In the Shadows (audio story)

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Into the Shadows was the third release of the BBC Torchwood audio stories. It was also the last audio story to feature Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato until Big Finish Productions secured the rights to produce Torchwood audio adventures.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Torchwood team are caught up in the deadly activities of a mysterious cab driver in this exclusive audio adventure, read by Eve Myles.

When 24-year-old Steven Ballard is found dead, the police quickly realise that this is no ordinary case — for his body is that of a man in his seventies. They call in Torchwood to investigate, and after another corpse is found, it becomes clear that something terrible is happening.

Someone is sending victims to a dark dimension, to be punished by the thing they fear most. Who is the shadowy taxi driver preying on his passengers? What significance do boxes of matches play in this mystery? And can Jack ever escape from his own personal Hell...?

Written specially for audio by Joseph Lidster, In the Shadows features Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones, as played by John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd in the hit series from BBC Television.

Contains adult themes and language.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

A day after acquiring a copper ball from a Murgatroyd trader, Gwen decides to try to use it to talk to Owen and Tosh in the afterlife. She recounts a story that she has been thinking about for some weeks, one from when Owen and Tosh were still alive and which made her think about whether or not there is life after death.

Andy shows Gwen the skeleton of Steven Ballard, a twenty-four-year-old who went missing two days earlier and whose remains identify him as a seventy-year-old. She interviews Darren Sowersby, the last person to see Steven, and learns that the two of them had an argument in a taxi during which Darren briefly wished that Steven would die before blacking out. In the Hub, Tosh and Ianto follow the taxi that night on CCTV and see the interior of the taxi go black during the argument, with Steven having disappeared by the time the image returns. Gwen takes Darren there and Jack interrogates him.

Discounting Rift activity, Tosh detects Huon particles in the area during the disappearance and learns that another body has been found at the Priory. Ianto speaks with Darren whilst Jack, Gwen and Owen go to the nightclub and find that the body is that of an eighty-year-old woman who tore off her own ears before dying of old age. Owen takes the body back to the Hub and Jack and Gwen go and chase the taxi driver, Patrick Jefferson, who has picked up Andy and is speeding in the rain. The taxi crashes and Patrick takes out a matchbox from which a shadow emerges and engulfs Jack. Jefferson calls himself an angel who has punished Jack for his arrogance by sending him to Hell.

Jack arrives in a world of shadows where he is confronted with his fears about ageing and that life for his teammates would be better if he were dead. He shoots himself in the head rather than listen to Bryan Adams and finds himself back with Gwen, Andy and Jefferson, who is locked away in the cells at the Hub. A note on his desk accompanying a bouquet of grey roses tells Jack that he has the wrong man and that he has everyone and everything wrong. He shoots Gwen through the heart when she disagrees with using the matchbox against aliens, sends Ianto to Hell when he reveals that he was only with him to avenge Lisa and realises that he is still in Hell when he is informed that Tosh and Owen died in a car accident.

In the real world, Torchwood are uncertain of Jack's status and Gwen has Tosh look into Huon particles to bring him back from Hell whilst she and Ianto question Jefferson about the matchbox, which he says arrived in the post. Tosh runs tests that indicate that the Hub's systems could follow somebody into Hell and bring back them and Jack, so Ianto snatches the matchbox and saves him. Jack theorises that the matchbox was created and sent to Jefferson by Torchwood One as part of an experiment and has Owen and Tosh plant more bodies in his house to ensure that he is convicted of multiple homicides. To give Gwen a break, he buys her and Rhys plane tickets to Paris for the weekend just before he, Tosh, Owen and Ianto have to respond to something coming through the Rift.

Before being taken away by Andy, Jefferson tells him that there are other people out there looking for sinners. In London, a taxi driver offers a match to Johnny, a man leaving the White Rabbit with a woman whilst his wife is away.

Gwen is unsure whether Jack really went to Hell or if there is an afterlife, but wants Owen and Tosh to know that Torchwood is carrying on the fight and hopes that they are both happy.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Most of the story takes place before the wedding of Gwen and Rhys. However, the story begins with an introduction by Gwen that is said to have been recorded after the deaths of Tosh and Owen. Gwen also mentions the events of the television episodes The Stolen Earth and Journey's End and the audio story Lost Souls. Although not explained in detail, it appears that Gwen is trying to use an alien artefact to send a message to Owen and Tosh in the afterlife.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

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