Suckers (audio story)

 was the sixty-fourth story in the Torchwood - Monthly Range by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Alexander Stewart.

Publisher's summary
Shireen's not exactly enjoying being sectioned, but she's been in worse places. That psychiatric unit in Brecon was a right dump. This one's alright, though. There's table tennis, art therapy and they even get to do a bit of gardening.

There's only one problem. Shireen's roommate. Toshiko - she's a total space cadet, convinced the unit is overrun by aliens. Yeah, right.

Plot
Detained for six months under section 3 of the Mental Health Act, Shireen is moved to Chelmsley Grove for her final month and given a room with a medicated Tosh, who warns her that the hospital is infested with aliens. Tosh has been unable to contact Jack or Suzie at Torchwood as all calls are logged by Felicia, but Shireen lends her her mobile phone and she accidentally calls Jubilee Pizza instead. Already sceptical of her claims, Shireen concludes that Tosh is indeed insane and stops listening to her to avoid being put in solitary confinement in the Seg.

Tosh herself doubts her sanity, but student nurse Steffan tells her that people who go to the Seg never come back and she remembers a roommate who disappeared. By pointing out that her medication should be stopping her from believing in aliens, Tosh gets Shireen to help her explore the facility and they witness Flis and Ivan moving a corpse in a body bag. The body has what Shireen believes are sucker marks and she breaks into Flis's office in search of paperwork despite Tosh being sure that the marks are a normal part of death. They find a list of more than seventy missing patients, all of whom were non-white and heavily medicated.

Steffan catches Tosh and Shireen and agrees to take them to the men's ward and keep what he has seen secret in return for them returning the key card that they stole from him.

to be completed

Cast

 * Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
 * Felicia Haynes - Linda Armstrong
 * Shireen Afzal - Emma Kaler
 * Steffan Blayney - Dylan Jones
 * Ivan - Nick Asbury
 * Ms Jubilee Pizza - Sara McGaughey

Continuity

 * Tosh mentions that Torchwood was founded by Queen Victoria. (TV: Tooth and Claw)
 * Tosh recalls being put in solitary confinement after stealing a sonic modulator and being rescued by Jack Harkness. (TV: Fragments)