Countrycide (TV story)

Countrycide
Main character(s):	Jack, Gwen, Tosh, Owen, Ianto
Featuring:	Rhys
Main enemy:	Evan and Helen Sherman The inhabitants of Brynblaidd
Main setting:	Brynblaidd, 2007
Key crew
Writer:	Chris Chibnall
Director:	Andy Goddard
Producer:	Richard Stokes
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	19 November 2006
Premiere network:	BBC Three
Torchwood
← Previous	Small Worlds
Next →	Greeks Bearing Gifts

Countrycide is the sixth episode in the first series of Torchwood.

The episode is interesting for its almost complete abandonment of science fictional elements. It has no aliens, no display of Jack's superhuman abilities and no technology beyond what was reasonably available in the year the episode was broadcast.

However, it doesn't entirely turn its back on its sci-fi roots, since the characters initially fear that the strange goings on in rural Wales are the result of the Cardiff Rift. Thus the story is approximately as science fictional as, say, The Romans, which mentions, but doesn't show the interior of, the TARDIS.

Synopsis

Concerned that the space-time rift is spreading, Torchwood investigates a series of gruesome deaths in the Brecon Beacons village of Brynblaidd. What sort of creature could cause such shocking injuries? Stranded without communications or equipment and isolated from one another, the team confronts a terrifying enemy.

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
• Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
• Evan Sherman - Owen Teale
• Helen Sherman - Maxine Evans
• Kieran - Callum Gallaghan
• Huw - Rhys Op Trefor
• Ellie - Emily Bowker
• Martin - Robert Barton

Crew

Created by Russell T Davies

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner

Written by Chris Chibnall	Produced by Richard Stokes	Directed by Andy Goddard	Director of Photography Mark Waters	Production Designer Edward Thomas	Visual Effects The Mill
Make-up Designer Marie Doris	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold Ben Foster	Costume Designer Ray Holman	Edited by Richard Cox	Special Effects Any Effects

General production staff Production Executive - Julie Scott Co-producer - Chris Chibnall Associate Producer - Terry Reeve Assistant Producer - Sophie Fante Production Manager - Marcus Prince Location Manager - Paul Davies Unit Manager - Geraint Havard Jones Production Co-ordinator - Carmelina Palumbo Production Secretary - Margarita Felices Script Secretary - Helen Pugsley Production Accountant - Ceri Tothill Contracts Assistant - Beth Britton Script department Script Editor - Brian Minchin Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Jon Williams 2nd Assistant Director - James DeHaviland 3rd Assistant Director - Rhian Salisbury Runners - Glen Coxon, Llywarch Davies, Joney Lyons Continuity - Llinos Wyn Jones Camera Operator - Richard Mahoney Focus Puller - Alwyn Hughes Grip - Dai Hopkins Boom Operator - Tam Shoring Gaffer - George Vince Best Boy - Suzanne Sanders	Art department Chief Supervising Art Director - Stephen Nicholas Supervising Art Director - Keith Dunne Art Department Production Manager - Jonathan Allison Art Department Co-ordinator - Matthew North Production Buyer - Zoë Hewett Standby Props - Andy Hams Standby Carpenter - Will Pope Standby Art Director - Dafydd Shurmer Standby Rigger - Keith Freeman Property Master - Stuart Wooddisse Props Chargehand - Dewi Thomas Props Fabrication Manager - Barry Jones Specialist Prop Maker - Mark Cordory Props Maker - Nick Robatto Construction Manager - Matthew Hywel-Davies Construction Chargehand - Scott Fisher Graphics - BBC Wales Graphic Design Costume department Costume Supervisor - Charlotte Mitchell	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Claire Pritchard Make-up Artists - Sarah Astley-Hughes, Kate Roberts Prosthetics - Neill Gorton, Rob Mayor, Millennium Effects Movement Stunt Co-ordinator - Tom Lucy Casting Casting Associate - Andy Brierley General post-production staff Post-production Supervisors - Helen Vallis, Chris Blatchford Post-production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown Assistant Editor - Matt Mullins On-line Editor - Matthew Clarke Special and visual effects Colourist - Mick Vincent Sound Sound Recordists - Dave Baumber, Jeff Matthews Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Supervising Sound Editor - Doug Sinclair Sound Effects Editor - Howard Eaves Sound Editor - Paul McFadden

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

Space-time anomalies

• Jack says that the Cardiff Rift is increasing in activity.

Species

• Weevils don't strip their victims down to a carcass.
• Jack says that no species in the universe goes camping, other than humans.

Story notes

• This episode contains no obvious CGI elements, though there was at least one shot where the production team needed to black out the Cardiff cityscape in the background.
• This is the first episode in which no scenes are set in the Torchwood Hub. This would not happen again until after the Hub's destruction in TV: Children of Earth: Day One.
• This episode contains several references to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
• The town in which the story is set, Brynblaidd, is not actually named in the narrative. However, it was named in the BBC's original description of the episode, and therefore has appeared in virtually all subsequent TV listings, worldwide. As of March 2012, the name continues to be used on the official BBC Torchwood website.
• As is routine for Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the revived Doctor Who itself, a "NEXT TIME" trailer for the next episode is shown at the end of the episode.

Ratings

• 1.2 million viewers

Filming locations

• South Wales Caving Club

Production errors

• When Ellie Johnson is attacked the tyres on her car are punctured but at the end of the scene the tyres are perfectly normal.

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.

• Gwen and Owen kissed in TV: Cyberwoman, as did Ianto and Lisa.
• The SUV would be stolen again in TV: Fragments and Children of Earth: Day One.
• Tosh was locked in a UNIT cell, seen in TV: Fragments.

Home video releases

Series one, part two DVD cover

• This episode was first released on DVD, with three other episodes entitled Torchwood: Series 1, part 2 on 26 February 2007. It was later released in Torchwood: The Complete First Series on 19th November 2007.

External links

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

Footnotes