Please keep in mind that this review of the Torchwood: the Dead Line BBC radio dramatization is not being written by a Torchwood fan. I remember Captain Jack Harkness the immortal from Doctor Who, and I've seen a couple of episodes.

One need not know much about the show to appreciate this drama, or at least I didn't. If you're a fan of the original Star Trek, you undoubtedly recall how Captain Kirk kept meeting old girlfriends. Well, Jack Harkness has been around a lot longer than Kirk, so his old girlfriends can be quite a bit older than his apparent age. One of them is Prof. Stella Courtney, whom he dated back in 1975. (There are some amusing bits as Jack tells his two friends/colleagues, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones, what it like back then. Well, I graduated from high school in 1972, and I found them amusing.)

Jack is active during a flashback only because he's one of the victims of a mysterious phone call that has left him (and others) in a trance-like state. How fortunate that Stella's specialty makes her the right expert to call in for this problem.

Things take a turn for the creepier when it's discovered that the phone number causing the trouble is a dead line. During the investigation, it will become time to cue up the old Twilight Zone theme.

Stella, aided by Rhys Williams, does part of the legwork. Gwen does the rest. Ianto's role is to sit by Jack's hospital bed and tell him things he wouldn't have the nerve to say if Jack were awake.

I liked the discoveries and the solution. ( )

People fall into coma-like trances after answering telephone calls.

For the most part the characterization and plot fit well with the standard Torchwood story. However, Ianto's constant fear about Jack being in a trance forever fell flat - after all, Jack has a reset switch. If he died, he would have woken up again. ( )