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{{Infobox Torchwood
{{title dab away}}
|image = [[File:Ghostmachine.jpg|250px]]
{{real world}}
|story name = Ghost Machine
{{ImageLinkTV}}
|series = [[Torchwood]] - [[List of Torchwood television stories|TV Stories]]
{{Infobox Story SMW
|series number = [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|Series 1]]
|image                 = Ghost machine main img.jpg
|number = 3
|series               = ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''
|featuring = <ul><li>[[Jack Harkness]]</li><li>[[Gwen Cooper]]</li><li>[[Toshiko Sato]]</li><li>[[Owen Harper]]</li><li>[[Ianto Jones]]</ul>
|season number         = Series 1 (Torchwood)
|enemy = [[Bernie Harris]] <br>[[Ed Morgan]]
|series episode number = 3
|setting = [[Cardiff]], [[2007]]
|scripturl      = https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/documents/torchwood-1-episode-3-ghost-machine-green-revisions-21072006.pdf
|writer = [[Helen Raynor]]
|main character        = [[Jack Harkness|Jack]], [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]], [[Owen Harper|Owen]], [[Toshiko Sato|Tosh]], [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]]
|director = [[Colin Teague]]
|featuring            = [[Rhys Williams|Rhys]]
|producer = [[Richard Stokes]]<br>[[Chris Chibnall]](Co-producer)
|enemy                = [[Ed Morgan]]
|broadcast date = [[29th October]] [[2006]]
|setting               = [[Cardiff]], [[2000s]]{{note|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'', {{cs|Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story)}}, {{cs|Random Shoes (TV story)}}, {{cs|To the Last Man (TV story)}}, {{cs|Reset (TV story)}}, {{cs|Adrift (TV story)}}, {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}, {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}}, and {{cs|The New World (TV story)}}. As episode 10, {{cs|Out of Time (TV story)}}, is set at the end of [[December]], this means that episodes 11-13 are almost certainly set the year after episodes 1-10.}}
|previous story = [[Day One]]
|writer               = Helen Raynor
|next story = [[Cyberwoman]]
|director             = [[Colin Teague]]
}}{{TV stub}}
|producer             = [[Richard Stokes]]
:''This article concerns the episode of [[Torchwood]]. For the device nicknamed the Ghost Machine, see [[Quantum transducer]].''
|broadcast date       = 29 October 2006
'''Ghost Machine''' is the third episode of [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|Series One]] of [[Torchwood]].
|network              = BBC Three
|prev                  = Day One (TV story)
|next                 = Cyberwoman (TV story)
|clip                  = Premonitions - Torchwood - BBC
|clip2                = Captain Jack Teaches Gwen How to Shoot Ghost Machine Torchwood
|clip3                = Gwen Sees A Ghost From The Past Ghost Machine Torchwood
|format                = 1x50-minute episode
}}{{you may|Ghost Devices (novel)|n1=Ghost Devices|Ghost in the Machine (audio story)|n2=Ghost in the Machine}}
'''''Ghost Machine''''' was the third episode in the [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|first series]] of ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''. It was written by [[Helen Raynor]] and directed by [[Colin Teague]].


==Synopsis==
== Synopsis ==
When [[Gwen Cooper|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 Harris]], [[Owen Harper|Owen]] experiences an even more terrifying vision and a long-buried crime resurfaces. <ref>BBC Programme Information</ref>
When [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]] retrieves an [[Quantum transducer|alien object]] from [[Bernie Harris|a fleeing man in a hoodie]], she's haunted by a vision of [[Tom Flanagan|a lonely young boy]]. As the team tracks down the object's owner, [[Owen Harper|Owen]] experiences an even more terrifying vision and a long-buried crime resurfaces.


==Plot==
== Plot ==
[[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]] and [[Owen Harper|Owen]] are running down a city street one evening, chasing a signal that [[Toshiko Sato|Tosh]] is tracking. Tosh doesn't have a visual yet. [[Jack Harkness|Jack]] is on his way, driving the [[Torchwood SUV|SUV]].


Tosh finds their quarry on the [[CCTV]] feed and calls out to the tracking team that it's [[Bernie Harris|a man in a hoodie]]. They chase him through a shopping area, until he ducks under a closing exit barrier at the [[High Street Arcade]]. Only Gwen has kept close enough to make it through; Owen and Jack have to pause until the mechanism can be reversed. She chases the man in the hoodie over the gate into the [[Cardiff Central Station|train station]] and through some travellers until she tackles him. The runner squirms away, leaving Gwen with his [[jacket]]. Gwen is angry that she lost him, but Tosh says the signal is still right there with her. Gwen finds a device concealed in the jacket. It's beeping, and lights on it are flashing, as she lifts it up in both hands she presses a button.


The world around Gwen blurs and the other people in the station disappear. She's in the same station, still night or evening. A little boy, in short pants, coat, and tie, with a little [[grey]] [[hat]], walks out of the booking hall, with a suitcase, two brown paper packages on string, a [[teddy bear]], and a tag pinned to his lapel that says he is [[Tom Flanagan|Tom Erasmus Flanagan]]. Gwen tries to talk to him. He doesn't really answer, but says he's lost and no one there knows who he is. Tom walks back towards the booking hall. Gwen fades back as Jack comes up with Owen, apologising for missing the gate. He asks Gwen if she's alright. Gwen says she's just seen a [[ghost]].


The Torchwood group are in full flight as they race through the busy evening streets of Cardiff. From the Hub, Toshiko is using the sensors to track something of alien origin that’s moving fast in the direction of the Castle. She’s been unable to make any visual contact on the city’s CCTV system, but the gap between the group and their target is getting smaller. Jack warns them to avoid any heroics as they don’t know what they’re up against yet. Toshiko identifies their target as a young man wearing a hoodie, but as Gwen catches up with the teenager, she gets separated from the others by a descending security grille at the shopping arcade. Just outside the railway station, she grabs the man’s jacket, but he slips free and gets away. Toshiko congratulates her on her success and it becomes clear that the target was not the teenager but something in his jacket. Gwen finds a strange alien device in the pocket and activates it. She finds herself having an out-of-body experience where she’s still in the same location, but everything around her is from a different time. She sees a young boy dressed in 1940s school uniform who appears to be lost. He has a suitcase and a name tag - Tom Erasmus Flanagan - and looks very much like a wartime evacuee. Things return to normal and when they others catch up with her, she tells them she’s just seen a ghost.
Back at [[the Hub]], Tosh goes over the CCTV, which shows that Gwen didn't go anywhere after pressing the button. Gwen protests that the encounter felt very real, to the point where she could actually feel the little boy's emotions. Owen suggests both [[hallucination]]s and [[dementia]], causing Gwen to shout at him. Jack examines the device while Tosh tries to backtrack the hoodie guy with the CCTV and the little boy from the vision. Owen says not to bother, he's found Thomas Erasmus Flanagan on 74 Bryaeron Terrace, [[Butetown]]... in the phone book.


Back at the Hub, the group review the CCTV footage of Gwen snatching the teenager’s jacket and then a few seconds later she is joined by Jack and Owen. There’s no evidence on film of anything unusual happening. Gwen assures them she didn’t just see the little boy, she could actually feel what he was thinking. Owen theorises hallucinations or dementia, but Jack is more interested in examining the alien device for clues. Toshiko has lots of CCTV footage of the guy they were chasing, so tracking him down should be fairly easy, but when she offers to run a full computer check on the name written on the boy’s tag, Owen beats her to it by simply looking him up in the local telephone directory.
"DI Cooper" (Gwen) and "DS Harper" (Owen) pay a visit to the address. A blonde woman answers, and she turns out to be Tom's daughter, [[Eleri Flanagan|Eleri]]. Tom is watching [[television|TV]]. When Gwen says she needs to ask about an incident the previous evening, Eleri says they were watching the ''[[Strictly Come Dancing]]'' finale. Owen and Eleri go to make [[tea]] while Gwen speaks to Tom.


The next morning Gwen and Owen call at the address listed for Tom Erasmus Flanagan and are introduced to an elderly man. They claim to be police officers looking for eye witnesses to an incident at the train station last night, but both Mr Flanagan and his daughter say they were home watching television. Gwen sends Owen to help make a cup of tea while she talks alone to the old man. He tells her he’s lived here for 66 years after being evacuated in 1941. He arrived at the railway station, with just a suitcase and his name written on a tag attached to his school uniform, but there was a mix-up and he was left alone at the station. Eventually he was taken in by a lovely childless couple and after his parents were killed during the war, he stayed in Wales. Gwen realises he was the young boy she saw in her vision.
Tom never lost his accent, despite his 66 years in [[Wales]]. He says he was evacuated with the other children from the East End in [[1941]], when he was 8, and was sent to [[Cardiff]] as a way station on his way to the country. His mother and big sister sent him off from [[Paddington station]] and he never saw them again. There was a mixup and he had been left at the Cardiff station all alone. It felt like the end of the world as he wandered around, totally lost and forgotten, looking for someone to look out for him. Eventually they realised he'd been forgotten. He was taken in by a nice family, and since he had no family left in [[London]], he never returned after the war.


As she and Owen leave, Gwen receives a phone call from Rhys, who wonders whether she’ll be home tonight. She isn’t sure and Rhys becomes frustrated. He doesn’t mind the secrecy surrounding her new job, but the uncertainty is causing problems for their relationship. If she can’t commit to being home, he’ll make alternative plans and go out with his friends instead.
Gwen tries out theories on Owen as they walk away, but is interrupted by a call from [[Rhys Williams|Rhys]]. He's doing the laundry, and wants to know if she's coming home tonight. She isn't sure, and he is angry. He feels that even if she needs to keep secrets for her job, she should know whether or not she'll be home. He says he's going out tonight and hangs up on her.


The young man carrying the alien device has been identified as Sean Harris, also known as Bernie. He’s 19 years old with a string of convictions for burglary, shoplifting, theft and credit card fraud. The device itself was made using advanced nano-technology, but they can’t seem to get it working now, so they decide to concentrate on questioning Bernie. The group split up and visit locations where he’s known to hang out. They begin by visiting his mother in an area east of the city centre called Splott, but she’s banished him from the house until he pays back the money he owes her. Various other contacts at the local shops, snooker hall and amusement arcades are equally unhelpful and the group eventually end up despondent and eating a take-away under a disused railway bridge. Jack decides their only course of action now is to analyse the device again in laboratory conditions and try to recreate the events of last night as far as possible.
Back at the Hub, Jack and Tosh have found [[Sean Harris]], also known as Bernie, a known petty thief. They've also analysed the device, which is a [[nanotechnology|nanotechnological]] instrument of such complexity that it makes the work of [[NASA]] look like [[Toys R Us|Toys Я Us]]. Gwen notices that the machine isn't currently beeping and lighting up. Ianto shows up with snacks and coffee.


As they pass through the tunnel, the device suddenly becomes active and Owen experiences a similar out-of-body experience. He’s still in the same place, but it’s now a stormy night. He sees a young girl crying after a confrontation with her boyfriend. Owen tries to communicate with her, then realises he isn’t really there. Her boyfriend, Eddie Morgan, arrives and calls out the girl’s name - Lizzie. She’s obviously terrified of him and tells him her friends warned her not to go with him. Owen can tell instantly that Eddie dominates Lizzie, yet she resists when he tries to force himself on her. Angered by her refusal, he strikes her and then pulls out a knife. Owen watches in terror as Eddie drags her to one side and attacks her. He finds himself back in the present, but is too shocked to tell the others much about what he’s just experienced.
All except Ianto go to [[Splott]], which is listed as Bernie's neighbourhood, to look for him. They strike out rather impressively, as they discover that Bernie has managed to annoy pretty much every person who knew him, right down to his own mother, who won't let him back in her house until he pays her the 50 [[Pound|quid]] he owes her. Gwen, Tosh, and Owen have just given up when Jack walks up and keeps on walking. They follow him and ask where he's going. He says they're going to the railway station to experiment with the same conditions that were there during Gwen's experience. They all stop under the bridge to argue about how dangerous it is. Jack tosses the device to Owen and taunts them about giving up on the search for Bernie. As Owen lifts up the machine, it starts beeping and he calls for the rest to come back.


Later, the group discuss what they know. Like Gwen, Owen didn’t just witness these events, he actually felt the emotions of the people even though they lived years ago. From his description, Jack deduces that the girl came from about 40-45 years earlier and Toshiko tracks down records of a murder victim named Lizzie Lewis who was raped and murdered in the tunnel on March 29th 1963. No one was brought to trial, but Owen remembers the name Ed Morgan and Toshiko gets to work. Meanwhile, Jack has established that the alien device is a quantum transducer that can convert one form of energy to another. In this case the device takes quantum energy from human emotion, amplifies it and converts it into something other people can actually sense. It’s a bit like déjà vu or the feeling there’s someone behind you when you walk into an empty room. Owen wants Toshiko to check for witness statements or coroner’s reports relating to the crime, but Jack reminds him that for a case to be reopened you need new evidence - and they can hardly present what they have to the police or in an open court. Jack insists their priority is to track down Bernie Harris and find out what he knows about the ghost machine, not to investigate a 40 year old murder.
The world blurs for Owen and suddenly it goes from sunny afternoon to [[rain]]y night under the bridge. A girl stumbles down the wall. She's in a pretty pink coat, a nice dress, and a [[1960s]] hairstyle, but she is sobbing. She's [[Lizzie Lewis]], and she's running away from a boy called [[Ed Morgan|Eddie Morgan]]; she has realised the other girls were right, she shouldn't have gone outside with him. Eddie comes up behind her, asking if he's a bad boy. He flatters her and she stops running. He kisses her but the kiss turns hard and she starts to fight away. He slaps her as she cries, then he grabs her hair and pulls a blade. As she pleads, he drags her over towards the wall...


Jack summons Gwen to the Torchwood firing range and decides it’s time she learnt how to use guns. Slowly at first, he takes her through the best techniques and by the end of the session she’s become proficient with a range of weapons. The hours have passed by and it’s time for her to go home. She asks Jack when he goes home and is surprised to learn that he actually lives in the Hub. He claims he doesn’t sleep and she wonders whether he ever gets lonely at night.
Owen blurs back to the rest of the team. He's frantic, knowing she was so scared, but he could not move and couldn't help her. He pants and starts to cry as Gwen takes the device. Back in the Hub, Jack tells Tosh it was 40-45 years ago, and she finds that the only child of [[Mabel Ann Lewis]] of Hatford Street died [[29 March|March 29th]], [[1963]]. She had been raped and murdered on Penfro Street under the bridge at age 17. No one had ever been brought to trial. As Owen asks Tosh to look for Eddie Morgan, Jack notices that the scan of the device shows a [[quantum transducer]]. This is a device for converting energy from one form to another. This particular transducer seems to amplify the energy of human emotion into ghosts. Jack says, "When you feel déjà vu, something behind you in an empty room, there was, there always is."


Gwen returns home but finds the place is empty. Rhys has left a message saying that he’s playing poker with his friends (and winning!) and has decided to stay overnight. Eventually the temptation to experiment again with the alien device becomes too much and she switches it on. She finds herself reliving the day when she told Rhys she’d become a fully trained police officer. She tries again and this time she sees herself fussing over Rhys as they prepared for her mother’s 60th birthday. Back in the present day, she realises how much she misses Rhys when they’re not together. At that moment, he returns home early because his friends ended up having an argument. He tells her he doesn’t mind her working all hours, just as long as she still wants to come home at the end. She promises him she does and they kiss.
Owen pushes for more information about Lizzie's death and Jack realises that Owen wants the case reopened. He emphatically states that, no matter how it felt, Owen was not there, he was not a witness, and they can't take it to court. Tomorrow, they'll do their job — which is to find the origin and uses of the alien device and secure it. He sends Owen home and stalks off after ordering, "Gwen, with me."


Owen has also gone home, but he can’t get his experiences with Lizzie and Eddie out of his head. He spends the next few hours going through all the archive research material he’s collected, including police statements that show Edwin Morgan was brought in for questioning by the police about Lizzie’s murder but was released without charge. On a whim, Owen tries the telephone directory again and finds an entry for E Morgan at 46 Pryse Avenue, Cardiff.
Gwen finds Jack in an area of the base which has been set up as a shooting range. He starts with the basics, then stands back to watch her. After a somewhat rocky start, the roof is safe and she's hitting targets with a [[Firearm|gun]] in each hand. As they finish up, Gwen checks her [[watch]] and says she's got to go. She jokes that Jack lives at the Hub, in the process finding out that Jack does actually live there. He doesn't have a place to sleep because he doesn't. When Gwen asks if it gets lonely at night, he doesn't answer.


The next morning, Owen visits the address using fake ID. An elderly man opens the door and Owen asks to come in to check reports of a gas leak. After establishing they’re alone in the house, Owen starts asking questions about how long Morgan has lived in the street and whether he remembers some of the old neighbours from years ago - in particular Mabel Lewis, whose daughter died in 1963. Morgan becomes very agitated and uncomfortable, especially when Owen starts describing Lizzie exactly as she was the night he killed her. Eventually Owen tells him he knows what happened under the bridge that night and the elderly man jumps up and demands he leave his house. Just before Owen is thrown out, Morgan mentions having told him before that he’ll get nothing from him.
Gwen goes home, finding that Rhys has gone out to [[Daf]]'s to play [[poker]]. She's brought the device home and uses it to see happy scenes, such as her flirting with Rhys in the kitchen when they celebrated her new job as a police constable. Rhys comes back, and they make up. As she kisses him, she hides the device back in her purse. Owen is home drinking [[Alcohol|liquor]] from the bottle. He's taken the reports on Lizzie's murder from Torchwood. With some effort, he finds Eddie's current address on [[Pryse Avenue|Pryse Ave]]. He goes to [[46 Pryse Avenue|the address]], selecting a false ID from the Gas Supply Services. He talks his way into Eddie's home, even though Eddie doesn't have any gas service. Owen sits down with him and talks to him, saying he knows about the bridge. Owen describes the entire scene of the murder while Morgan visibly gets tense. Morgan chases him out, saying he'll get nothing from him.


As Owen returns to his car, he notices a young man in a hoodie sitting nearby - and he recognises him as Bernie Harris! The teenager sprints off and a lengthy chase ensues through the streets and the back gardens of the neighbourhood. Eventually he catches the youngster…and they end up in a nearby pub where they’re joined by the others. After Bernie explains that he got his nickname from when he burnt his neighbour’s shed down at the age of 12, Jack shows him the alien device and asks him where it came from. He claims that he and a friend were using a lock-up that belonged to an old man, which was filled with odds and ends, including some foreign coins and weird bits of rock. They thought the device might be worth something so they planned to sell it. Bernie warns them that the device makes you see strange things and he tells them about a young woman he saw putting her dead baby into the canal. He knew the woman, but she’s old now and when he tracked her down, she offered him money not to tell anyone. He also experienced the murder of Lizzie Lewis. The group have heard enough and prepare to leave, but Bernie calls them back and asks them if they want the other half of the device!
As Owen returns to his car, he spots Bernie smoking, and chases him. People in the neighbourhood dislike Bernie, and the bystanders help Owen keep track of him. Finally, Owen corners Bernie in a fenced backyard. Bernie asks Owen not to hurt him. Owen replies, "I'm not gonna hurt you... I'm gonna bloody kill you."


Back at Bernie’s flat, he gives them the other half and shows them the money and rock, which also turns out to be alien. It’s more driftwood, washing in through the rift. They realise Bernie must have split the device into two pieces and they wonder what it can do now that it’s whole again. The teenager tells Gwen that he only used the other half once and it terrified him. Instead of showing him the past, it showed him the moment he’s going to die - in the road just outside the estate. Most disturbing of all, in the image he was exactly the same age he is now, which means he’s going to die very soon.
They go to a [[pub]] to wait for the rest of the field team. Bernie is babbling when Jack puts down the device and says, "It's worth knowing we're probably about the only people you can tell." Bernie stole the device from a storage unit. It was with a bunch of strange coins and rocks in a tin. After he'd taken the device, it started going off near the old wharf. He saw a woman dumping her dead baby in the [[water]], and realised he knew the woman. He went and told her what he saw and she gave him money to keep quiet. Jack realises that Bernie doesn't know anything more about the device and they begin to leave. He yells after them that he's got rights, but they don't stop until he asks if they want the other half.


Gwen catches up with the others in the road and is about to tell them what she’s just learned when she accidentally activates the complete device. Jack rushes to stop her, but it’s too late. During an out-of-body experience she sees another version of herself in the same road, but this version is covered in blood and is holding a knife. The future Gwen explains that Owen had the knife and wanted to kill someone, and that she couldn’t stop what happened. The present-day version of Gwen finds herself back on the road with her concerned friends around her. She views Owen with suspicion…
They go to Bernie's [[flat]] on [[Evelyn Street]] to collect the other half and the alien coins and rocks. Tosh finds that they fit together like [[LEGO]]. Bernie is dismayed that they're going to confiscate everything. Gwen trails behind the others and Bernie tells her that he never used the second half again, as it showed him he was going to die bleeding in the street outside. Gwen hurries down and calls out to Jack, but the machine starts beeping. Without stopping to think, Gwen holds it in both hands as Jack bolts toward her, yelling.


Back at the Hub, Gwen tells her story to Jack in private. She didn’t actually see Owen in her vision, but they know Bernie has already witnessed his own death and now she’s seen a vision in which she spoke about Owen having a knife at the same location, yet it was Gwen that was holding the knife. Jack theorises that this was just one of many possible futures. Whatever she and Bernie saw, it might never happen. She finds this a comfort and decides it’s worth telling Bernie the same.
The world ripples around Gwen and she sees herself standing with her hands covered in [[blood]], holding a [[knife]]. In the vision, Gwen is asking for help. She couldn't stop it and he's dead. Owen had the knife. Gwen stands there in shock as the vision ends. Back in the Hub, Jack tries to ease Gwen's fears, telling her it's only a possible future. Gwen wants more assurance, demanding to know if any of that alien stuff they collect is ever of any use.


Alone in his house, the elderly Ed Morgan is trying to summon up the courage to call a telephone number he’s written down on a piece of paper, but keeps changing his mind. Later, Bernie’s telephone rings and he answers it…
Tosh and Owen are out for a drink. She tells him she found Eddie. Owen tells her what he did and asks what she found out; Tosh found that Eddie had major issues with mental instability and hasn't left his house in years because of his [[agoraphobia]]. They realise that Bernie must have tried to blackmail Eddie. Meanwhile, Eddie calls Bernie. Gwen shows up at Bernie's to let him know what Jack said about possible futures. Jack calls Gwen to let her know that Eddie had been frightened by Owen, and they're on their way. Tosh sees Eddie on the CCTV, coming up Evelyn Street. Bernie runs for it and Gwen follows.


In a nearby bar, Toshiko tells Owen that she’s managed to track down Ed Morgan, and Owen admits that he also found him and even paid him a visit earlier in the day to frighten him. Toshiko has read his medical records and has discovered that Morgan is claustrophobic, paranoid and depressive, and has attempted suicide twice. He’s barely left his house in years. Owen mentions the fact that Morgan thought he was trying to blackmail him and said he’d told him before that he’ll get nothing from him. They realise someone else has already been trying to blackmail Morgan…
Eddie confronts Bernie with a knife and a paranoid rant. Gwen tries to calm him, but Eddie gets angrier, as he blames women for making him bad. Jack and Owen jump him, then Owen gets the knife and threatens Eddie with it. He realises what he's doing and gives the knife to Gwen, who is relieved. As Eddie goes to hug her for saving his life, he walks right into the outstretched knife in her hand. He drops to the ground, bleeding. Owen begins [[CPR]], but realises quickly that it's futile and stops. Gwen is staring in shock, blood on her hands, the picture from her earlier vision.


Gwen visits Bernie at his house and tries to reassure him that even though he’s seen a future vision of his death, that doesn’t mean it’s definitely going to happen, but the teenager is becoming increasingly nervous. Gwen’s phone rings and Jack tells her that Owen has confessed to visiting Morgan. It looks like he succeeded in frightening him, but because Bernie had already tried to blackmail Morgan first he’s likely to think the two men are working together. He tells her to stay with Bernie as he and Owen are on their way. Toshiko stays behind to monitor the CCTV in case Bernie tries to make a run for it. Toshiko discovers from Morgan’s medical records that he was admitted to hospital about fifteen years earlier after suffering paranoid delusions and violent fantasies. She then sees the elderly man on the CCTV, stumbling along the street in the direction of Bernie’s house. She warns Jack and they try to get there as quickly as they can.
Back at the Hub, they debrief. Owen is glad that he decided not to kill Eddie. Gwen is shocked and guilty, and Tosh and Jack try to comfort her with the thought that it could have been anybody. Jack gives Ianto the device for the secure archives, then takes the silently crying Gwen to the [[Cardiff Bay|bay]] to watch the sun rise.


Gwen confronts Bernie about his blackmailing scheme, but the teenager sees something through the window and leaves his house. Realising that may well be the moment Bernie dies, she rushes after him. She finds Morgan and Bernie confronting each other in the street. The old man has a knife and claims to have been waiting for years for someone to come after him. He’s always believed he could see his guilt in the faces of people when they looked at him. He tried to hide, but they always knew. Gwen tries to calm him down, but he becomes aggressive towards her. Bernie promises Morgan that he won’t say anything, but Morgan says he’s come here tonight to make sure.
== 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]]
* [[Rhys Williams]] — [[Kai Owen]]
* [[Ed Morgan]] — [[Gareth Thomas]]
* [[Bernie Harris|Bernie]] — [[Ben McKay]]
* [[Eleri Flanagan|Eleri]] — [[Llinos Daniel]]
* [[Tom Flanagan]] — [[John Normington]]
* [[Lizzie Lewis]] — [[Emily Evans]]
* Young [[Ed Morgan]] — [[Christopher Elson]]
* Young [[Tom Flanagan]] — [[Christopher Greene]]
* [[Bernie's mum|Bernie's Mum]] — [[Julie Gibbs]]
* [[Snooker player (Ghost Machine)|Snooker Player]] — [[Ian Kay]]
* [[Kid in arcade (Ghost Machine)|Kid in arcade]] — [[Ryan Conway]]
* [[Woman in shop (Ghost Machine)|Woman in shop]] — [[Kathryn Howard]]


Jack and Owen arrive and grab Morgan from behind. Owen manages to disarm the man, but then turns the knife on Morgan and holds it up to his face. He wants the old man to know what it’s like to feel the fear, just like he did himself when he synchronised with Lizzie. Gwen takes the knife away from Owen, relieved that they appear to have changed what she saw - but while Jack is distracted, Morgan deliberately steps forward and impales himself on the knife in her hands. He falls to the ground and although Owen tries to resuscitate him, it’s too late. Morgan is dead. Gwen goes into shock, swearing that she was too close and couldn’t stop what happened.
== Crew ==
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The group take Gwen back to the Hub and Toshiko assures her that Morgan wanted to die and would have found a way, no matter what they did. Owen knows he’s screwed up, but he didn’t kill the man even when he had the chance. Jack blames the alien device as the problem with looking into the future is that you can’t just sit back and watch, you have to try to change things. The device is too dangerous, so he gives it to Ianto to place in the secure archives. Gwen tells Jack that no matter what anyone else says, she feels responsible for killing Morgan and she’s still got his blood on her hands. It’s nearly dawn and the city will be awake soon. Jack points out that they’re surrounded by ghosts all the time, even though they can‘t see or feel them. There’s a million shadows of human emotion out there and they’ve got to learn to live with them.
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Food and drink ===
* Owen and Bernie have [[beer]] while waiting for the field team.
* Bernie has a tin of [[baked bean]]s.


==Cast==
=== Cardiff ===
*Captain [[Jack Harkness]] - [[John Barrowman]]
* [[Cardiff Castle]] is mentioned.
*[[Gwen Cooper]] - [[Eve Myles]]
* Businesses in Cardiff include [[Gap (business)|Gap]], [[Dorothy Perkins|DP]], [[Qube]] and [[Hayes Island Snack Bar]].
*[[Owen Harper]] - [[Burn Gorman]]
* Gwen and Owen chase Bernie through [[Cardiff Central Station]]. Bernie runs out from the [[High Street Arcade]]. The shops on either side are [[EccentriX]] and [[Wales Tartan Centres]].
*[[Toshiko Sato]] - [[Naoko Mori]]
* During [[the Blitz]], Tom was [[Evacuation|evacuated]] to [[Cardiff]] and then the countryside.
*[[Ianto Jones]] - [[Gareth David-Lloyd]]
*[[Rhys Williams]] — [[Kai Owen]]
*[[Ed Morgan]] — [[Gareth Thomas]]
*[[Bernie Harris]] — [[Ben McKay]]
*[[Eleri Flanagan|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==
=== Animals and insects ===
{|width="75%"
* Gwen doesn't even kill [[spider]]s in the bath.
|-valign="top"
* Owen runs through a flock of [[chicken]]s in a backyard.
|width="25%"|
*[[Executive Producer]]s - [[Russell T Davies]], [[Julie Gardner]], [[Marcus Prince]]
*[[Assistant Producer]] - [[Sophie Fante]]
*[[Co-Producer]] – [[Chris Chibnall]]
*[[Associate Producer]] – [[Terry Reeve]]
*[[Script Editor]] - [[Brian Minchin]]
*Casting Director - [[Andy Pryor]]
*Unit Manager - [[Geraint Havard Jones]]
*Senior Production Accountant - [[Endaf Emyr Williams]]
*Production Accountant – [[Ceri Tothill]]
*Sound Recordist - [[Jeff Matthews]]
*Costume Designer - [[Ray Holman]]
*Make-Up Designer - [[Marrie Dorris]]
*Music – [[Ben Foster]], [[Murray Gold]]
*Visual Effects - [[The Mill]]
*Visual FX Producers - [[Will Cohen]], [[Marie A. Jones]]
*Visual FX Supervisor – [[Dave Houghton]]
*On-Set Visual FX Supervisor - [[Barney Curnow]]
*[[Production Designer]] - [[Edward Thomas]]
*[[Editor]] - [[Mike Hopkins]]
*[[Director of Photography]] – [[Mark Waters]]
*[[First Assistant Director]] - [[Nick Rae]]
*[[Second Assistant Director]] - [[Lynsey Muir]]
*[[Third Assistant Director]] - [[Rhian Salisbury]]
*[[Location Manager]] - [[Paul Davies]]
*[[Production Coordinator]] - [[Carmelina Palumbo]]
*[[Continuity]] - [[Vicky Cole]]
*[[Camera Operator]] - [[Gareth Huges]]
*[[Camera Assistant]] – [[Mani Paliwala-Blaxter]]
|width="25%" style="border-left: 1px solid #E0E0E0; padding-left:1em;"|
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*[[Grip]] - [[Dai Hopkins]]
*[[Boom Operator]] - [[Jeff Welch]]
*[[Gaffer]] - [[Dave Fowler]]
*[[Best Boy]] - [[Steve Slocombe]]
*[[Stunt Coordinator]] - [[Tom Lucy]]
*[[Stunt Performer]]s - [[Gary Hoptrough]], [[Jo McLaren]]
*[[Stunt Double]] – [[Curtis Rivers]] for John Barrowman
*[[Art Department Coordinator]] - [[Matthew North]]
*[[Concept Artist]] - [[Peter McKinstry]]
*[[Production Buyer]] - [[Catherine Samuel]]
*[[Chief Supervising Art Director]] - [[Stephen Nicholas]]
*[[Stand-by Art Director]] - [[Leonie Rintler]]
*[[Property Master]] - [[Nick Thomas]]
*[[Construction Manager]] - [[Matthew Hywel-Davies]]
*[[Stand-by Props]] - [[Brian Henry]]
*[[Costume Supervisor]] - [[Debra Haggett]]
*[[Costume Assistant]]s – [[Sam Benbow]], [[Bobbie Peach]]
*[[Make-Up Supervisor]] - [[Claire Pritchard]]
*[[Make-Up Artist]]s - [[Sarah Astley]], [[Kate Roberts]]
*[[Casting Associate]] - [[Andy Brierley]]
*[[Assistant Editor]] - [[Matt Mullins]]
*[[Post Production Supervisor]]s - [[Chris Blatchford]], [[Helen Vallis]]
*[[On-Line Editor]] - [[Matthew Clarke]]
*[[Colourist]] - [[Mick Vincent]]
*[[2D VFX Artist]]s - [[Astrid Busser-Casas]], [[Joseph Courtis]]
*[[Dubbing Mixer]] - [[Tim Ricketts]]
*[[Sound FX Editor]] - [[Howard Eaves]]
|}


==References==
=== Popular culture ===
*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.
* Owen is playing a game called ''[[Laser Ghost]]''.
*As Owen flips through his various fake ID cards, one can be seen for [[UNIT]].
* The "[[Natasha Kaplinsky (in-universe)|newsreader]]" won ''[[Strictly Come Dancing]]''.
===Music===
* "[[Feeling a Moment]]" by [[Feeder]] is playing when Owen and Tosh have a drink together.
*''Can't Stand me Now ''- [[The Libertines]]
*''Feeling a Moment'' - [[Feeder]]


==Story notes==
=== Miscellaneous ===
''to be added''
* Before being evacuated, Tom lived on [[Poppythorn Lane]].
* Owen has false IDs from the [[Regional Water Division]], [[Gas Supply Services]], and [[UNIT]].
* Ed Morgan was prescribed [[SSRI]].


===Ratings===
== Story notes ==
*BBC3 - 1.8 million viewers
* The episode was repeated on [[BBC Two]], three days later at 9:00pm on Wednesday [[1 November (releases)|1 November]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]].
*BBC2 - 2.5 million viewers
* The circled "P" emblem of [[the Preachers]] from the television story ''[[Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)|Rise of the Cybermen]]'' can be seen as faded graffiti on rusty bins outside Bernie's flat.
* According to this episode, [[Tom Flanagan]] stayed in Cardiff for 66 years after arriving in [[1941]], placing the story in [[2007]]. Tom and [[Eleri Flanagan|Eleri]] watching the ''Strictly Come Dancing'' finals and knowing who won the contest implies a December 2007 setting, if real world TV programming is the same as that of the [[DWU]] ([[T:NO RW|which, per this wiki's policies, is not always the case]]). A 2007 setting, whether in December or earlier, [[Aliens of London dating controversy|clashes with and contradicts dates given in several other stories]].
* [[Russell T Davies]] picked [[Helen Raynor]] to write ''[[Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)|Daleks in Manhattan]]/[[Evolution of the Daleks (TV story)|Evolution of the Daleks]]'' based on the strength of this episode.


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


===Filming locations===
=== Filming locations ===
''to be added''
* The Friary, Cardiff (Gwen and Owen chase the signal.)
* Queen Street, Cardiff (Gwen and Owen chase the signal.)
* High Street, Cardiff (Bernie is pursued into the arcade.)
* High Street Arcade, Cardiff (The chase through the arcade)
* Hayes Island, Cardiff (Gwen and Owen chase the signal.)
* Cardiff Central Station, Cardiff (Gwen first shifts time.)
* Adamsdown Place, Cardiff (Bernie's Mum's House.)
* Barry Shooting Rang, Cardiff (Gwen's shooting lesson.)
* St. David's Hotel, Cardiff (Owen's Flat.)
* Adamsdown Squre, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
* Kames Place, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
* Inchmarnock Street, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
* Lady Margret's Place, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
* Gwendoline Place, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
* Taff Meed Embankment, Cardiff(Owen witnesses an old murder.)
* Royal Close, Cardiff (Bernie's estate.)
* Cardiff Bay Barrage, Cardiff (Jack and Gwen on the waterfront.)
* [[Upper Boat Studios]], Cardiff


===Production errors===
=== Broadcasts ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Date
!Time
!Channel
!class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
|[[Sunday]] [[29 October (releases)|29 October]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]]
|22:00
|[[BBC Three]]
|First broadcast.
|-
|[[Wednesday]] [[1 November (releases)|1 November]] [[2006 (releases)|2006]]
|21:00
|[[BBC Two England]]
|
|-
|[[Sunday]] [[21 January (releases)|21 January]] [[2007 (releases)|2007]]
|22:00
|[[BBC Three]]
|
|-
|[[Friday]] [[28 September (releases)|28 September]] [[2007 (releases)|2007]]
|21:00
|[[BBC Three]]
|
|-
|[[Saturday]] [[29 September (releases)|29 September]] [[2007 (releases)|2007]]
|02:40
|[[BBC Three]]
|
|-
|[[Friday]] [[30 April (releases)|30 April]] [[2010 (releases)|2010]]
|00:10
|[[BBC HD]]
|
|}


==Continuity==
=== Production errors ===
{{Torchwood discontinuity}}
{{Torchwood discontinuity}}
*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.
* Tosh tells Owen that Ed Morgan is [[Claustrophobia|claustrophobic]], but when she checks his records on the computer, she says he is [[Agoraphobia|agoraphobic]].
*The explanation Jack gives for the ghosts matches the one Sarah Jane Smith would later give in [[SJA]]: ''[[Eye of the Gorgon]]''.
 
== Continuity ==
* Jack remembers that Gwen told him she didn't know how to shoot as seen in [[TV]]: {{cs|Day One (TV story)}}
* Tom mentions how he was evacuated during the Second World War because of the extensive bombing occurring there. This bombing was depicted during [[TV]]: {{cs|The Empty Child (TV story)}}.


==Timeline==
== Home video releases ==
*Ghost Machine occurs before: [[TWN]]: ''[[Another Life]]''
[[File:TWS1Part1.jpg|thumb|Series one, part one DVD cover]]


==Home video releases==
=== DVD releases ===
This episode was first released on DVD, with four other episodes entitle ''Torchwood: Series 1, part 1'' on 26 [[December]] [[2006]]. It was later released in ''Torchwood:The Complete first series'' on 19th [[November]] [[2007]]
* 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.)


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


==External links==
* 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.
*{{dwrefguide|torchwood_03.htm|Ghost Machine}}
* It was also released in the Series 1-4 Blu-ray boxset. (Region 2 release: [[14 November (releases)|14 November]] [[2011 (releases)|2011]])
*{{briefhistory|torchwood/2006c.html|Ghost Machine}}
*{{locguide|ghostmachine|Ghost Machine}}


==Footnotes==
== External links ==
<references/>
{{dwrefguide|torchwood_03.htm|Ghost Machine}}
{{Torchwood series 1}}
* {{briefhistory|torchwood/2006c.html|Ghost Machine}}
{{wikipedia|Ghost Machine (Torchwood)}}
* {{locguide|ghostmachine|Ghost Machine}}
* {{whoniverse|tw1_03|Ghost Machine}}
 
== Footnotes ==
=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}
{{TWTV}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[cy:Ghost Machine (stori deledu)]]
[[de:T 03 - Ghost Machine]]
[[fr:Ghost Machine]]
[[fr:Ghost Machine]]
[[Category:Torchwood episodes]]
[[he:מכונת רפאים (סיפור טלוויזיה)]]
[[ro:Ghost Machine]]
[[ru:Машина призраков]]
 
[[Category:Articles that were originally Wikipedia forks]]
[[Category:Torchwood television stories]]
[[Category:2006 television stories]]
[[Category:Series 1 (Torchwood) stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in Cardiff]]
[[Category:Stories set in Cardiff]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2007]]
[[Category:Stories set in the 2000s]]
[[Category:2006 television stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1963]]
[[Category:Stories set in World War II]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1941]]

Latest revision as of 18:45, 10 November 2024

RealWorld.png

You may be looking for Ghost Devices or Ghost in the Machine.

Ghost Machine was the third episode in the first series of Torchwood. It was written by Helen Raynor and directed by Colin Teague.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Gwen and Owen are running down a city street one evening, chasing a signal that Tosh is tracking. Tosh doesn't have a visual yet. Jack is on his way, driving the SUV.

Tosh finds their quarry on the CCTV feed and calls out to the tracking team that it's a man in a hoodie. They chase him through a shopping area, until he ducks under a closing exit barrier at the High Street Arcade. Only Gwen has kept close enough to make it through; Owen and Jack have to pause until the mechanism can be reversed. She chases the man in the hoodie over the gate into the train station and through some travellers until she tackles him. The runner squirms away, leaving Gwen with his jacket. Gwen is angry that she lost him, but Tosh says the signal is still right there with her. Gwen finds a device concealed in the jacket. It's beeping, and lights on it are flashing, as she lifts it up in both hands she presses a button.

The world around Gwen blurs and the other people in the station disappear. She's in the same station, still night or evening. A little boy, in short pants, coat, and tie, with a little grey hat, walks out of the booking hall, with a suitcase, two brown paper packages on string, a teddy bear, and a tag pinned to his lapel that says he is Tom Erasmus Flanagan. Gwen tries to talk to him. He doesn't really answer, but says he's lost and no one there knows who he is. Tom walks back towards the booking hall. Gwen fades back as Jack comes up with Owen, apologising for missing the gate. He asks Gwen if she's alright. Gwen says she's just seen a ghost.

Back at the Hub, Tosh goes over the CCTV, which shows that Gwen didn't go anywhere after pressing the button. Gwen protests that the encounter felt very real, to the point where she could actually feel the little boy's emotions. Owen suggests both hallucinations and dementia, causing Gwen to shout at him. Jack examines the device while Tosh tries to backtrack the hoodie guy with the CCTV and the little boy from the vision. Owen says not to bother, he's found Thomas Erasmus Flanagan on 74 Bryaeron Terrace, Butetown... in the phone book.

"DI Cooper" (Gwen) and "DS Harper" (Owen) pay a visit to the address. A blonde woman answers, and she turns out to be Tom's daughter, Eleri. Tom is watching TV. When Gwen says she needs to ask about an incident the previous evening, Eleri says they were watching the Strictly Come Dancing finale. Owen and Eleri go to make tea while Gwen speaks to Tom.

Tom never lost his accent, despite his 66 years in Wales. He says he was evacuated with the other children from the East End in 1941, when he was 8, and was sent to Cardiff as a way station on his way to the country. His mother and big sister sent him off from Paddington station and he never saw them again. There was a mixup and he had been left at the Cardiff station all alone. It felt like the end of the world as he wandered around, totally lost and forgotten, looking for someone to look out for him. Eventually they realised he'd been forgotten. He was taken in by a nice family, and since he had no family left in London, he never returned after the war.

Gwen tries out theories on Owen as they walk away, but is interrupted by a call from Rhys. He's doing the laundry, and wants to know if she's coming home tonight. She isn't sure, and he is angry. He feels that even if she needs to keep secrets for her job, she should know whether or not she'll be home. He says he's going out tonight and hangs up on her.

Back at the Hub, Jack and Tosh have found Sean Harris, also known as Bernie, a known petty thief. They've also analysed the device, which is a nanotechnological instrument of such complexity that it makes the work of NASA look like Toys Я Us. Gwen notices that the machine isn't currently beeping and lighting up. Ianto shows up with snacks and coffee.

All except Ianto go to Splott, which is listed as Bernie's neighbourhood, to look for him. They strike out rather impressively, as they discover that Bernie has managed to annoy pretty much every person who knew him, right down to his own mother, who won't let him back in her house until he pays her the 50 quid he owes her. Gwen, Tosh, and Owen have just given up when Jack walks up and keeps on walking. They follow him and ask where he's going. He says they're going to the railway station to experiment with the same conditions that were there during Gwen's experience. They all stop under the bridge to argue about how dangerous it is. Jack tosses the device to Owen and taunts them about giving up on the search for Bernie. As Owen lifts up the machine, it starts beeping and he calls for the rest to come back.

The world blurs for Owen and suddenly it goes from sunny afternoon to rainy night under the bridge. A girl stumbles down the wall. She's in a pretty pink coat, a nice dress, and a 1960s hairstyle, but she is sobbing. She's Lizzie Lewis, and she's running away from a boy called Eddie Morgan; she has realised the other girls were right, she shouldn't have gone outside with him. Eddie comes up behind her, asking if he's a bad boy. He flatters her and she stops running. He kisses her but the kiss turns hard and she starts to fight away. He slaps her as she cries, then he grabs her hair and pulls a blade. As she pleads, he drags her over towards the wall...

Owen blurs back to the rest of the team. He's frantic, knowing she was so scared, but he could not move and couldn't help her. He pants and starts to cry as Gwen takes the device. Back in the Hub, Jack tells Tosh it was 40-45 years ago, and she finds that the only child of Mabel Ann Lewis of Hatford Street died March 29th, 1963. She had been raped and murdered on Penfro Street under the bridge at age 17. No one had ever been brought to trial. As Owen asks Tosh to look for Eddie Morgan, Jack notices that the scan of the device shows a quantum transducer. This is a device for converting energy from one form to another. This particular transducer seems to amplify the energy of human emotion into ghosts. Jack says, "When you feel déjà vu, something behind you in an empty room, there was, there always is."

Owen pushes for more information about Lizzie's death and Jack realises that Owen wants the case reopened. He emphatically states that, no matter how it felt, Owen was not there, he was not a witness, and they can't take it to court. Tomorrow, they'll do their job — which is to find the origin and uses of the alien device and secure it. He sends Owen home and stalks off after ordering, "Gwen, with me."

Gwen finds Jack in an area of the base which has been set up as a shooting range. He starts with the basics, then stands back to watch her. After a somewhat rocky start, the roof is safe and she's hitting targets with a gun in each hand. As they finish up, Gwen checks her watch and says she's got to go. She jokes that Jack lives at the Hub, in the process finding out that Jack does actually live there. He doesn't have a place to sleep because he doesn't. When Gwen asks if it gets lonely at night, he doesn't answer.

Gwen goes home, finding that Rhys has gone out to Daf's to play poker. She's brought the device home and uses it to see happy scenes, such as her flirting with Rhys in the kitchen when they celebrated her new job as a police constable. Rhys comes back, and they make up. As she kisses him, she hides the device back in her purse. Owen is home drinking liquor from the bottle. He's taken the reports on Lizzie's murder from Torchwood. With some effort, he finds Eddie's current address on Pryse Ave. He goes to the address, selecting a false ID from the Gas Supply Services. He talks his way into Eddie's home, even though Eddie doesn't have any gas service. Owen sits down with him and talks to him, saying he knows about the bridge. Owen describes the entire scene of the murder while Morgan visibly gets tense. Morgan chases him out, saying he'll get nothing from him.

As Owen returns to his car, he spots Bernie smoking, and chases him. People in the neighbourhood dislike Bernie, and the bystanders help Owen keep track of him. Finally, Owen corners Bernie in a fenced backyard. Bernie asks Owen not to hurt him. Owen replies, "I'm not gonna hurt you... I'm gonna bloody kill you."

They go to a pub to wait for the rest of the field team. Bernie is babbling when Jack puts down the device and says, "It's worth knowing we're probably about the only people you can tell." Bernie stole the device from a storage unit. It was with a bunch of strange coins and rocks in a tin. After he'd taken the device, it started going off near the old wharf. He saw a woman dumping her dead baby in the water, and realised he knew the woman. He went and told her what he saw and she gave him money to keep quiet. Jack realises that Bernie doesn't know anything more about the device and they begin to leave. He yells after them that he's got rights, but they don't stop until he asks if they want the other half.

They go to Bernie's flat on Evelyn Street to collect the other half and the alien coins and rocks. Tosh finds that they fit together like LEGO. Bernie is dismayed that they're going to confiscate everything. Gwen trails behind the others and Bernie tells her that he never used the second half again, as it showed him he was going to die bleeding in the street outside. Gwen hurries down and calls out to Jack, but the machine starts beeping. Without stopping to think, Gwen holds it in both hands as Jack bolts toward her, yelling.

The world ripples around Gwen and she sees herself standing with her hands covered in blood, holding a knife. In the vision, Gwen is asking for help. She couldn't stop it and he's dead. Owen had the knife. Gwen stands there in shock as the vision ends. Back in the Hub, Jack tries to ease Gwen's fears, telling her it's only a possible future. Gwen wants more assurance, demanding to know if any of that alien stuff they collect is ever of any use.

Tosh and Owen are out for a drink. She tells him she found Eddie. Owen tells her what he did and asks what she found out; Tosh found that Eddie had major issues with mental instability and hasn't left his house in years because of his agoraphobia. They realise that Bernie must have tried to blackmail Eddie. Meanwhile, Eddie calls Bernie. Gwen shows up at Bernie's to let him know what Jack said about possible futures. Jack calls Gwen to let her know that Eddie had been frightened by Owen, and they're on their way. Tosh sees Eddie on the CCTV, coming up Evelyn Street. Bernie runs for it and Gwen follows.

Eddie confronts Bernie with a knife and a paranoid rant. Gwen tries to calm him, but Eddie gets angrier, as he blames women for making him bad. Jack and Owen jump him, then Owen gets the knife and threatens Eddie with it. He realises what he's doing and gives the knife to Gwen, who is relieved. As Eddie goes to hug her for saving his life, he walks right into the outstretched knife in her hand. He drops to the ground, bleeding. Owen begins CPR, but realises quickly that it's futile and stops. Gwen is staring in shock, blood on her hands, the picture from her earlier vision.

Back at the Hub, they debrief. Owen is glad that he decided not to kill Eddie. Gwen is shocked and guilty, and Tosh and Jack try to comfort her with the thought that it could have been anybody. Jack gives Ianto the device for the secure archives, then takes the silently crying Gwen to the bay to watch the sun rise.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.


Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Food and drink[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Owen and Bernie have beer while waiting for the field team.
  • Bernie has a tin of baked beans.

Cardiff[[edit] | [edit source]]

Animals and insects[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Gwen doesn't even kill spiders in the bath.
  • Owen runs through a flock of chickens in a backyard.

Popular culture[[edit] | [edit source]]

Miscellaneous[[edit] | [edit source]]

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 1.77 million viewers[1]

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Friary, Cardiff (Gwen and Owen chase the signal.)
  • Queen Street, Cardiff (Gwen and Owen chase the signal.)
  • High Street, Cardiff (Bernie is pursued into the arcade.)
  • High Street Arcade, Cardiff (The chase through the arcade)
  • Hayes Island, Cardiff (Gwen and Owen chase the signal.)
  • Cardiff Central Station, Cardiff (Gwen first shifts time.)
  • Adamsdown Place, Cardiff (Bernie's Mum's House.)
  • Barry Shooting Rang, Cardiff (Gwen's shooting lesson.)
  • St. David's Hotel, Cardiff (Owen's Flat.)
  • Adamsdown Squre, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
  • Kames Place, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
  • Inchmarnock Street, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
  • Lady Margret's Place, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
  • Gwendoline Place, Cardiff (Owen Chases Bernie.)
  • Taff Meed Embankment, Cardiff(Owen witnesses an old murder.)
  • Royal Close, Cardiff (Bernie's estate.)
  • Cardiff Bay Barrage, Cardiff (Jack and Gwen on the waterfront.)
  • Upper Boat Studios, Cardiff

Broadcasts[[edit] | [edit source]]

Date Time Channel Notes
Sunday 29 October 2006 22:00 BBC Three First broadcast.
Wednesday 1 November 2006 21:00 BBC Two England
Sunday 21 January 2007 22:00 BBC Three
Friday 28 September 2007 21:00 BBC Three
Saturday 29 September 2007 02:40 BBC Three
Friday 30 April 2010 00:10 BBC HD

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • Tosh tells Owen that Ed Morgan is claustrophobic, but when she checks his records on the computer, she says he is agoraphobic.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Jack remembers that Gwen told him she didn't know how to shoot as seen in TV: Day One [+]Loading...["Day One (TV story)"]
  • Tom mentions how he was evacuated during the Second World War because of the extensive bombing occurring there. This bombing was depicted during TV: The Empty Child [+]Loading...["The Empty Child (TV story)"].

Home video releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

Series one, part one DVD cover

DVD releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

Blu-ray releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 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 2011)

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Episodes 1-10 of the first series of Torchwood are set anywhere from 2006-2009 as a result of conflicting evidence shown in the episodes Ghost Machine, Greeks Bearing Gifts [+]Loading...["Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story)"], Random Shoes [+]Loading...["Random Shoes (TV story)"], To the Last Man [+]Loading...["To the Last Man (TV story)"], Reset [+]Loading...["Reset (TV story)"], Adrift [+]Loading...["Adrift (TV story)"], Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"], Exit Wounds [+]Loading...["Exit Wounds (TV story)"], and The New World [+]Loading...["The New World (TV story)"]. As episode 10, Out of Time [+]Loading...["Out of Time (TV story)"], is set at the end of December, this means that episodes 11-13 are almost certainly set the year after episodes 1-10.

Citations[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ BARB Ratings - October, 2006
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Torchwood television stories
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
Children of Earth: Day One • Day Two • Day Three • Day Four • Day Five
Series 4
Stories listed here are only those that have been officially licensed by the BBC.
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