Ashenden (audio story)
Ashenden was the second release in the Torchwood Soho audio series. It starred Norton Folgate and Andy Davidson.
Publisher's summary
Return to the world of 1950s Torchwood!
Welcome to Ashenden. An exciting new town just outside London, and also the home of a terrible secret.
London has been infiltrated - a darkness is spreading from the bombsites to the highest ranks of government. A darkness that cannot be stopped. A desperate hunt is on for the man who caused it.
The past has come for Torchwood agent Norton Folgate. This is the hour of the hollow man.
- 1. Pimlico
- Sergeant Andy finds himself chased through the ruins of London with only a dead woman for company.
- 2. O Little Town of Ashenden
- Ashenden was once a listening station. It's become something far worse.
- 3. The National Health
- Sergeant Andy must fight his way out of a hospital that offers care from the cradle to the grave.
- 4. Rivers of Blood
- Miss Satterthwaite always dreamed that the stars were listening to her, and now they're changing her life forever.
- 5. Now is the Time for All Good Men
- Lizbeth Hayhoe is looking for help from those in power. But they are turning a deaf ear.
- 6. The Hour of the Hollow Man
- Some things in life cannot be escaped. Death, taxes, and a picnic on the beach.
Plot
Pimlico (1)
Andy unexpectedly finds himself in 1950s London and instantly calls out for Norton, expecting him to be responsible. Lizbeth appears and, followed by gunfire, tells him to take cover. Hiding from the bullets, she tells him that she is dead and asks what his excuse for being there is.
Lizbeth leads Andy through an old bomb site and they hide behind a wall. With both of them having been taken out of time, they each believe themselves to be Norton's assessor and Lizbeth reasons that she must be dead by this time or else Norton would have simply contacted her by telephone. After cutting through a house, Andy realises that the shooters are guiding them somewhere rather than trying to kill them. Like Andy, Lizbeth is flesh and blood rather than a hard-light pharadyne projection and is sobered by the knowledge that she will die in the '50s, having planned to own a bad tea shop in her twilight. The two spot Norton in a chauffeur-driven car and are shot at as they approach him, the car being blown up. Lyme helps them both up and they flee.
Lyme tells Andy and Lizbeth that they are in the Pimlico Depopulation Zone, a severely damaged part of London which has had its population relocated and is to be redeveloped by the New Towns Department. He takes them into a building full of tramps who identify themselves as the Torchwood Emergency Continuity Board and inform them that the Pimlico Depopulation Zone has been infiltrated by an alien force that they are trying to contain. They tell them that they must hunt down Norton, the "rogue agent".
Andy does not believe that Norton would allow London to become invaded, but Lizbeth thinks that he would do if there were something in it for him. Lyme says that the Pimlico Zone has become Norton's base of operations and that he must not be allowed to use it to establish a bridgehead, but Andy and Lizbeth must first rest to recover from their temporal displacement.
Andy and Lizbeth are taken to Pinkerton's Lodging Rooms and meet Miss Pinkerton, who serves them inedible food which the other lodgers eat without complaint. The windows are barred, the door is locked and the other lodgers seem just as rundown as the Emergency Continuity Board, prompting Lizbeth to go upstairs and whisper to Andy to join her in thirty seconds. In that time, the lodgers say "Ashenden" and order Andy to be silent when he questions them.
Andy enters Lizbeth's room, which is better than his, and they wonder why Lyme has put them there. Lizbeth suggests that he and the Emergency Continuity Board might not trust them because they had been summoned by Norton and that whatever Norton is involved in might have entered Pinkerton's. Lizbeth spots an armed operative outside and they decide to escape. Andy returns to his room and falls asleep as the radio crackles before he is awoken by rocks being thrown at his window. He opens it up, expecting to see Norton, but instead sees something "not good".
Lizbeth enters Andy's room and tells him that the radio interference is hypnotic, which is how the safehouse has been infiltrated. They theorise that the force is using the radio to subdue the lodgers and keep them from warning Torchwood and Andy says that he believes he saw Norton outside outside his window. He says that he heard scuttling in his wardrobe, which Lizbeth opens and finds that it is empty. However, there is slime on the shelf and a hole in the back of the cupboard.
Andy tries to knock down the door to escape without success and instead suggests jumping from the bay window in the dining room, which does not have bars. They enter the dining room and find Miss Pinkerton sitting in the dark, saying that she is waiting just in case one of the other lodgers need her. One of her cats finds a creature, which Miss Pinkerton refers to as one of the lodgers, and is quickly eaten before the creature turns to Andy and Lizbeth, Miss Pinkerton telling them not to struggle and that they might as well go to Ashenden. Lizbeth smashes the window with a chair and jumps out with Andy.
On the run, Andy suggests that they hide at Ashenden but Lizbeth is against the idea, saying that it is a "nothing of a a place" and that she does not know how to get there. Seeing a poster, Andy sees that the next train there leaves Waterloo station, which is not far from Pimlico, in an hour. At Waterloo, Lizbeth feels that she and Andy are being watched, but Andy ignores her despite recognising that some people look like plainclothes policemen who approach them as they realise that they do not have money for tickets. They hurry away and board the train.
In a first-class carriage with sand on the floor, Lizbeth says that something feels wrong and that they have to leave the train. They are then asked for tickets by the conductor and Andy admits that they do not have any tickets. However, Norton appears, presents tickets to the conductor and holds Andy and Lizbeth at gunpoint, telling them that they are going to Ashenden.
O Little Town of Ashenden (2)
to be added
The National Health (3)
to be added
Rivers of Blood (4)
to be added
Now is the Time for All Good Men (5)
to be added
The Hour of the Hollow Man (6)
to be added
Cast
- Norton Folgate - Samuel Barnett
- Lizbeth Hayhoe - Dervla Kirwan
- Andy Davidson - Tom Price
- Gideon Lyme - Joe Shire
- Miss Pinkerton - Rachel Atkins
- Bowers - Russell Bentley
- Ornadel - Daniel Brocklebank
- Fotheringay - Jacob Dudman
- Speaker - Raj Ghatak
- Amanda - Diveen Henry
- Matron - Shvorne Marks
- Miss Satterthwaite - Laura Riseborough
Uncredited
- Prime Minister / Commuter / Old Man - Russell Bentley (BFX: Ashenden)
- Conductor / Commuter / Tramp - Jacob Dudman (BFX: Ashenden)
References
Arts and literature
- Andy was just about to "finally" see the new James Bond film. Lizbeth is surprised that they make films about "that brutal idiot".
- Lizbeth listens to the Light Programme on the radio.
Food and drink
- Lizbeth was toasting crumpets when she was summoned.
- Miss Pinkerton says that her lodgers ask for kippers for breakfast. She says that the smell covers up the smell of the drains.
- Miss Pinkerton gives Andy and Lizbeth bubble and squeak. Andy asks Lizbeth if it is made entirely out of cabbage and fish bones.
- Andy decides to drown his bubble and squeak with mustard, reasoning that it could not make it any worse.
Individuals
- Lizbeth was flirting with the new typist when she was summoned.
- Lizbeth once had a red setter who understood nearly everything that she said to him.
- Lizbeth's sister, Margaret, would likely have arranged her funeral, choosing the hymns and flowers and not inviting any of the Wrens that she looked after during World War II. Lizbeth says that she will turn her into glue if she has had her dog destroyed.
- Lizbeth mentions Lord Reith.
Locations
- Lizbeth leads Andy through Pimlico, an old bomb site which was destroyed by the Luftwaffe. It is not far from Ashenden.
- Miss Pinkerton owns Pinkerton's Lodging Rooms. There are bars on the windows and Miss Pinkerton has the only key to the front door, which she keeps locked. Lizbeth's room has wallpaper which is covered in mould.
- Ashenden is a new commuter town on the Sussex Coast.
- Lizbeth says that Andy is taking her to Hemel Hempstead.
Technology
- Lizbeth says that she should be a hard-light pharadyne projection.
Torchwood
- Torchwood has an Emergency Continuity Board, a bunch of old men in dusty old suits who are convened when the leader of Torchwood One goes missing.
Notes
- Ashenden was recorded remotely and at Southsea Sound on 26, 28 and 29 April and 13 July 2021.
Continuity
- Lizbeth knows that she must be dead. Andy says that he might have met her briefly but would not have recognised her. (AUDIO: Parasite)
- Andy says that Norton and Lyme were an item when they last met. (AUDIO: Parasite)
- Lizbeth mentions her sister, Margaret. (AUDIO: Madam, I'm)
External links
- Official Ashenden page at bigfinish.com
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