Lost Souls (Torchwood)

Infobox Doctor Who episode
serial_name=Lost Souls
quotes=yes
show=TW
type=audioplay
cast =
* John Barrowman – Captain Jack Harkness
* Eve Myles – Gwen Cooper
* Gareth David-Lloyd – Ianto Jones
* Freema Agyeman – Martha Jones
guests=
* Lucy Montgomery – Professor Johnson
* Stephen Critchlow – Dr Harrington
* Mark Meadows – Leon Foiret
writer=Joseph Lidster
director=Kate McAll [cite web
title=Radio 4 - Big Bang
url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/bigbang/programmes.shtml
accessdate=2008-08-11]
date=BBC Radio 4: 10 September 2008
CD and download: 18 September 2008
preceding = "Exit Wounds"
following = "Children of Earth"

"Lost Souls" is an original BBC Radio 4 audio play written by Joseph Lidster and is a spin-off from the British science fiction television series "Torchwood", itself a spin-off from "Doctor Who".cite web
title=Radio 4:Big Bang experiment programmes
url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/08_august/07/cern2.shtml
accessdate=2008-08-11] cite web
title=Torchwood: Lost Souls
url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/bigbang/torchwood.shtml
accessdate=2008-09-10] It aired on 10 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 freely available until 18 Septembercite web
title=Torchwood: Lost Souls
url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/bigbang/torchwood.shtml
accessdate=2008-09-10] , when the play was released on CD and as a purchasable download. Andrew Marr introduced the audio play live from CERN.

Plot

ynopsis

When scientists start to disappear shortly before the Large Hadron Collider is due to be switched on at CERN, Torchwood investigates.cite web
title=Torchwood: Lost Souls
url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/bigbang/torchwood.shtml
accessdate=2008-09-10]

Continuity

The Torchwood team are still grieving the deaths of their colleagues Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato.cite episode | title = Exit Wounds | series = Torchwood | credits = Writer Chris Chibnall, Director Ashley Way, Producers Richard Stokes, Chris Chibnall | network = BBC | station = BBC Two | city = Cardiff | airdate = 2008-04-04] 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"cite episode | title = Reset | series = Torchwood | credits = Writer J. C. Wilsher, Director Ashley Way, Producers Richard Stokes, Chris Chibnall | network = BBC | station = BBC Three | city = Cardiff | airdate = 2008-02-13] and upon commencing their telephone conversation in "Doctor Who" episode "The Stolen Earth".cite episode | title = The Stolen Earth | series = Doctor Who | credits = Writer Russell T Davies, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson | network = BBC | station = BBC One | city = Cardiff | airdate = 2008-06-28] 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"cite episode | title = Last of the Time Lords | series = Doctor Who | credits = Writer Russell T Davies, Director Colin Teague, Producer Phil Collinson | network = BBC | station = BBC One | city = Cardiff | airdate = 2007-06-30] and her friend Julia Swales, a character seen in "Doctor Who" episode "Smith and Jones".cite episode | title = Smith and Jones | series = Doctor Who | credits = Writer Russell T Davies, Director Charles Palmer, Producer Phil Collinson | network = BBC | station = BBC One | city = Cardiff | airdate = 2007-03-31] An alien creature poses as the ghosts of Owen, Toshiko and Ianto's deceased girlfriend, Lisa Hallett, a character seen in "Torchwood" episode "Cyberwoman".cite episode | title = Cyberwoman | series = Torchwood | credits = Writer Chris Chibnall, Director James Strong, Producers Richard Stokes, Chris Chibnall | network = BBC | station = BBC Three | city = Cardiff | airdate = 2006-11-05] Jack uses the phrase "reverse the polarity", a phrase associated with the Third Doctor in "Doctor Who". The Bekaran deep-tissue scanner first appeared in the "Torchwood" spin-off novel "Another Life"cite book | last = Anghelides | first = Peter | authorlink = Peter Anghelides | title = Another Life | publisher = BBC Books | date = 2007-01-04 | location = London | pages = 253 | isbn = 978-0-563-48653-8 ] and Martha mentions the sonic screwdriver, a device used by the Doctor.cite episode | title = Lost Souls | series = Torchwood | credits = Writer Joseph Lidster, Producer/Director Kate McAll | network = BBC | station = BBC Radio 4 | city = Cardiff | airdate = 2008-09-10]

Writing

CERN was involved in the production of "Lost Souls" from its inception; according to writer Joseph Lidster, "they're apparently big "Torchwood" fans."cite web |url=http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday/2008/09/torchwood-lost-souls/ |title=Torchwood - Lost Souls |accessdate=2008-09-17 |last=Wright |first=Mark |authorlink=Mark Wright (writer) |date=2008-09-10 |work=The Stage |publisher=TV Today blog ] Representatives from CERN read the script to check for scientific accuracy; they also approved the plot, which required "that if the team were going to CERN, something had to go wrong".

When Lidster began writing the script, he did not know that the characters of Owen and Tosh would be killed in the episode "Exit Wounds, so the characters were included in his first treatment. He subsequently introduced the theme of grief into the episode, to address the characters' reactions to their friends' deaths.

Broadcast and reception

"Lost Souls" was commissioned and broadcast as part of Radio 4's "Big Bang Day", a day of special programming commemorating the switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. [cite press release |title=Radio 4 has exclusive access to CERN'S Big Bang experiment |publisher=BBC Press Office |date=2008-08-07 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/08_august/07/cern.shtml |accessdate=2008-09-11] cite news |title=Torchwood set for 'Big Bang' day |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7548994.stm |work=BBC News |date=2008-08-08 |accessdate=2008-09-11 ] As part of the "Big Bang Day" coverage, James Gillies, director of communications for CERN, wrote an article for Radio 4's website comparing the fictional LHC of "Lost Souls" with the real LHC: "The CERN of reality bears little resemblance to that of Joseph Lidster's Torchwood script. The geography is all wrong and there's no way that anyone could be in the accelerator tunnel while it's running. The cool down happens inside a long blue tube, so the tunnel itself does not get cold. I could go on, but that would be churlish. By ignoring reality, by rearranging geography and by playing with time in his own way, Lidster creates drama." Gillies added that "Captain Jack displays a surprising knowledge of particle physics." [cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/bigbang/sciencefiction.shtml |title=CERN in Science-Fiction |accessdate=2008-09-11 |last=Gillies |first=James |work=BBC Radio 4 website |publisher=BBC]

Prior to the special's broadcast, the prospect of a radio version of "Torchwood" yielded mixed responses from the critics. Writing in "The Sunday Times", Paul Donovan celebrated the special, particularly the contributions of the "beguiling" and "sympathetic" Freema Agyeman; of the special and the rest of the Big Bang Day programming, Donovan said, "This is the sort of output we pay the licence fee for, the sort of ambitious and expensive programming no commercial radio station could ever hope to do in the present ecology of broadcasting." [cite news |first=Paul |last=Donovan |title=The BBC has Big Bang to rights |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article4669278.ece |work=The Sunday Times |date=2008-09-07 |accessdate=2008-09-11 ] However, at "The Times", Chris Campling lamented "a special radio episode of the terrible Dr Who spinoff Torchwood, set at CERN and involving the supernatural. It's as though Radio 4 approached the point of serious educational broadcasting — and then disappeared into the black hole of celebrity." [cite news |first=Chris |last=Campling |title=Radio 4 goes Big Bangtastic |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article4707010.ece |work=The Times |date=2008-09-09 |accessdate=2008-09-11 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/bigbang/torchwood.shtml "Lost Souls"] at BBC Radio 4's website