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"Lost Souls" is an original BBC Radio 4 audio play written by Joseph Lidster. It aired on 10th September 2008 in the Afternoon Play slot as part of Radio 4's Big Bang Day which celebrated the switching on of CERN's Large Hadron Collider that same day. An MP3 version of the audio play was made available for seven days after broadcast and it was released on CD 18th September 2008. Andrew Marr introduced the audio play live from CERN.
Plot
Synopsis
When scientists start to disappear prior to the activation of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Switzerland, Dr. Martha Jones of UNIT asks her friends at Torchwood 3, still grieving over the recent death of two colleagues, to investigate.
Cast
Continuity
- The Torchwood team are still grieving the deaths of their colleagues Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato. Reference is made to a funeral service, which Martha Jones attended; that was her most recent meeting with the Torchwood team prior to this adventure. She also refers to her encounter with the Sontarans alongside the Doctor and Donna Noble. This therefore places the events of Lost Souls as some time after the events of The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky, and prior to the events of DW: The Stolen Earth.
- They have not seen Martha Jones, who is working for UNIT, since the funeral. Upon greeting Martha, Jack welcomes her with the words "voice of a nightingale", the phrase he greeted her with upon her arrival in the Torchwood episode "Reset" and again when she telephones him in DW: The Stolen Earth.
- The team are heard in pursuit of recurring Torchwood monsters Weevils and reference is made to Martha's fiancé, Thomas Milligan, a character seen in Doctor Who episode "Last of the Time Lords" and her friend Julia Swales, a character seen in Doctor Who episode "Smith and Jones".
- An alien creature poses as the ghosts of Owen, Toshiko and Ianto's deceased girlfriend, Lisa Hallett, a character seen in the Torchwood episode "Cyberwoman". (The original actors do not provide their voices.)
- Jack uses the phrase "reverse the polarity", a phrase associated with the Third Doctor in Doctor Who.
- Martha wishes she had a sonic screwdriver when she tries to open a locked door.
- CERN is located at Geneva, the location of UNIT's world headquarters as established during the Third Doctor era.
- Evidently this isn't the first time that CERN was involved with creating a black hole, as K-9 Mark IV was tasked with fixing a black hole created by an earlier experiment in Switzerland. (SJA: Invasion of the Bane)
Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
- Torchwood is no longer a covert organisation? At the nightclub, Gwen introduces herself as "... Gwen Cooper, we catch aliens". This story takes place after numerous world-wide events had made the knowledge of alien life widespread (for example, DW: The Runaway Bride). Several Torchwood episodes, such as Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and Dead Man Walking establish that Torchwood is, to a degree, widely known by the public; that said they aren't universally known given Professor Johnson's ignorance of the group.
- The story is intended to coincide with the real-life activation of the collider. However it has been established that "current" Torchwood storylines take place a year ahead of real time, so this story takes place in 2009 - a year after the real-life activation of the collider. Not everything in the Doctor Who Universe coincides exactly with real-life history. Perhaps in the DWU the Collider wasn't activated until 2009 -- possibly due to some of the other-worldly events that had occurred recently? (In fact, in the real world such a scenario appears to be playing out as repairs to the collider have delayed its full activation until 2009. or it could be reactivation after its failure in 2008)
Releases
Lost Souls was released by BBC Audio in both CD and MP3 download formats on 18th September 2008, only a week after broadcast (ISBN 978-1-405-68944-1). The CD includes as a bonus the BBC Radio Wales feature Torchwood: All Access. Presented by Julian Carey and aired to coincide with the debut of Series 2, this is a 25-minute documentary on the Welsh aspects of the program, featuring interviews with Russell T. Davies, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd, Kai Owen and behind-the-scenes personnel. The mastering of the track contains an error that results in several minutes of discussion regarding the Hub set and its construction being repeated.