Torchwood: Absent Friends (lost unreleased Big Finish audio drama; 2021)

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Torchwood Absent Friends Cover.jpeg

The cover of the unreleased audio.

Status: Lost

Torchwood: Absent Friends was an audio drama planned to be released by Big Finish Productions in May 2021. It was a special audio planned to celebrate both Torchwood’s 15th anniversary and Big Finish’s Torchwood Monthly Range reaching its 50th release. It was also a crossover between Torchwood and Doctor Who as it featured The Doctor, who never appeared on the original Torchwood TV show.[1] The audio was also previewed in Vortex #146 and Doctor Who Magazine #564.

Synopsis

The synopsis was revealed on the same day the audio was announced on New Year's Day 2021.

"On a dark and stormy night in Cardiff, the city is in danger, and the Doctor’s put himself in charge of Torchwood in order to save it. In a sealed recording studio, the voices of the dead have been playing for 17 years. Was it the project of a madman, or is this the site of something terrible? Torchwood has been hunting for the Doctor since 1879. And now they’ve found him. They may regret it."

Cast

  • John Barrowman - Captain Jack Harkness
  • Gareth David-Lloyd - Ianto Jones
  • David Tennant - The Doctor
  • Ayesha Antoine - Mishka
  • Colin McFarlane - Devin

Crew

  • James Goss - Writer and Producer
  • Tim Foley - Script Editor
  • Blair Mowat - Composer
  • Thea Cochrane - Sound Designer
  • Lee Binding - Cover Art
  • David Richardson - Senior Producer
  • Nicholas Briggs - Executive Producer
  • Jason Haigh-Ellery - Executive Producer
  • Scott Handcock - Director

Cancellation

The audio was recorded on the 15th of July 2020 (according to the leaked recording script), and was planned to be released in May 2021. However, a few weeks before it’s release, John Barrowman’s sexual misconduct allegations on the sets of Doctor Who and Torchwood resurfaced prompting Big Finish to remove Absent Friends from their website and offer refunds to anyone who pre-ordered it.

Things were made even more complicated when the BBC cancelled further Doctor Who projects featuring Captain Jack Harkness (which featured Captain Jack’s scenes from the immersive theatre production Time Fracture being removed and Titan Comics cancelling a Doctor Who: Flux tie-in comic featuring Captain Jack).

Furthermore, Nicholas Briggs (chief-executive producer for Big Finish Productions) hinted on the Big Finish Podcast that further Doctor Who and Torchwood projects are not allowed to include Jack. [2]

As a result of it’s cancellation, Big Finish made the following Torchwood audio, The Great Sontaran War, the 15th anniversary audio released on the 22nd of October 2021. The Black Knight replaced Absent Friends as the 50th release in the Torchwood Monthly Range, which was released on the 23rd of March 2022.

Trailer

A trailer for the audio drama was released on New Year's Day 2021 on Big Finish's YouTube channel "bigfinishprod", which following the cancellation was removed from the channel.

A reupload of the original trailer.

Status

The audio hasn’t been released anywhere and it hasn’t leaked online. It is possible that unsold CD copies are still in Big Finish’s warehouse as it was available for pre-order on their website and it was planned to have a gold embossed cover.[3]

The full recording script was listed for auction on eBay on 7 February 2024.[4]

On 25 March 2024, Twitter user Jamie (@AMadmanNotABox) claimed he heard from a friend who collects several Torchwood audio drama scripts that he was in touch with someone who owns both a copy of the full script, and a copy of the audio drama. No one has come forward and it is unknown if this person is being truthful or not as of yet. [5]

Gallery

References