By Royal Appointment (audio story)
By Royal Appointment was the second audio story in the anthology I Hate Mondays produced by Big Finish Productions. It featured Tracy-Ann Oberman as Yvonne Hartman, Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto Jones and Timothy Bentinck as Tommy Pierce.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
Poppy Greenleaf finds herself appointed the Crown's royal liaison for Torchwood. What is Torchwood? Who is Yvonne Hartman? Why is the world ending? Poppy finds herself lost in a world of alien invasions, international espionage and intergalactic diplomacy.
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
Having failed to make an appointment with Yvonne through Ianto, who has been away, Poppy Greenleaf introduces herself in public and claims that she is her boss. Yvonne threatens to throw her from Torchwood Tower until she explains that she is a lady-in-waiting at Buckingham Palace and has been assigned the role of royal liaison to Torchwood, after which Yvonne gives her a tour and introduces her to Tommy, who is investigating a spaceship found in a supermarket car park. Poppy is disturbed to witness torture and struggles to comprehend Yvonne leaving Georgios Bardem, an spy and an old friend of Yvonne's, in the custody of another country's authorities. Whilst Yvonne makes it clear that she will not let friendship get in the way of her duty, Poppy claims that she never loses sight of her friends.
Yvonne has Tommy drive her and Poppy to the Hall of the Worshipful Guild, a precursor to Torchwood, and threatens toastmaster Sir Robert Halsey for failing to follow her advice about not importing Vral missiles before destroying the hall with said missiles. She takes out Princess Anne's security detail with a Vral rifle from a customised Bandril shuttlecraft and then takes Poppy to an intergalactic diplomatic meeting to hand over Earth to the Zaldak Federation, neither of which she offers an explanation for. Poppy proceeds to relieve her of her duties as a traitor to the planet, ordering Ianto to imprison her, and accepts the help of an emissary of the Dimension of Light when they appear and accuse Torchwood of having made dangerous deals.
However, the emissary unleashes devourers upon the Earth and Poppy realises that she has made a mistake. Yvonne reveals that she knew that the Dimension of Light had been using Vral agents to possess her friends to bring down Earth's governments through manipulation and assassination, so she neutralised the possessed and left Vral weapons with them so that the Zaldak Federation, of which the planet is now a member, will know who is responsible. The Dimension of Light are using the Hall of the Worshipful Guild as their locus point, but Yvonne's destruction of the building with Vral missiles left a black hole which she concealed with a hologram. The black hole sucks them all in, ending the threat.
Ianto is still upset about his father's death and rejects Yvonne's attempt to comfort him, also having been hurt by her believing that he might have been possessed by a Vral. Poppy informs Yvonne that she intends to have her replaced as head of Torchwood because of her recklessness, only to receive a telephone call telling her that she has been made ambassador of Lapland and thus no longer has jurisdiction over Torchwood. Yvonne confirms that she is responsible for the appointment and bids her farewell.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Yvonne Hartman - Tracy-Ann Oberman
- Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
- Tommy Pierce - Timothy Bentinck
- Poppy Greenleaf - Isabella Pappas
- Light - Shai Matheson
- Georgios Bardem - Ian Abeysekera
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Torchwood has a firing range.
- Torchwood has signage in Martian.
- Ianto gives Poppy a coffee and a custard horn.
- Poppy has her coffee with milk.
- Tommy takes a diversion because of roadworks at Tower Bridge.
- Yvonne travels in a limousine.
- The Hall of the Worshipful Guild has been on the banks of Old London Bridge since 1400.
- Mr Fluffles is Poppy's cat.
- Poppy adores reindeer.
- Sir Robert Halsey is toastmaster of the Worshipful Guild.
- Poppy asks if a suit of armour was designed by Oliver or Thomas Cromwell.
- Yvonne had a Bandril shuttlecraft customised.
- Poppy likes mint.
- Poppy points a gun at Princess Anne.
- Yvonne describes jogging and muesli as "so '70s".
- Yvonne promises that Earth will not develop fission grenades for two hundred years.
- Ianto calls Kieran for a security team.
- Poppy becomes ambassador to Lapland.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Ianto has been "indisposed" for the past week. He was informed of his father's death in AUDIO: Dinner for Yvonne [+]Loading...["Dinner for Yvonne (audio story)"] and attended his funeral shortly before AUDIO: Disco [+]Loading...["Disco (audio story)"].
- Poppy believes that Yvonne's recklessness could one day result in Torchwood's downfall. This came to pass in TV: Army of Ghosts [+]Loading...["Army of Ghosts (TV story)"] / Doomsday [+]Loading...["Doomsday (TV story)"].
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official By Royal Appointment page at bigfinish.com
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