Series 1 (BFTW)

The first series in the Torchwood range of audios was released by Big Finish Productions in 2015–2016 and marked the first audios produced by Big Finish under the extended license including the BBC Wales-produced television series. The audio series served as a continuation and extension of the Torchwood television series and saw several actors from it reprise their roles as members of Torchwood Three, with one story concentrating instead on the head of Torchwood One from the two-part season finale of the second series of Doctor Who. Both television series were under the creative lead of Russell T Davies, who was consulted on the audios. The season included six releases, each focusing on one member of Torchwood.

Overview
The idea to continue Torchwood stories on audio with Big Finish has been around at least since 2013, when, having been given a green light by BBC Worldwide, the television series' executive producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner began thinking with Big Finish's Gary Russell about the future of Torchwood in Cardiff after Miracle Day. The development of this audio Series 5, however, had to be postponed till 2017, partly due to Gary Russell moving to Australia.

In the meantime, he and Scott Handcock decided to settle on a less ambitious project of telling stories set within the four seasons of the television series. The format would have to be somewhere in between full-cast audios and companion-crhonicles-style heavily narrated two-handers. The role of the producer fell on James Goss.

It was further decided that each episode would focus on one Torchwood operative. The six episodes of the first series thus revolve around Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, the duo of Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams, Yvonne Hartman, again Jack and again Gwen respectively. The series also featured an on-going arc of Torchwood fighting against the Committee, the organisation introduced in the first story The Conspiracy.

Notably, the stories did not form a chronological progression. The Conspiracy, Fall to Earth and Uncanny Valley (stories 1, 2 and 5) were indeed set within the television series. Forgotten Lives and More Than This (stories 3 and 6) explored Gwen's life after the Miracle Day, respectively post-Torchwood and then trying to put Torchwood together again. Finally, One Rule (story 4) was a bit of an outlier, having the head of Torchwood One front and centre, albeit quite out of her element in the middle of Cardiff. To fulfil the promise of a chamber cast, various plot devices have been used. For instance, despite Yvonne visiting Cardiff at the height of Torchwood Three, Tracy Ann Oberman did not interact with any Torchwood Three actors because Yvonne temporarily froze them in the Hub, purportedly to keep them from interfering in her business.

Featured actors

 * John Barrowman
 * Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Eve Myles
 * Kai Owen
 * Tracy Ann Oberman

Production
Despite being in the works at least from 2013, the series was first announced to the public in John Barrowman's Magic FM radio show only on 3 May 2015, after the recording of the first story The Conspiracy was completed on 30 April. Big Finish Productions provided more details on their website the same day. The first story was written by David Llewellyn. His initial drafts for the story from 2014 featured a more decisive resolution in the end. In the final form, the problem of the Committee was left open-ended, thus, supplying the arc for Series 1 and beyond.

According to the initial release schedule, The Conspiracy was to be out in September 2015, whereas the remaining five stories would follow monthly starting from January 2016.

On 16 July 2015, it was announced that Gareth David-Lloyd would reprise his role of Ianto Jones in the second story Fall to Earth of the series. At the same time, the release of stories 2–6 was moved forward, allowing for a continuous monthly schedule for the whole series beginning in September 2015.

Cover gallery
Covers for the series were designed by Lee Binding.