The Unbegotten (audio story)

The Unbegotten was the third release in the Torchwood Soho audio series. It was written by James Goss and starred Samuel Barnett as Norton Folgate, Dervla Kirwan as Lizbeth Hayhoe, Tom Price as Andy Davidson and Joe Shire as Gideon Lyme.
== Publisher's summary ==
The dead walk the Earth! The air and ground are poisoned!
Mandeville Walk is the most haunted street in 1950s Soho. Norton Folgate has come to confront ghosts of his own, but finds himself caught up in a government cover-up. Andy Davidson is being hunted by demons. What really happened on Mandeville Walk?
:3.1 A First Breath
:Torchwood visits the most haunted street in London.
:3.2 The Ghost Wall
:Norton Folgate ruins a carpet. Andy worries about a wall.
:3.3 The Taken
:An ancient force awakens.
:3.4 Afterwards They Came
:The demons and ghosts arise. Torchwood learns a lesson.
:3.5 Confessions
:The grisly secret of the gentleman callers.
:3.6 Mandeville Walks
:As London falls, everyone turns to Norton Folgate.
== Plot ==
=== A First Breath (1) ===
The clock has stopped. Tilly says that "they" are coming and asks the Man Who Wasn't if he is ready to breathe yet.
Norton takes Andy and Lizbeth to Mandeville Walk, a street in Soho supposedly haunted by ghosts and crater demons, and tells them that the Torchwood file on the street is mysteriously missing. They arrive at their temporary base, a room in a knocking shop, and Lizbeth pretends to be a prostitute when there is a knocking at the door. When Norton goes to check that they are not being spied on, he finds nobody there.
When Andy is hesitant to investigate the bombed St Thomas's, which has now become a car park and a soup kitchen, Norton goes to speak with Reverend Brompton instead before spotting Lyme working at the soup kitchen. Lyme is working there whilst he works out what he is going to do next, having broken up with Norton, and asks him to leave him be.
Lizbeth goes to the pub and meets the landlady, Mia. Mia shows her her scrapbook and suggests that the bodies of Florence Jenkins and many who were killed in the destruction of the boarding house at 17 Mandeville Walk were taken by crater demons, which patron Dr Salt says is nonsense as he leaves. She also speculates that the fire services had deliberately let the buildings burn.
Tilly asks the Man if he is ready to breathe yet and asks him to hurry up and be born.
Norton regroups with Lizbeth at the pub and, after getting a double brandy, admits that he came to Mandeville Walk to find out why Lyme is here, although he does not mention his name. He heads back to see Lyme and Lizbeth takes Mia's leave to check on her lodgings, telling her that she will be back once she has found her ghosts. Lyme tells Norton to leave him alone, but agrees to meet him at St Thomas's later on.
Andy briefly meets Dr Salt, whose patients are malnourshed with lungs full of rubbish and will not move away because of ignorance. He goes to speak to Jim and Judy, living in a damaged house missing an entire wall, and asks them about the ghosts. He returns to the knocking shop and both he and Lizbeth feel that something is strange about one of the room's walls, which is thin when it should be solid brick. They spot Lyme through the window.
Tilly says that "they" are all here and asks the Man if they have helped enough. The Man takes his first breath.
Norton arrives late to his meeting with Lyme, having been distracted by a bomb site, and finds the church empty except for ghostly apparitions. He sees armed men in space suits who hurt him and take him to a van as he calls for help. Andy and Lizbeth hear his shrieks from afar and go to speak with Lyme to find out what is going on. They too start to see ghosts and are surrounded.
Tilly says that "he" is coming and that it is time. Time will start again.
=== The Ghost Wall (2) ===
Dr Salt is at a bomb site when he is disturbed by the woman, who tells him that he might have to dig to find what he is looking for. He might not find it for another year but, when he does, it will be beautiful.
The ghosts surrounding Andy and Lizbeth tell them that they mean them harm. They flee to St Thomas's and the ghosts stop at the gates, waiting for them to leave, but disappear before Reverend Brompton can see them. Lizbeth speaks with Brompton, who tells her to leave the matter be, whilst Andy learns that Lyme came to Mandeville Walk to investigate missing homeless people. Lyme has been serving soup for some time but has no regular customers. At the vicarage, Lizbeth briefly meets Brompton's wife, Helena, who quickly disappears upstairs.
Norton wakes up, bleeding and tied to a chair in a private member's club. Armitage has Goringe torture Norton with a corkscrew and other instruments and does not believe that he has brought Torchwood to Mandeville Walk because of a broken heart. Armitage tells him to leave and let Mandeville Walk die, as it is to be bulldozed, but accepts Torchwood's help to make sure that the street is safe to be demolished. Norton gets a taxi back to Mandeville Walk.
The man says his first word, "good", when Tilly tells him that he will soon have eyes. She does not understand what is taking him so long. Lizbeth and Andy return to the knocking shop together and find her listening outside their room, which she still considers to be hers as there was a time that she was never allowed to leave it. She runs upstairs and weeps, making Lizbeth wonder if the other prostitutes are so loud during sex to drown her out, and Lizbeth decides to follow her. Unlike Tilly, she is unable to hear the man breathing and returns to her room thinking that Tilly is mad.
Having been tired since returning to the knocking shop, Lizbeth and Andy fall asleep. Andy is awoken by scratching in the walls and wakes Lizbeth up before going to investigate. He finds a bulge around a crack, as though something has been pushing against it, and pushes against it. Tilly's body is inside the wall, her fingernails damaged from trying to scratch her way out.
=== The Taken (3) ===
Dressed in a space suit, Norton carries out proper scientific tests to prove that the phenomena on Mandeville Walk is not caused by ghosts and finds that the ground is saturated with radiation. He invites Lyme to join him in assisting the government in covering the matter up in return for power, but he refuses. Lyme believes that Mandeville Walk is being used to clear homeless people off the streets and suspects Reverend Brompton, whose wife clearly dislikes him, of knowing about it. Because of the radiation, Norton plans on having the street evacuated.
Lizbeth tells Norton about the ghosts, including Tilly, and Andy sends him to have a proper talk with Lyme. Back at St Thomas's, Norton finds the walls of the crypt carved with symbols potentially dating back to the 8th century. After Lyme goes to warn him about the radiation, Reverend Brompton comes down and advises Norton that those who remain at Mandeville Walk will not likely leave.
The Man, still without eyes, has Tilly describe the members of Torchwood to him. She says that they all seem miserable and lonely, aside from Andy. Andy returns to Jim and Judy and learns that the knocking shop took in a waif from the streets, whom he surmises was Tilly. Judy gives Andy and Jim bowls that she claims contain stew, but Andy sees that they are empty despite the couple's insistence.
After Lizbeth tells Mia about finding Tilly in the wall, Mia shows her a photograph in her scrapbook from 1940. Mia looks no different and Dr Salt is stood on the sidelines, although he insists that was before his time and that it is not him. She points out Madam Bliss, the then-proprietor of the knocking shop, with Tilly. Lizbeth notes that the scrapbook stops after the Blitz and that nobody in the pub can recall the end of the war on 8 May, 1945.
Lizbeth and Andy meet in the crypt where Andy suggests that Torchwood might have had something to do with what has happened to the locals by way of a massive dose of retcon as part of a cover-up. Andy fetches Lyme and suggests that the disappearance of the homeless could be due to something "Torchwoody" and that they should investigate to get Norton's attention. They hear what sounds like hunting.
Norton visits Tilly's empty room and tries to communicate with her, asking what is in the church and whether he should side with Lyme or Armitage. As he is about to leave, Tilly appears and demands that he leave. He calls Armitage's club and leaves a message for him, explaining that things are worse than he thought. He hears the whistling sound of the hunt outside and sees flickering shadows on the bomb site. The crater demons are real and approaching, breaking their way into the telephone box and saying that Mandeville will walk.
=== Afterwards They Came (4) ===
Armitage has set up a cordon sanitaire around Mandeville Walk and stops Norton when he tries to leave, fleeing the crater demons, and has him thrown back in. Lizbeth and Lyme find him unconscious and carry him into the pub where Dr Salt is of no use and Mia gives him crème de menthe. Armitage arrives in an anti-radiation suit and introduces himself to Lizbeth and Lyme before speaking with Norton on their own, telling him that a missile will be launched to destroy Mandeville Walk unless Norton comes up with a solution. Armitage recognises Dr Salt from 12 April 1942.
The Man finds that he can walk and tells Tilly that they will soon go outside.
Andy visits Reverend Brompton and asks him what he knows about the missing homeless people. Whilst Brompton leaves to see what he can do, Andy remains with Helena and learns that she hates her husband because he chose the church over her. He returns to the crypt following a clue and is joined by Lyme, who left the pub after it looked like Norton and Armitage were getting cosy. Lyme shows Andy to a bomb shelter and admits that it is the real reason he came to Mandeville Walk. According to the rumours, those who came to the shelter disappeared. They hear the sounds of bombs and sirens. Helena arrives and tells them that Reverend Brompton let the people, including herself, into the bomb shelter despite knowing that the crater demons were down there.
Dr Salt, insisting that he is actually a professor with no medical skills, tells Norton and Lizbeth that he was part of Torchwood and came to Mandeville Walk in search of something which was later found by a bomb squad. They take him back to the pub to get the full story out of him; he tried to prevent the government from taking the artefact, but Armitage dismissed him and the artefact was blown up. Tilly tried to stop them, saying that the artefact was beautiful.
=== Confessions (5) ===
A woman follows her daughter, Dotty, out of the bomb shelter beneath St Thomas's and into the crypt. She looks for her with Helena's help.
Helena holds back the ghosts for Andy and Lyme to escape, after which Reverend Brompton shuts the iron door with his wife inside. Following the destruction of the artefact, his tally of people entering and exiting the shelter showed a shortfall but he continued to let people use it until Helena went missing. He prayed to the object and eventually got her back as his conscience, aware of what he had done and never forgiving him for it. With Brompton finally having confessed, Helena takes him for a walk into the darkness of the crypt.
Norton meets with Armitage in his tent and confronts him with what he has learnt about Mandeville Walk, accusing him of wanting to destroy the street for his career rather than for London. He tells Armitage to put the missile strike on hold, but he refuses unless Norton does exactly as he is told. At the knocking shop, Norton falls onto Tilly's body and has visions of how she started having strange dreams and knowing things that she should not, culminating in her being bricked up alive. He tells Lizbeth, who has noticed that they hear people arrive at the brothel but never leave. They investigate and see the men being "shagged to death" for energy.
Tilly gives the Man some bandages as he is still lacking skin. He visits Norton and Lizbeth at the knocking shop, telling them that he is a ghost of the future and that he has been feeding on the dead and the living on Mandeville Walk. Now he needs more.
=== Mandeville Walks (6) ===
Norton and Lizbeth flee from the man and run into Andy and Lyme, similarly fleeing from the ghosts of the crypt. Norton goes to speak with Armitage, whose men are keeping the ghosts from escaping the street, and tells him that Lizbeth, Andy and Lyme are already dead and to launch the missile. The missile, however, has already been launched and will arrive in thirty minutes. Norton returns to the street to be with his friends, giving Armitage a kiss, and tells them that he has stopped the missile strike.
In the pub, Mia invites Lizbeth to stay with her, but she does not want to live the same day again and again. Meanwhile, Andy learns that Jim and Judy know that they are dead and are waiting for their son to return from Africa and Lyme speaks with Dr Salt, who is waiting for someone to tell him that he was right about the alien artefact.
With Tilly at his side, the Man destroys and rebuilds the brothel as the stables that stood there a hundred years ago and recreates a Roman temple which stood for ten centuries. Norton confronts him and confirms that he is a sentinel, sent to observe Earth thousands of years ago to maintain a record, but initiated survival protocols when the army tried to destroy him and now wishes to restore the entire world. The street begins to fall apart.
Norton sends Lizbeth to save the pub from collapsing and Andy to try to get people through the cordon, admitting to Lyme that he does not have a plan and taking his hand as the missiles hit. The Man, having learnt from Torchwood and used the power of the missiles to be reborn, decides to make his own way and rebuilds Mandeville, putting the temple next to St Thomas's at Norton's request, before going for a walk with Tilly. Norton and Lizbeth tell Armitage that the government will leave Mandeville Walk and Torchwood alone.
With Lizbeth going on a date with Mia, the ghost of Jim and Judy's son returning and Norton and Lyme planning to return home, Andy asks if they really have had a happy ending. Norton confirms that they have.
== Cast ==
* Norton Folgate - Samuel Barnett
* Lizbeth Hayhoe - Dervla Kirwan
* Sergeant Andy Davidson - Tom Price
* Gideon Lyme - Joe Shire
* Armitage - Greg Austin
* The Man Who Wasn't - Richard Clifford
* Mia - Saffron Coomber
* Helena Brompton - Amy Beth Hayes
* Tilly - Norah Lopez Holden
* Mum - Ruth Lass
* Dr Salt - Shai Matheson
* Cabbie - George Naylor
* Goringe - Homer Todiwala
* Brompton - Milo Twomey
== Crew ==
* Senior Producer - David Richardson
* Additional Themes - Ben Foster
* Cover Art - Sean Longmore
* Script Editor & Director - Scott Handcock
* Executive Producer - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
* Music - Blair Mowat
* Writer & Producer - James Goss
* Sound Design - Naomi Clarke
* Theme Music - Murray Gold
== Worldbuilding ==
* Lizbeth says that the visit to Mandeville Walk is "hardly a day trip" without sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs.
* Neither Norton nor Lizbeth believe in ghosts.
* St Thomas's was damaged by the Luftwaffe.
* There is a cathedral in Llandaff.
* Big churches are often built on the site of something else.
* The locals are happy to go to Mia's pub for a nap and a pie.
* Lizbeth orders a very large gin, which she says is not her drink.
* The church's side-chapel dates back to the 1400s.
* The choir stalls dated back to 1280. They were destroyed by Hitler.
* Norton mentions his father, whose church survived the war unscathed.
* 17 Mandeville Walk was a boarding house with a dozen rooms. It was directly hit and only six bodies were found.
* When Florence "Florrie" Jenkins attempted to dig her out, they heard her cries and an unearthly howling. Her body was never found.
* Jim and Judy remain in Mandeville Walk out of ignorance, according to Dr Salt.
* Lyme serves rolls and swede soup.
* Norton tells Lyme that the dog misses him.
* Judy gives Andy tea and reads his tea leaves.
* Mrs Rudman died in a bombing. Her body landed on Jim and Judy's table and her relatives took her possessions.
* Norton orders a double brandy. Lizbeth drinks it and describes it as "rough".
* Norton says that talk is for Canadians.
* Lyme puts vinegar on his chips.
* Armitage had a fag at school who was stubborn and never let out a peep, even when he branded him with a toasting fork. He sees him sometimes at the Foreign Office.
* Armitage says that "pansies" have followed in his steps since fifth form.
* Lyme likens Norton to Marvin the Martian and Flash Gordon.
* Harris was a police officer whose beat during World War II was Mandeville Walk. He carried a flask of tea around with him and retired with pneumonia.
* Jim says that Tilly acted like "Joan of Arc and Lady Bountiful wrapped into one".
* Mia offers Lizbeth milk stout or a scotch.
* Brompton's predecessor grew parsnips.
* A village in Salisbury Plain was cleared for military exercises and the inhabitants forbidden from returning.
* Judy says that she is going to give Norton some stew.
* Celia works with Lyme at the soup kitchen.
* Armitage belongs a club in St James's.
* Mia gives Norton crème de menthe.
* In the 1940s, Torchwood One stored alien artefacts under Croydon Aerodrome.
* Brompton says that the Devil is afraid of iron.
* Norton has boiled sweets in his coat pocket.
== Notes ==
* This audio drama was recorded on 10 and 13-14 January 2022 was recorded at the Soundhouse and remotely.
== Continuity ==
* Norton mentions his father and his church. (AUDIO: Ghost Mission, Parasite)
* Norton mentions Lizbeth's dog whom he took in. (AUDIO: Parasite, Ashenden)
* Lizbeth says that she has had enough of dying. (AUDIO: Parasite)
== External links ==
Category:Torchwood Soho audio stories
Category:2022 audio stories
Category:Stories set in the 1950s