Suzie, who apologises but says that they saved a massive number of lives that night. He pretends to have a bad connection and ends the call.

Cast

• Suzie Costello - Indira Varma
• Emlyn Crook - Jason Watkins
• The Passersby - Ulrika Butt, Alex Hewitt, Arthur Hughes, Rhys Jennings, Bharti Patel, Rameet Rauli, Matthew Woodyatt

Crew

• Senior Producer - John Ainsworth
• Cover Art - Sean Longmore
• Director - David O'Mahony
• Executive Producer - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
• Music - Blair Mowat
• Producer - James Goss
• Script Editor - James Goss
• Sound Design - Steve Foxon
• Written - Aaron Lamont
• Theme Music - Murray Gold

Worldbuilding

• Dr Willis is Emlyn's doctor.
• Emlyn was never one for science fiction and prefers westerns.
• The Orthopteroid resembles a cockroach.
• For lunch, Emlyn ate a tuna mayonnaise sandwich and a Mini Roll.
• Emlyn thought that microwaves were bad for his health.
• Emlyn uses the Dewey Decimal System to calm down.
• Emlyn has never owned a lawn mower.
• Emlyn used to dream about clowns.
• Suzie mentions Emily Brontë.
• Emlyn is a librarian.

Notes

• Bad Connection was recorded at The Soundhouse on 11 June 2024.

Continuity

to be added

External links

• Official Bad Connection page at bigfinish.com