Miracle Day

This article is about the in-universe event. "Miracle Day" is also the umbrella title for series 4 of Torchwood.

The extent of Miracle Day. (TW: The New World)

"Miracle Day" was the name given to the day in the early 21st century on which humans on Earth stopped dying.

Without any immediately obvious cause, awareness of the event took time to develop. One of the earliest survivals was Oswald Danes, a convicted prisoner in the United States about to be executed; although his lethal injection was carried out flawlessly, the only effect was intense but temporary pain from the drugs. As hours passed, doctors around the planet began to realise that deaths of patients under their care (such as Rex Matheson, who was impaled by a metal pole) had abruptly dropped to zero. Age, disease, trauma, and all other normally fatal conditions continued to hurt and debilitate their victims, but without killing them. The level of damage to the body did not matter. Extreme examples include an attempted suicide bomber whose entire body was almost totally burned and pulverized but who retained some degree of consciousness even after his head was detached from the rest of his body, and a CIA agent whose neck was broken, but who managed to stand and stumble away, her head facing backward. News media and the general public also began to realise the change. Eventually, the name of the event emerged on the back of the word "miracle," which began to trend across social networking sites.

Unlike the rest of humanity, Jack Harkness, previously an immortal, became vulnerable to injury and death and also began aging at a normal rate. It was initially unclear if this was a deliberate effect of Miracle Day or if whatever process made humanity immortal simply 'crossed wires' and made him mortal instead.

Beyond medical effects, individuals and societies started to react to Miracle Day in myriad ways:

• Due to an unexpected legal loophole, Oswald Danes was released from prison. (TW: The New World)
• Fighting in Somalia ceased, as the combatants could no longer stand to fight enemies that would not die. (TW: The New World)
• The North Korean regime viewed its population as immortal soldiers and began to mobilise troops along its border with South Korea. (TW: The New World)
• In Cardiff, friends and family of those who should have died held vigils outside a city hospital. (TW: The New World)
• Operating under the 456 protocols, the Central Intelligence Agency detained former members of Torchwood on British soil for rendition to the US. (TW: The New World)
• Gwen Cooper and her family emerged from protective isolation to visit Gwen's stricken but still living father in Cardiff. (TW: The New World)
• Tutsi in Rwanda bashed in the heads of Hutu villagers and ran over them with bulldozers. (TW: Rendition)
• India's Prime Minister called for peace with Pakistan, reasoning that they should all make the best of the single life they now had. (TW: Rendition)
• Doctor Vera Juarez ordered an immediate and radical change to long-established emergency room triage procedures - treating minor injuries before major ones, in order to free hospital beds for the inevitable increase in patients. (TW: Rendition)
• Protestors in Egypt rioted, attacking the 'Western Miracle'. (TW: Dead of Night)
• Apparent actual deaths were reported but turned out to be hoaxes. (TW: Dead of Night)
• Candlelight vigils of masked individuals calling themselves The Soulless begin. (TW: Dead of Night)

Without death, the human population began to swell rapidly, increasing pressure on resources and on the species itself. The lack of deaths from any disease and the need to keep treating the sick with new medicines was expected to give viruses and bacteria the chance to evolve into unstoppable "superbugs." It was estimated that within four months, Miracle Day would cause a complete environmental and social collapse. (TW: The New World, Rendition)