One of the best Torchwood stories ever.

Tim Foley is at his absolute best when writing character drama! This story in particular reminded me of his play Driftwood – a two-hander between a pair of brothers dealing with grief and childhood trauma. The stories are similar in that they use a single location and an element of surrealism to expose and work through the emotions and griefs of the main characters. And both of them made me cry – in this one, it was Rhys talking to Deirdre using her son's voice, and absolutely brilliant and awful scene; and then Rhys and Ianto talking about Rhys old mate Dav, who committed suicide. The entire play is a perfect blend of sci-fi weirdness, humour, and emotion; but those two scenes shone.

An instant favourite. Soft and heartbreaking. The day is saved by hugging it out. PERFECT!

Must be one of the best titles for a Torchwood story.

Ex Machina is such a wonderfully solid script. Anna is a really lovely character – I love how the Torchwood MR gets to develop one-on-one relationships between members of the Torchwood team and ordinary people like her. Those quiet scenes between Anna and Ianto in her flat and the Hub work wonders.

The setup and payoff towards the end is very well handled. I love that the story concludes by Anna making a choice for herself, and not letting other people (or alien manipulation machines) decide for her. In that respect it's kind of the inverse of Alfie's Shaw's War Master Script The Life and Loves of Mr Alexander Bennett, where the titular character blindly follows his alien manipulation machine until he destroys his life. For what it's worth, I much prefer this story.

The final scene is super lovely and perfectly understands Ianto. I love that one of the happiest endings to any Torchwood story (everybody lives in this one!) also makes me feel so sad!

More of Alfie Shaw in the Torchwood range please!

AMIRA: I couldn’t understand how you just cut me off like that!
OWEN: Because I had to! Because Katie died, and I had to become the sort of person who couldn't feel it. Okay?

That line explains so much about Owen, and breaks my heart to boot.

Amira and Owen's relationship is beautifully drawn in this one. You really feel the weight of their history and friendship, and Amira's hurt at being cut off is tangible. The other relationship in the story – Lucy and her sister – is also extremely touching, and very sad.

I did wonder if Amira being a memory creature was necessary for the story; but it did lead to that gutting final scene where Owen, after years on metaphorically turning off his empathy as a coping mechanism after Katie's death, literally turns off his empathy in order to ’defeat’ Amira. It's an incredibly tragic moment I'm still reeling from an hour after listening.

I would love to see more Grace Knight in Torchwood!

The setting of the titular House was my favourite thing about this story – I love weird, constructed little societies like this. It's quite a satisfying mystery, with setup and payoff neatly intertwined. Also, if I had a nickel for each time a Doctor Who story takes place in a massive creepy house made out of the flesh and bone and enamel of a single person I'd have two nickels, which isn't much but it's weird it happened twice etc...

I surprised myself by how much I liked the character of Frances. I love that weird, anxious, upper-class lesbian. And who wouldn't fall in love with Lucie Miller?

An intriguing title and placement in the fourth Doctor's timeline – this story began printing during the airing of Robot, making it the Fourth Doctor's second story by release order – drew me to this one. It's a short read but not a favourite by any means.

The plot is extremely standard, but what's interesting about it are the villainous Sarricoids, vegetable monsters extremely reminiscent of the Krynoids. The artwork depicting them is lovely and I always love to see some monstrous plants in Who!

What made this story (and a lot of TV Comic) difficult to enjoy was the Doctor's treatment of Sarah. It’s a great deal more misogynistic than the TV at the time. (At one point he says "For once I have to agree with Sarah-Jane's so-called Feminine Intuition!")

Sarah also literally sprains her ankle in this one, which sent me to the TARDIS wiki page for Ankles, which is hilarious.

A light romp featuring Jack at his most over-the-top. There are some nice moments that reflect on the state of the team post-Exit Wounds, but they're too slight for me. I don't think the topic of pregnancy was dealt with particularly sensitively but neither was it felt with poorly.

There were some nice moments of body horror and humour (Ianto driving off Penarth Pier!) at the end.

My favourite part of this story was the bonus scene, which had me howling with laughter!

One of my all-time favourite Who stories. Everything set in the Obverse is like catnip to me – I absolutely adore it (and if you want more of that part of the story, I recommend you check out Philip Purser-Hallard's A Cabinet of Changes, which is also a joy!)

I love the way Paul Magrs weaves stories and narrative strands together, and his creatures, worlds and characters are inventive, colourful and joyous. And the ending is absolutely, riotously perfect.

Showstopping!

Smashed begins really well. A fracking company exploiting a small Welsh town, destroying the environment and poisoning the water; all excellent setup for a Torchwood story. As an ecology student who is very strongly anti-big business and anti-fracking, and very protective of soils and clean waterways, it felt like the perfect setup for me. Those first few scenes, especially with the mum whose daughter is ill, were really great.

It goes off the rails pretty quickly!

I'm a great fan of James Goss’ writing, but most of his weaker scripts have the same sort of problems; a good beginning and ending with a lot of random running around in the middle. This story definitely had that, with the addition of a lot of 'drunk Gwen’ jokes, most of which I didn't find particularly funny. There are good moments – again, the ending hit for me – but most of the middle felt like Goss on autopilot. Coming so soon of The Hope (one of my all-time favourites) that's a bit of a disappointment.

Also – it's never confirmed, but those were Primords, right? They were definitely Primords.

Torchwood characters stop being mean to Tosh challenge >:(

Very predictable, but great performances, and it’s extremely satisfying to hear Nazis being ripped to shreds.