Bilis Manger returns to terrify once final time. 

The veteran actor and director Murray Melvin passed away on the 14th of April 2023.

Melvin enjoyed a varied career on stages, with roles in films such as A Taste of Honey, Alfie and The Phantom of the Opera. However, for many, he was best known as Torchwood‘s sinister Bilis Manger.

Murray Melvin (c) Big Finish

Manger popped up twice in the show’s first season to bedevil Captain Jack Harkness and pals and Melvin had, since 2017, reprised the character numerous times for audio producers Big Finish.

Today, the company release Torchwood: Sigil which features his final performance in the role.

Here’s the synopsis for Torchwood: Sigil

Sam has been haunted for years by the Sigil. She’s drawn the pattern since she was a child, she has a tattoo of it, she sells prints of it. Then one day, she sees it on a statue in the window of Bilis Manger’s shop.

 It turns out the Sigil is very old indeed. Why has it been haunting her? Why is it on a Celtic statue of a bird? Where did it come from? Has a terrible entity been released from its ancient slumber?

The story also stars the Olivier Award-nominated Gabrielle Brooks (as Sam) and Star Trek: Prodigy’s Angus Imrie (as Emil). Torchwood: Sigil is written by Ash Darby, script edited by Tim Foley and directed by Lisa Bowerman.

Producer James Goss said:

“We didn’t realise that this was going to be Murray’s last recording with us – it was just before his 90th birthday so we had a small party in the studio with flowers and cake, and I hope we gave him a wonderful send off. He took great delight on finding the studio’s sharpest, wickedest knife to advance on the cake with.”

There are further tributes from members of the Big Finish team here.

Torchwood: Sigil is available now as a collector’s edition 1-disc CD (+ download) or on digital download only, exclusively from www.bigfinish.com.