Editing Small Worlds (TV story)

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{{Infobox Story
|image                 = SmallWorlds1.jpg
|series                = ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''
|season number         = Series 1 (Torchwood)
|series episode number = 5
|main character        = [[Jack Harkness|Jack]], [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]], [[Owen Harper|Owen]], [[Toshiko Sato|Tosh]], [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]]
|featuring             = [[Rhys Williams|Rhys]]
|enemy                 = [[Fairy|Fairies]]
|setting               = [[Cardiff]], [[2000s]]<ref>Episodes 1-10 of the [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|first series]] of ''[[Torchwood (series)|Torchwood]]'' are set anywhere from [[2006]]-[[2009]] as a result of [[Aliens of London dating controversy|conflicting evidence]] shown in the episodes ''[[Ghost Machine (TV story)|Ghost Machine]]'', ''[[Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story)|Greeks Bearing Gifts]]'', ''[[Random Shoes (TV story)|Random Shoes]]'', ''[[To the Last Man (TV story)|To the Last Man]]'', ''[[Reset (TV story)|Reset]]'', ''[[Adrift (TV story)|Adrift]]'', ''[[Fragments (TV story)|Fragments]]'', ''[[Exit Wounds (TV story)|Exit Wounds]]'', and ''[[The New World (TV story)|The New World]]''. As episode 10, ''[[Out of Time (TV story)|Out of Time]]'', is set at the end of [[December]], this means that episodes 11-13 are almost certainly set the year after episodes 1-10.</ref>
|writer                = [[Peter J. Hammond]]
|director              = [[Alice Troughton]]
|producer              = [[Richard Stokes]]
|broadcast date        = [[12 November (releases)|12 November]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]]
|network               = [[BBC Three]]
|prev                  = Cyberwoman (TV story)
|next                  = Countrycide (TV story)
|clip                  = Captain Jack Encounters the Fairies Small Worlds Torchwood
|clip2                 = Captain Jack Lets Jasmine Go Small Worlds Torchwood
|format                = 1x47-minute episode
}}
'''''Small Worlds''''' was the fifth episode in the [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|first series]] of ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''. It was written by [[Peter J. Hammond]], and directed by [[Alice Troughton]].

It was the first story to explore [[Jack Harkness|Jack]]'s past in any detail, such as revealing that Jack had been in a relationship with a [[British]] woman, [[Estelle Cole]], in the mid-[[20th century]].

== Synopsis ==
[[Jack Harkness|Jack]] encounters monsters from his past: [[Fairy|fairies]], with the ability to choke people with [[rose]] petals and control the [[weather]], make a series of [[kill]]ings centred around a little girl, the [[Chosen One]]. He also reunites with an old friend, but will [[Estelle Cole]] be safe when she starts to get a little too close to these fairies? And how can [[Torchwood Three|Torchwood]] stop a force from the dawn of time, masters of [[Earth]], their domain? More importantly, what is so crucial about a little girl named [[Jasmine Pierce|Jasmine]], for whom these creatures will gladly tear the world apart?

== Plot ==
An [[Estelle Cole|elderly woman]] walks through the woods at night, speaking into a tape recorder about what she hopes to witness. Peeking round a bush, she sees a number of small glowing winged lifeforms, fluttering and giggling over a small circle of standing stones. Ecstatic at seeing her "little darlings", the woman snaps a few pictures before leaving. She doesn't notice them transform into something a lot more dangerous-looking, something that looks very displeased at being discovered...

At [[the Hub]], [[Jack Harkness|Jack]] wakes from a [[nightmare]] of dead [[soldier]]s in a [[train]] carriage with [[rose]] petals spilling out of their mouths. He finds a single rose petal atop his desk. [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]], still in-office, informs Jack about strange weather patterns in the area.

The next day, Jack takes [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]] to visit an old friend of his, [[Estelle Cole]], give a talk on [[fairy|fairies]]. Estelle shows them the [[Cottingley fairy photos]], then compares them to [[photograph]]s she had taken the day before. She claims to have found proof of the fairies' existence.

After her presentation, Jack and Estelle discuss the photographs and the nature of fairies at her home. Gwen asks Estelle and Jack about an old photograph she found of Jack. They both claim it is of Jack's father, and say that he had a relationship with Estelle during [[World War II]]. Estelle mentions that Jack looks and walks just like his father. Jack interrupts that thought, and asks Estelle to let him know if she encounters any more fairies.

On the way back to Torchwood, Jack explains to Gwen that the fairies are creatures from the dawn of time and are not bound by linear [[time]]. He says that the fairies can be very dangerous. Jack instructs [[Toshiko Sato|Toshiko]] to watch for strange weather patterns in the area in order to locate the creatures.

Meanwhile, a young girl, [[Jasmine Pierce]], decides to walk home from [[Coed y Garreg Primary School|school]] alone as her [[Lynn Pierce|mother]]'s boyfriend, [[Roy (Small Worlds)|Roy]], did not arrive on time to pick her up. She encounters a man, [[Mark Goodson]], a [[Paedophilia|paedophile]], who tries to lure her into his [[car]]. When Goodson makes a grab for Jasmine, a strong wind kicks up, accompanied by strange, ethereal voices. Goodson retreats into his car while Jasmine continues to skip home to play with her fairy friends in the nearby woods.

Later, a tense Goodson, still hearing the voices, stumbles through the [[Cardiff]] market, stalked by something unseen by the other shoppers. Something strikes at him and he starts to cough up rose petals. He gets himself arrested to seek the safety of a jail cell, where he admits to his paedophilia to the police officers at the station, hoping that the creatures will leave him alone. That night, however, he hears wings buzzing as he tries to sleep and, rolling over, screams as the same hostile creature from the woods lunges at him... He is found the next day, dead by [[asphyxiation]], but with no external evidence of strangulation and the CCTV shows only him in his death throes; no sign of the creature. The baffled police summon Torchwood, who find Goodson's mouth filled with [[blood]] soaked rose petals. Jack confirms that Goodson was killed by the fairies as part of their protection of a "[[Chosen One]]", a child who will soon become one of them if Torchwood cannot find her in time. Finding the Chosen One is the only advantage they have over the fairies, who cannot be fought in any other way. They cannot be trapped or killed, and have control over the elements themselves; but the Chosen Ones are important to them.

Late at night, Estelle hears the strange voices after attempting to communicate with the fairies using [[crystal]]s, and realises that bad fairies are present. She calls Jack to alert him. However, before Torchwood can arrive, she [[drown]]s in a [[rain]]storm although everything around her is completely dry, as she went outside to find her [[cat]] [[Moses]], who hid under the bushes as she drowned. Jack mourns her loss, and Gwen makes him admit that it was he who had a relationship with Estelle long ago. Jack explains that he has seen the rose petals before, on a train in [[Lahore]] in [[1909]]. Some of his troops had drunkenly run over a little girl. A week later, all of his men died, their mouths stuffed with petals, and he realised that the young girl had been a Chosen One. Gwen returns home to find her own [[flat]] in disarray and seriously vandalised, with [[leaves]] and [[rock]] patterns on the floor, the rocks resembling the stone circle in Roundstone Wood. The team understand that the fairies are becoming more protective and aggressive, using the stone circle as a warning to Torchwood not to interfere in their affairs.

At her [[Coed y Garreg Primary School|school]] the next day, Jasmine is bullied by [[Bullies (Small Worlds)|two girls]] and the fairies come to her defence, making a huge gale sweep up around the bullies and sending all the other children fleeing in terror, apart from Jasmine, who watches in glee. Her teacher [[Kate (Small Worlds)|Kate]] manages to push through the gale and grab the girls, making the fairies cease their assault. Torchwood arrives to find the school closing for the day and interrogate Jasmine's teacher. Kate says that no-one was harmed, but the only one not affected by the storm was Jasmine.

Meanwhile, Jasmine's mother [[Lynn Pierce|Lynn]] and Roy are celebrating five years together with a backyard barbecue party. Jasmine helps her mother with the food, and gives disturbing answers to her mother's questions, when she asked about her about her fairy friends. When Jasmine goes outside, she finds that the backyard has been fenced off by Roy to prevent her from going to the woods. Angry, she bites him. He slaps her and calls her a bitch, which prompts an immediate response from the fairies. The sky begins to turn grey and thunder rumbles, but the party continues. As Roy makes a speech, the fairies reveal themselves in their true form and attack, killing Roy by clogging his throat with petals as punishment for his child abuse.

Torchwood arrives in time to prevent harm to other guests, but Jasmine and the fairies race off to the woods. Jack catches up with her and demands that the fairies not take her away. They refuse, stating that she is their Chosen One and if she is prevented from going, the fairies will kill the entire world in response. Admitting he has no other choice, Jack requests a promise that Jasmine will not be harmed. The fairies respond that she [[Immortality|will live forever]]. Jack lets Jasmine go, and she skips away, thanking Jack in an ethereal voice, surrounded by glowing fairies, and vanishes into [[The Invisible|the Lost Lands]]. Lynn, seeing this, starts sobbing angrily and beats Jack over and over. The only thing Jack can do is apologise, feeling guilty of the choice he was forced to decide on. Lynn has lost both her boyfriend and her only daughter in one afternoon.

The Torchwood Three crew return to their transport vehicle with tension in the air. Gwen, Owen, and Toshiko are evidently disturbed by Jack's concession to the fairies' demands, but all proceed silently. None of them speak a word about what just transpired, afraid to set off a powder keg, but they make little effort to hide their disapproval. Jack notices a few dirty looks from his peers, leaving him to defensively respond, "What else could I do?"

Back at the Hub, Gwen sorts through the pictures in the case. A Cottingley Fairies photograph from [[1917]] appears on the board room monitor screen. Spotting something, she zooms in on the photograph until the face on one of the fairies becomes clear. It is Jasmine, frozen in mid-dance, smiling. A fairy voice whispers: "Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand." ("[[The Stolen Child]]", by {{w|William Butler Yeats}})

== Cast ==
* [[Jack Harkness|Captain Jack Harkness]] - [[John Barrowman]]
* [[Gwen Cooper]] - [[Eve Myles]]
* [[Owen Harper]] - [[Burn Gorman]]
* [[Toshiko Sato]] - [[Naoko Mori]]
* [[Ianto Jones]] - [[Gareth David-Lloyd]]
* [[Estelle Cole|Estelle]] - [[Eve Pearce]]
* [[Jasmine Pierce|Jasmine]] - [[Lara Phillipart]]
* [[Lynn Pierce|Lynn]] - [[Adrienne O'Sullivan]]
* [[Roy (Small Worlds)|Roy]] - [[William Travis]]
* [[Mark Goodson|Goodson]] - [[Rodger Barclay]]
* [[Kate (Small Worlds)|Kate]] - [[Heledd Baskerville]]
* [[Woman police constable (Small Worlds)|WPC]] - [[Ffion Wilkins]]
* [[Custody sergeant (Small Worlds)|Custody Sergeant]] - [[Nathan Sussex]]
* [[Man in street (Small Worlds)|Man in Street]] - [[Paul Jones]]
* [[Bully (Small Worlds)|Bullies]] - [[Sophie Davies]] and [[Victoria Gourley]]

=== Uncredited Cast ===

* [[Rhys Williams]] - [[Kai Owen]]

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== Worldbuilding ==
===  Foods and beverages ===
* Roy is drinking St Nicholas Welsh Lager [[beer]] during the party. 
== Story notes ==
* The episode was repeated on [[BBC Two]], three days later at 9:00pm on Wednesday [[15 November (releases)|15 November]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]].
* Owen claims that [[Harry Houdini]] believed in the [[Cottingley fairy|Cottingley fairies]]. In reality, he didn't and got into frequent discussions with his friend [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] over them.
* Gwen also states that the girls who took the photos admitted the whole incident was a hoax in their later years. While it is true that they confessed to faking the photos, both women went to their graves insisting that they really did see fairies.
* This story is the only episode in the first series of ''Torchwood ''to not contain any swearing.

=== Ratings ===
* 1.26 million viewers<ref>[https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-10/ BARB Ratings - October, 2006]</ref>

=== Filming locations ===
''to be added''

=== Production errors ===
{{Torchwood discontinuity}}
* When Roy is putting up the fence, the overhead view shows him nailing the third post. The view from the side shows him nailing in a different post, however.

== Continuity ==
* Jack wonders if the fairies are part [[Mara]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Kinda (TV story)|Kinda]], [[Snakedance (TV story)|Snakedance]]'')
* Jack's immortality enables him to survive the attack from the Fairies. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Parting of the Ways (TV story)|The Parting of the Ways]]'', ''[[Everything Changes (TV story)|Everything Changes]]'')
* Gwen sees a picture of Jack in his Second World War attire. She initially thinks it is his grandfather, but later realises it was Jack himself when he served during the war. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances (TV story)|The Doctor Dances]]'')

== Home video releases ==
[[File:TWS1Part1.jpg|thumb|Series one, part one DVD cover]]

=== DVD releases ===
* This episode, with four others, was first released on a DVD entitled ''Torchwood: Series 1, part 1'' on [[26 December (releases)|26 December]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]].
* It was later released in ''Torchwood: The Complete First Series'' on [[19 November (releases)|19 November]] [[2007 (releases)|2007]].
* It was also released in the Series 1-4 boxset (Region 2 release: 14 November 2011.)

=== Blu-ray releases ===
* Released in the US with the rest of Series 1 as a Complete First Season set on 16 September 2008.

* It was released in the Series 1-3 Blu-ray boxset on 26 October 2009 in the UK. The US release was on 19 July 2011.
* It was also released in the Series 1-4 Blu-ray boxset. (Region 2 release: [[14 November (releases)|14 November]] [[2011 (releases)|2011]])

== External links ==
{{dwrefguide|torchwood_05.htm|Small Worlds}}
* {{briefhistory|torchwood/2006e.html|Small Worlds}}
* {{locguide|smallworlds|Small Worlds}}
* {{whoniverse|tw1_05|Small Worlds}}

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}

{{TWTV}}
{{TitleSort}}

[[Category:Torchwood television stories]]
[[Category:2006 television stories]]
[[Category:Series 1 (Torchwood) stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in Cardiff]]
[[Category:Stories set in the 2000s]]

[[fr:Small Worlds]]
[[he:עולמות קטנים (סיפור טלוויזיה)]]
[[ro:Small Worlds]]
[[ru:Маленькие миры]]