Ghost Machine (TV story)

This article concerns the episode of Torchwood. For the device nicknamed the Ghost Machine, see Quantum transducer.

Ghost Machine
Main setting:	2007
Key crew
Writer:	Helen Raynor
Director:	Colin Teague
Release details
Release number:	3
Premiere broadcast:	29th October 2006
Format:	50-minute Episode

Synopsis

When Gwen retrieves an alien object from a fleeing hoodie, she's haunted by a vision of a lonely young boy. As the team tracks down the object's owner, the elusive Bernie Harries, Owen experiences an even more terrifying vision and a long-buried crime resurfaces.

Plot

Torchwood comes into possession of a device that can tap into the hidden energy left behind by strong emotions, creating ghostly recreations of the events that left them there. When Owen accidentally uses the device at the scene of an unsolved murder, he becomes obsessed with bringing the killer to justice.

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
• Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
• Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
• Rhys Williams — Kai Owen
• Ed Morgan — Gareth Thomas
• Sean "Bernie" Harries — Ben McKay
• Eleri — Llinos Daniel
• Tom Flanagan — John Normington
• Lizzie Lewis — Emily Evans
• Young Ed Morgan — Christopher Elson
• Young Tom Flanagan — Christopher Greene
• Bernie's Mum — Julie Gibbs
• Snooker Player — Ian Kay
• Kid in arcade — Ryan Conway
• Woman in shop — Kathryn Howard

Crew

to be added

References

• Gwen's words after Morgan's death do not exactly mirror those in her earlier vision, perhaps indicating that Jack was correct about it merely being a possible future. Similarly, it appears that Bernie's vision of his own death has also been averted.
• As Owen flips through his various fake ID cards, one can be seen for UNIT.

Story Notes

to be added

Ratings

• BBC3 - 1.8 million viewers
• BBC2 - 2.5 million viewers

Myths

to be added

Filming Locations

to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

• When Owen and Toshiko are discussing Ed Morgan in the pub, she refers to him as "claustrophobic". But later, when Morgan is heading for Bernie's flat, she refers to him as "agoraphobic".

Continuity

• The circled "P" emblem of the Preachers from DW: Rise of the Cybermen can be seen as faded graffiti on rusty bins outside Bernie's flat.
• The explanation Jack gives for the ghosts matches the one Sarah Jane Smith would later give in SJA: Eye of the Gorgon.

DVD Releases

to be added

See also

to be added

External Links

• Doctor Who: Torchwood Reference Guide: Detailed Synopsis - Ghost Machine
• A Brief History of Time (Travel): Ghost Machine

External Links - Sources