Small Worlds (TV story)

Small Worlds
Main character(s):	Jack, Gwen, Tosh, Owen, Ianto
Main enemy:	Fairies
Main setting:	Cardiff, 2007
Key crew
Writer:	Peter J. Hammond
Director:	Alice Troughton
Producer:	Richard Stokes
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	12 November 2006
Premiere network:	BBC Three
Torchwood
← Previous	Cyberwoman
Next →	Countrycide

Small Worlds was the fifth episode of the first series of Torchwood. It was the first story to explore Jack's past in any detail. In particular, it revealed that Jack had been married to a British woman during the mid-20th century.

It also established a storytelling convention used in every subsequent series of Torchwood. From here forward, Jack's past would occasionally be teased through the use of extended flashbacks that demonstrated how his history tied in to a preesent-day problem that Torchwood was fighting.

Synopsis

Jack encounters monsters from his past: fairies, with the ability to choke people and change the weather, make a series of killings centred around a little girl, the Chosen One.

Plot

to be added

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
• Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
• Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
• Estelle Cole - Eve Pearce
• Jasmine Pierce - Lara Phillipart
• Lynn Pierce - Adrienne O'Sullivan
• Roy - William Travis
• Mark Goodson - Rodger Barclay
• Kate - Heledd Baskerville
• WPC - Ffion Wilkins
• Custody Sergeant - Nathan Sussex
• Man in Street - Paul Jones
• Bullies - Sophie Davies and Victoria Gourley

Crew

Created by Russell T Davies

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner

Written by Peter J. Hammond	Produced by Richard Stokes	Directed by Alice Troughton	Director of Photography Ray Orton	Production Designer Edward Thomas	Visual Effects The Mill
Make-up Designer Marrie Dorris	Casting Director Andy Pryor	Music Ben Foster Murray Gold	Costume Designer Ray Holman	Edited by William Webb

General production staff Co-producer - Chris Chibnall Associate Producer - Terry Reeve Assistant Producer - Sophie Fante Production Manager - Catrin Lewis Defis Location Manager - Paul Davies Production Accountant - Ceri Tothill Script department Script Editor - Brian Minchin Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Peter Bennett 2nd Assistant Director - Steffan Morris 3rd Assistant Director - Lynsey Muir Continuity - Llinos Wyn Jones Camera Operator - Gareth Huges Focus Puller - Duncan Fowlie Grip - Dai Hopkins Camera Assistant - Mani Paliwala-Blaxter Boom Operator - Jeff Welch Gaffer - Dave Fowler Best Boy - Steve Slocombe	Art department Chief Supervising Art Director - Steve Nicholas Art Department Co-ordinator - Matthew North Standby Art Director - Jon Howes Construction Manager - Matthew Hywel-Davies Costume department Costume Supervisor - Charlotte Mitchell Crowd Supervisor - Bobbie Peach	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Claire Pritchard Casting Casting Associate - Andy Brierley General post-production staff Post-production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Helen Vallis Post-production Co-ordinator - Carmelina Palumbo Assistant Editor - Matt Mullins Special and visual effects Colourist - Mick Vincent Digital Matte Painter - Charlie Bennett Sound Sound Recordist - Dave Baumber Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Sound Effects Editor - Howard Eaves

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.

References

Species

• Jack wonders if the fairies are part Mara.

Story notes

• Owen claims that Harry Houdini believed in the 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.

Ratings

• 1.3 million viewers

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

• When Roy is making 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

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.

• Jack wonders if the fairies are part Mara, a creature seen in the Fifth Doctor stories DW: Kinda and Snakedance.

Timeline

In the present

• Small Worlds occurs after TW: Cyberwoman.
• Small Worlds occurs before TW: Countrycide.

For Jack Harkness (flashbacks)

• Small Worlds occurs after TW: Fragments (flashbacks)
• Small Worlds occurs before TW: Immortal Sins (flashbacks).

Home video releases

Series one, part one DVD cover

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 19th November 2007

External links

• Small Worlds at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Small Worlds at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
• Small Worlds at The Locations Guide

Footnotes