Nerves (audio story)
Nerves was the third audio story in the anthology I Hate Mondays produced by Big Finish Productions. It featured Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto Jones, Timothy Bentinck as Tommy Pierce and Tracy-Ann Oberman as Yvonne Hartman.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
Another Monday morning, another mission for Torchwood. Ianto and Tommy have to transport a canister of deadly Euphorian nerve agent to an underground bunker in the South Downs. It should be an easy straight-forward job but other forces are gathering...
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
Ianto joins Tommy in transporting a canister of Euphorian nerve agent to the Gerald Kneale Facility in the South Downs in an SUV in the early hours of the morning and receives a call from Rhiannon, whom he ignores as he does not wish to discuss his feelings following their father's funeral. He instead talks to Tommy about their strategy of mentioning Dr Linda Pascoe's loved ones when they meet her at the facility and realises that Yvonne used the same trick, taken from a handbook according to Tommy, when he returned to work. When Ianto brings up the fact that Tommy has started drinking alcohol again and remarks that it is a good thing that he never had children, Tommy takes his eyes off of the road and causes an accident with a truck.
Whilst Ianto and Pam, the truck's driver, suffer only minor injuries, Tommy is thrown through the windshield and Pam has to revive him with mouth-to-mouth. He has Ianto dial 666 to ensure that any calls to the emergency services are ignored so as to keep civilians away from the nerve agent and intends to call Torchwood once Pam has gone, but she finds that another car was involved the accident and helps the trapped driver, Harvey. Ianto and Tommy use chewing gum to seal the cracks in the canister to stop the nerve agent escaping and tell Pam and Harvey, whom Tommy realises accelerated when he saw the accident because of a suicidal instinct, about Torchwood, after which Tommy builds a force field to protect from the nerve agent. When he asks for Ianto to stand next to him as he activates it, Pam deduces that he intends on leaving her and Harvey to die.
Pam suggests that the force field be placed around the canister and that they carry it two miles to Redwood Marshes as Tommy says that water is capable of neutralising the nerve agent. On the way, the group try to find common ground and the force field generator fails, allowing the canister to start leaking, but they eventually reach their destination and throw the canister in. Ianto, having accepted that he ought to have visited his father as he was dying in hospital, asks Tommy to stop drinking so that he will not die like his father did, prompting Tommy to tell him about how his son, Jack, died seven minutes after his birth. Yvonne soon finds them and has Harvey taken to A&E after giving him and Pam drinks spiked with retcon although, unbeknownst to her, Pam pours the drink away.
Tommy gives Pam Moira's phone number at a bar and declines her offer of a drink, deciding not to retcon her and wishing her an amazing life. Ianto writes up a report and breaks the rules by trying to use Torchwood technology to track down Harvey's missing son, only for Yvonne to catch him and assist him. She admits that she sent Ianto and Tommy on the mission together so that they could help each other and Ianto calls Eddie, asking him to call Harvey so that he knows that he is alive.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
- Tommy Pierce - Timothy Bentinck
- Yvonne Hartman - Tracy-Ann Oberman
- Pam McDonald - Lu Corfield
- Harvey Pockett - James G Nunn
- Sue Cassidy - Anniwaa Buachie
- Dom Peters-Day - Ed White
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Tommy says goodbye to Sebastian.
- Ianto offers Tommy a croissant.
- Tommy drives an SUV.
- The Gerald Kneale Facility is in the South Downs.
- There is a Happy Cook outside of Crawley.
- Ianto brings avocado curry.
- Ianto compares himself and Tommy to the titular characters of Thelma & Louise.
- Sue has been to Shrewsbury.
- Sue plays James Blunt.
- Moira once ended up covered in Axon gloop.
- Ianto gets a call from Rhiannon.
- Ianto Jones Sr was cremated.
- Dr Linda Pascoe works at the Gerald Kneale Facility. She has two children: Yvette and Marcus.
- "The Lord's My Shepherd" was sung at Mr Jones's funeral. Tommy hates it.
- Ianto has not been to Brighton.
- Tommy's first boss at Torchwood was a lesbian.
- Uncle Jimmy "shat himself" at Tommy's father's funeral.
- Pam offers Harvey a peppermint.
- Torchwood stopped the Euphorians from taking over MI5.
- Pam has chewing gum.
- Tommy only likes spearmint and peppermint-flavoured chewing gum.
- Tommy is not allowed retcon after Kidderminster.
- Pam ran from the Autons across Mersey Bridge.
- The Cybermen attacked Windsor in 1988. Tommy was undercover in a tea room at the time.
- Tommy likens Ianto and Pam to Laurel and Hardy.
- Water neutralises the nerve agent.
- Redwood Marshes is near Crawley.
- Pam uses a map.
- Pam says that she is hardly Paula Radcliffe.
- Tommy does not think that comedy films are ever funny and says that Jim Carrey "needs shooting".
- Tommy's favourite alcoholic drink is whisky.
- Pam's favourite alcoholic drink is Malibu.
- Ianto's favourite alcoholic drink is a martini.
- Tommy's favourite animal is a dog. He believes that all other animals are "twats".
- Ianto prefers cats to dogs.
- Harvey likes birds.
- Tommy enjoyed The Gnomes of Dulwich in the 1960s. Terry from Terry and June played a gnome.
- Harvey used to watch Only Fools and Horses with his son, Eddie. Pam never cared for it.
- Pam enjoyed The Brittas Empire.
- Tommy claims that Dad's Army cannot be beaten.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Tommy is tasked with transporting Euphorian nerve agent to the Gerald Kneale Facility. Gerald Kneale first appeared in TV: To the Last Man [+]Loading...["To the Last Man (TV story)"].
- Ianto plans to stop at a Happy Cook for a comfort break. Happy Cook first appeared in TV: Random Shoes [+]Loading...["Random Shoes (TV story)"].
- Pam mentions the the Auton invasion. (TV: Rose [+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"])
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official Nerves page at bigfinish.com
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