The most Christmas-y release from Big Finish’s output in December 2024 was a Torchwood Monthly Range release that was an anthology of ghostly tales, the type you may tell the family during festive times… although in this instance, Dorothy McShane and Mr Colchester share tales of egotism, the difficulties of trust, and how dangerous it was to be a gay man in 20th Century Britain.

The pairing is a proven one, although in this instance they are monologuing their stories so there are only a few moments of the duo interacting and you can tell they know each other well, and care for each other too, in each of those.

A gap-filling story of how Dorothy – then Ace – first encountered the Torchwood Institute in 1880 while travelling with the Seventh Doctor is the opening tale and is set in and around the newly built Natural History Museum. It is where Ace feels able to be quiet and at peace rather than loud and angry, but then she is interrupted by a ghost-vanquishing and trouser-wearing lady named Amelia Thornton. She works for the Queen, and, without naming the establishment she actually works for, does admit she basically sacrificed one of her colleagues and now believes they may be haunting the museum.

As with most 19th Century encounters with the institute, it soon turns into a tale of them wanting to face off with the Doctor. To say any more would be spoilers.

It’s Colchester’s turn next to share a story, and the one-night stands and Soho setting that kicks off his tale places this firmly during the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Although there is a science-fiction element, this is mostly a heart-wrenching recollection of “that evil disease” as it is referred to and an incredibly difficult period during his life and those around him at the time.

In the 1980s, he was a soldier, the most masculine setting and possibly trauma-filled job to have anyway, but also waking up blacked out in various places and without possessions or nutrition. Eventually, one Christmas, he reaches Sergeant Benjamin Staveley, a man who knows of Colchester’s homosexuality and did not punish him for it during service.

Unfortunately, what follows is too good to be true, and it’s a hard-hitting reminder of how savage that decade was for gay people and how desperate many felt at their lowest points. Paul Clayton does an incredible job of delivering this story while crying, and it does get really scary. It’s also Colchester’s own introduction to the activities of Torchwood.

He is curious about the first director of the institute, Ms Thornton, and Dorothy refers to her centuries-old diary for some character insight. And posh voices. Lots of mimicking posh voices.

Mirrors with talking, manipulative reflections follows the theme of all these stories being reflective, and Amelia offloads her trauma to the mirror as she continues to dwell on one of the first things she did in her job: making a colleague die. Anyone who’s read Dickens, or more likely watched The Muppets’ Christmas Carol, will find the rest of the tale a familiar listen, and there are some humorous elements to match that and also raise spirits after the sensitive subject matter of the preceding tale.

Colchester takes over again for the final story, which is a bit of a sequel but more of a commentary on the vanity of contemporary culture rather than Victorian London. There’s a mention of Palestine and other topics that usually appear on people’s X (formerly Twitter) feeds before focusing on a selfie trend involving a woman who appears in the corner of selfies. Again, a reflection of self.

The trend becomes viral, with people deliberately scaring themselves as they seek to take a selfie which this unusual woman will appear in. She even becomes a Hallowe’en outfit choice. Nobody seems to be bothered that some who took selfies featuring her go on to die in unexplained ways. There’s then a twist, which connects the tale to the others and brings Dorothy and Colchester more directly into proceedings.

Big Finish’s annual free Torchwood story was A Christmas Card from Mr Colchester, which also came as an extra on Reflect. It follows the usual format of Colchester monologuing about something he finds a bit frustrating or he’d rather avoid doing, and in this instance, it’s the big family letter that people send or receive at Christmas. Maybe the families sending them don’t exist… and the deliveries actually form part of a psychic alien weapon that involves more and more unsuspecting people every year…

Reflect and A Christmas Card from Mr Colchester are both available from Big Finish now!