A Kill to a View (audio story)
A Kill to a View was the sixth audio episode of Aliens Among Us and the second story in the second box set. It saw the return of Bilis Manger and introduced Mr Colchester's husband Colin, who was only mentioned previously.
Publisher's summary
Ritz Towers is a luxury tower block so exclusive not even aliens can get a place there. Mr Colchester has somehow secured a flat at the Ritz. With the streets increasingly troubled, his husband feels safe there. The problem is that Ritz Towers is anything but safe.
For a start, the building has more tenants than it has flats. Then there are the endless dinner parties. The whole new definition of upwardly mobile. And finally, there is the very mysterious caretaker.
Plot
In Ritz Tower, Sandra and Andrea host a dinner party at their flat with Rowan and Poppy Briley. Whilst Rowan and Poppy compliment the flat, Sandra and Andrea tell them that they wanted a flat that faced the Bay. They kill the Brileys with a knife and the shards of a plate before the caretaker arrives. Colin meets him in the morning after collecting his and Mr Colchester's post, also experiencing racism from Patricia Campbell when she asked where he was "originally" from.
Later, Rhys drops by the flat to meet Colin and suggests that they drink alcohol, not realising that Colin was a Muslim. Rhys receives a text message from Anwen's babysitter and leaves, bumping into Bilis in the hallway and asking if they had met. Colin calls his husband about dinner, but Mr Colchester is busy beheading something. He answers the door and is invited to a dinner at Flat 32 by Patricia, which he said he would bring up with Mr Colchester.
At the Hub, Mr Colchester and Jack Harkness discuss the death of Zaheed Shah in a car bombing and speculate that he was a Sorvix killed by Red Doors or a human killed by the Sorvix or racists. Mr Colchester invites Jack to join him at Shah's autopsy later that day and discuss Colin and Ritz Tower. He calls Colin, who meets Bilis again when he arrives to take pictures of the flat for a brochure. The two talk about the current state of Cardiff and the rise in hate crimes. Meanwhile, Mr Colchester and Orr continue looking into Shah, having identified him as a human unknown to the Sorvix.
In bed, Mr Colchester tries to convince Colin to get out more and perhaps join a mosque, but he refuses out of fear. They agree to go to dinner with Patricia and choose "St John" as a safeword for if they ever want to leave a dinner party. They hear the strange noise that happened after the Brileys were killed. The next day, Colin learns from Bilis that Patricia has died. Mr Colchester is approached by Tyler on the way to the Hub and, after he mentions Colin, Shah and Ritz Tower, allows him into the Torchwood headquarters. Tyler tells him that Ritz Tower is the only building not owned by the Sorvix and that its residents were being killed, as well as that Shah had been wiped from all documents concerning the building.
Colin meets Bilis and Duncan in the hallway and is encouraged by the caretaker to join Duncan for dinner, but Amber insists on joining Duncan instead. The next morning, the Colchester-Prices see Bilis and Duncan transporting large boxes out of the building. After Mr Colchester left, Colin agreed to a dinner party with Sandra and Andrea, who asked to use him as an excuse not to attend parties with others. At the Hub, Mr Colchester asks Tyler to look into Bilis and left with Jack and Orr to help Andy deal with a Sorvix hostage situation, calling Colin to apologise for not being able to be home on time for dinner.
Sandra and Andrea arrive at the flat to help Colin cook and are joined by Bilis. Jack identifies Bilis as a greater threat than the Sorvix upon learning that he is Mr Colchester's caretaker and changes his route to Ritz Tower. Upon arriving, Orr begins to transform in an attempt to meet the building's desires, prompting Mr Colchester to tell Jack to go with them to the hostage situation whilst he saves Colin. He joins the party and takes Bilis onto the balcony where he is told that the only way for Colin to remain safe and happy in the tower would be to "prevail". He then takes Colin to one side and uses the safe word, after which Sandra and Andrea attack and Mr Colchester is stabbed. They both flee.
Mr Colchester tells Colin to run downstairs, but Duncan shoots and tells them that he has to keep them from escaping in order to stay. The couple run upstairs with Sandra and Andrea giving chase, Mr Colchester telling Colin to hide on the roof whilst he led them to the penthouse. There, he encounters Bilis, who calls Andrea one of his "best hunters". Mr Colchester easily breaks her neck and heads to the roof, where Colin has been cut by Sandra. Mr Colchester throws her off the roof to her death, telling her that he had killed her wife.
The Colchester-Prices hear the same strange noise before Mr Colchester called for a helicopter. The Rift opens and Bilis sends a message to whomever the Sorvix came to Cardiff to escape, having used the aggression of the killings to gather energy. He leaves, his mission complete, and Colin and Mr Colchester wait for the ambulance.
Cast
- Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
- Mr Colchester - Paul Clayton
- Orr - Sam Béart
- Tyler Steele - Jonny Green
- Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
- Bilis Manger - Murray Melvin
- Colin Colchester-Price - Ramon Tikaram
- Duncan - Ewan Bailey
- Sandra - Diveen Henry
- Andrea - Ellie Heydon
- Patricia - Marilyn Le Conte
- Rowan - Luke Rhodri
- Poppy - Charlotte O'Leary
Worldbuilding
- The Colchester-Prices live in Flat 151.
- Patricia lives in Flat 32.
- Colin Colchester-Price considers his husband to be Batman and Alfred at once for Torchwood.
- The initial developer of Ritz Tower was Zaheed Shah, until Bilis Manger removed almost all traces of his name from the documents.
- Duncan B. agrees to a dinner party with Amber.
- Colin is from Leeds, St John is from Hove.
- There is a hostage situation involving the Sorvix on a Bay Bus.
- Before moving to Ritz Tower, the Colchesters lived on Davenport Street.
Notes
- The title is a play on the 1985 James Bond film, A View to a Kill.
- It was Nick Briggs's idea to bring back Bilis Manger in this story. (BFX: Aliens Among Us 3)
Continuity
- Rhys asks Bilis Manger if they met before. Bilis had previously attempted to stab Rhys to death. (TV: End of Days)
- Duncan has recently divorced from his wife. (AUDIO: Love Rat)
- Jack mentions the bubonic plague in 2007 and "death demon stomping the streets". (TV: End of Days)
- Deliverables are mentioned. (AUDIO: Zero Hour)
- Ritz Tower is at 11 Richmond Street, the same address where Ritz Dance Hall was situated until two year ago. Upon hearing the address, Jack feels as if he recognises it as somewhere he had his heart broken. (TV: Captain Jack Harkness)
- It is suggested that anyone can become an expert after training for 10,000 hours. (TV: The Woman Who Lived)
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