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.

A First Breath (1)
The clock has stopped. Tilly says that "they" are coming and asks a man 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 pretend 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, Helen, 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)
to be added

Afterwards They Came (4)
to be added

Confessions (5)
to be added

Mandeville Walks (6)
to be added

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 - Laura Lopez Holden
 * Mum - Ruth Lass
 * Dr Salt - Shai Matheson
 * Cabbie - George Naylor
 * Goringe - Homer Todiwala
 * Brompton - Milo Twomey

Continuity

 * Norton mentions his father and his church. (AUDIO: Ghost Mission, Parasite)
 * Norton mentions Lizbeth's dog whom he took in. (AUDIO: Parasite, Ashenden)