I have a love/hate relationship with Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood.

Sold as ‘Doctor Who for grown-ups’, even though Who itself functions perfectly well as that, the original Torchwood TV shows veered between sex (and gore) for the sake of it and genuinely brilliant explorations of adult themes that you could definitely not get away with in standard Doctor Who.

When it was bad, it was awful – but when it was good, it was great. There didn’t seem to be much of an in-between at all.

Having heard good things about Big Finish’s Torchwood audio dramas, however, I was tempted to take the plunge and give it a shot, with a story that didn’t focus on one of the original, main characters.

Instead, in Goodbye, Piccadilly we begin in spectacular fashion, with contemporary Welsh copper PC Andy Davidson waking up, chained to a bed with Torchwood agent Norton Folgate – in the 1950s!

Oh – and did I mention that they’re both naked? And the building they’re in is on fire?

This funny, cheeky opening sequence sets up an adventure in which Andy ends up with a deadly secret stuck in his head. With Norton desperately needing his help, along with various Soho-based ne’er-do-wells after them, it’s going to be a very long night.

It’s an absolute blast from beginning to end, stuffed with excellent sight seeing of London streets and landmarks that are very familiar to me, with a big and hilariously daft surprise awaiting our two protagonists at Leicester Square.

There’s a great deal of period appropriate awkwardness and awfulness, with nearly everyone they encounter not wasting any time in being homophobic towards the pair.

Norton’s genuinely hilarious method of escaping scrutiny during a police raid (apparently, something that was carried out in real life during the period) at one stage of the adventure was amazing; in fact, the chemistry between leads Samuel Barnett (playing the wonderfully devious agent Norton Folgate) and Tom Price, reprising his role of Andy Davidson from the TV series here, is absolutely fantastic.

50s Soho is sketched with such detail, skill and wit that I really want to revisit the place and time; listening to the all too brief behind the scenes extra that follows the story did reveal that the writer and actors felt the same way.

Upon further inspection, I did discover that Barnett has indeed returned as Norton Folgate since Goodbye, Piccadilly – in multiple box sets of what appears to be his own, much-deserved spin-off series: Torchwood Soho (with Andy Davidson dragged along on his adventures too – reluctantly, no doubt!).

So it seems that I know exactly where I’m heading , after this brilliant excursion into the seedy world of 1950s London – I’ll be making the short jaunt from Piccadilly, to Soho.

You can buy Goodbye, Piccadilly directly from the Big Finish website, either as a CD plus digital download or just as a digital download, here.

If you prefer, you can buy the CD from Amazon here.