A Day in the Death (TV story)

A Day in the Death (TV story)

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A Day in the Death
Featuring:	Owen Harper Martha Jones (departs) Gwen Cooper Toshiko Sato Jack Harkness Ianto Jones
Main setting:	Cardiff, 2009
Key crew
Writer:	Joseph Lidster
Director:	Andy Goddard
Producer:	Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall
Release details
Release number:	21
Premiere broadcast:	27th February, 2008

A Day in the Death was the eighth episode in the second series of Torchwood. It heavily featured Owen Harper, with him coming to terms with his untimely death in the previous story, Reset.

Synopsis

Owen chats with a suicidal woman on a rooftop, reflecting on his adjustment (or lack thereof) to his new life (or lack thereof). Will a mission with Torchwood assist in his salvation or bring about the end of the world?

Plot

Owen Harper sits on a rooftop ledge, talking to a woman who is on the verge of committing suicide, whose name is later revealed as Maggie. He tells her about his recent ordeal with being dead and getting resurrected. As his memories begin we see Jack let him off but he has to stay at the Hub so that Martha can run some tests on him. Martha has been assigned the position of Torchwood Three Medical Doctor. As he is talking to her, he cuts his hand on a scalpel, so Martha has to stitch it back together, saying that it will have to be stitched every week because of his inability to heal. The team then has a meeting about a man named Henry Parker who has been missing since the 1980's, yet Torchwood has had him under surveillance for years since.

Later that day Owen is in his flat, where he decides to get rid of a lot of his things (food, shaving foam, etc.) since he no longer needs them. After he has finished clearing up Toshiko comes round and begins talking to Owen, who does not really listen. After listening for a few minutes Owen demands to know why Tosh has come and why she is still in love with him when he has nothing to give her. He then yells at Toshiko that he is broken and breaks one of his fingers to prove it. Leaving Toshiko distraught and alone in his flat he runs outside and then to the Cardiff canal where he jumps in and spends 36 minutes under water before giving up trying to drown himself after realising he has no breath and returning to the surface, where Jack was watching. The Torchwood team has another briefing and decide they want to obtain the alien device that Henry Parker has. Owen agrees to go on a mission to obtain it, using his death to pass heat sensors, and multiple guards. Owen comes to a room where there is a bed hidden by veils, in which Henry is lying. He tells Owen that he needs the device to live but instead dies of natural causes. Later, the Torchwood team farewells Martha as she leaves to return to UNIT. Later that night, Owen sees Maggie on the top of a building, and goes up to the roof to talk her out of it, completing the flashback that started the episode. Owen, finishing his story to Maggie, successfully talks her out of committing suicide.

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
• Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
• Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
• Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman
• Henry Parker - Richard Briers
• Maggie Hopley - Christine Bottomley
• Philip Farrington - Louis Decosta Jonson
• Ben Taylor - Brett Allen
• Webb - Gil Koliran
• Kristian Digby - Himself

Production crew

Executive Producers - Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner Co-Producer – Chris Chibnall Associate Producer – Catrin Lewis Defis Producer – Richard Stokes Script Editor - Gary Russell Casting Director - Andy Pryor Unit Manager – Geraint Havard Jones Production Manager - Steffan Morris Costume Designer - Ray Holman Make-Up Designer - Marrie Dorris Music – Ben Foster Visual Effects - The Mill Visual FX Producer - Marie A. Jones Visual FX Coordinator – Jenna Powell Visual FX Supervisor - Barney Curnow Production Designer - Edward Thomas, Julian Luxton Editor - Richard Cox Director of Photography – Mark Waters First Assistant Director - Richard Harris Second Assistant Director - Lynsey Muir

Camera Operator - Martin Stephens Focus Puller – Anna James Gaffer - Dave Fowler Best Boy – Chris Davies Stunt Coordinator - Tom Lucy Production Buyer - Clare Keyte Stand-by Art Director - Cathy Featherstone Costume Supervisor - Bobbie Peach Make-Up Supervisor - Kate Roberts Make-Up Artist - Andrea Dowdall Casting Associate - Andy Brierley Assistant Editor – Matt Mullins On-Line Editor – Mark Bright Colourists – Mick Vincent Post Production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Helen Vallis Dubbing Mixer - Peter Jeffreys Sound FX Editor - Howard Eaves

References

• Owen mentions NASA.
• One of Henry Parker's items is a Dogon eye.
• There are several joking references to the comic strip character Tintin -- including an on-screen appearance when Owen unravels a T-shirt with the character on it. Steven Moffat, scriprwriter for the Doctor Who revival and newly appointed executive producer, wrote the screenplay for a trilogy of films based upon Tintin, directed by Steven Spielberg and scheduled for release starting in 2010.
• Owen listens to an iPod while cleaning his flat.

Music

• Atlas - Battles

Story notes

• This episodes title is a play on the common phrase "A Day in the Life". It is possible that the title is a reference to the Beatles song entitled as the aforementioned phrase.
• Martha returns to UNIT at the end of this episode.

Ratings

to be added

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

• Kai Owen is credited despite Rhys not appearing in this episode.

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.

• In the sequence of Owen's life, clips from Everything Changes, Ghost Machine, Out of Time and Meat are seen.
• A Dogon Eye was first seen in Random Shoes.
• From this episode on, Owen always has a bandage over his left hand because he cut his palm and broke a finger.
• The episode takes place three days after the shooting in Reset, meaning the events of Dead Man Walking occurred within the preceding 48 hours.

DVD releases

• This story along with the rest of Torchwood Series 2 has been released in a complete series boxset.

See also

to be added

External links

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