(AudioGo, �10.20 each)

WITH any possibility of a new series of Torchwood on hold for the foreseeable future after the somewhat disappointing US co-collaboration Miracle Day, it’s up to our old friends at AudioGo to pick up the torch and keep the Welsh flag flying!

These two releases pick up on the activities of some of the show’s protagonists in the wake of the Miracle Day event, although unfortunately we’re not treated to an appearance by Captain Jack and instead have to make do with the exploits of Gwen, Rhys and Sgt Andy Davidson.

Army of One focuses on the adventures of the Coopers (including Anwyn) in the US, although it’s not quite clear why they’re still in America, as they are caught up with an alien shapeshifter and Homeland Security on a chase through Washington…

Kai Owen is the narrator, doing his best impressions of the rest of the cast as well as Rhys Williams, and he performs the task admirably. Unfortunately there’s not much of a story to work with, and unlike earlier audios you’re left feeling as though this is merely a filler story before the next main event, should another TV series actually ever emerge.

From mainly cameo roles in early series, Tom Price’s role as Cardiff copper Andy has gradually expanded to the point whereby he can comfortably hold his own as lead character in Fallout, a story which actually owes much to the early roots of Torchwood investigating alien discoveries in Wales.

A jewelled egg mistaken for a valuable Faberge antique is actually a dangerous extraterrestrial weapon which attracts the interest of the Committee for Extraterrestial Research. After her brother is murdered and she ends up in hospital, Yasmin finds herself on the trail of the deadly Shiva virus alongside Sgt Davidson, only this time there’s no Torchwood to help…

Perhaps the problem with both of these stories is that they feel far too much like the old school Torchwood of Seasons 1 and 2, rather than showing how the series has developed in the wake of the Children of Earth and Miracle Day.

There’s little explanation of what the rest of Torchwood are up to and how the world has changed following the reversal of the Miracle, and the absence of Jack Harkness leaves a massive hole which none of the other characters can really fill adequately.

Kudos to AudioGo for not letting Torchwood die, and it’s their sterling work over the past few years which have kept the series very much in the public eye, but let’s hope showrunner Russell T Davies allows them more room to develop the concept in future instalments, rather than merely treading water before a television resurrection.