The Categories of Life (TV story)

The Categories of Life
Main character(s):	Jack, Gwen, Rhys, Rex, Esther, Oswald
Featuring:	Vera, Jilly, Andy, Blue-Eyed Man, and Geraint and Mary Cooper
Main enemy:	Colin Maloney
Main setting:	Cowbridge and San Pedro Overflow Camps, 2011
Key crew
Writer:	Jane Espenson
Director:	Guy Ferland
Producer:	Kelly A Manners (US), Brian Minchin (UK)
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	5 August 2011
Premiere network:	Starz
Torchwood
← Previous	Escape to LA
Next →	The Middle Men

You may be looking for the categories themselves.

The Categories of Life was the fifth episode of the fourth series of Torchwood.

Synopsis

Torchwood goes overcover and kills aliens.

Why not woodtorch?

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Rex Matheson - Mekhi Phifer
• Esther Drummond - Alexa Havins
• Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
• Oswald Danes - Bill Pullman
• Doctor Vera Juarez - Arlene Tur
• Andy Davidson - Tom Price
• Geraint Cooper - William Thomas
• Mary Cooper - Sharon Morgan
• Ralph - Fred Koehler
• Blue-Eyed Man - Teddy Sears
• Colin Maloney - Marc Vann
• Guard - Daniel Adegboyega
• Nurse Chris - Brad Bell
• Jilly Kitzinger - Lauren Ambrose
• News Reports - Charles Carpenter
• Man - Jim Conway
• Handsome Man - Jonathan Dane
• Spanish Newscaster - Teresa Garza
• Pidgeon - Brendan Hughes
• Excited Teenager - Joelle Elizabeth Jacoby
• Rachel - Liz Jenkins
• Pushy Woman - Ria Jones
• Japanese Newscaster - Masami Kosaka
• Maria Santos - Eve Mauro
• Stressed Woman - Francine Morgan
• Thomason - Stuart Nurse
• Pale Woman - Tracy Pfau
• Paramedic - Caroline Whitney Smith
• Angry Man - Vito Viscuso
• Candice - Randa Walker

Crew

Created by Russell T Davies

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter

Co-executive producers   Vlad Wolynetz and Jane Espenson

Written by Jane Espenson	Produced by Kelly A Manners	Directed by Guy Ferland	Director of Photography Christopher Faloona	Production Designer Gregory Melton	Visual Effects Lion Visual Effects, Inc.
Key Make-up Artist Todd McIntosh	Casting by John Frank Levey, CSA and Melanie Burgess	Score Murray Gold assistant composer Stu Kennedy	Costume Designer Shawna Trpcic	Edited by Padraic McKinley and Sara Mineo	Key Hair Stylist Susan Boyd
Science Advisor - John Sotos, M.D.

General production staff Production Executive - Shelley Stevens Associate Producer - Skip Schoolnik Location Manager - Brad Bemis Unit Production Manager - Robert D. Nellans Production Accountant - Vince Robinette Transportation Coordinator - Heath Culp Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - W. Scott Wolf 2nd Assistant Director - Carla Bowen Script Supervisor - Anne Melville Camera Operator - Jeff Greeley Key Grip - Isaac Chee Chief Lighting Technician - Don Mosley	Art department Set Decorator - Natali Pope Set Designer - Arthur Chadwick Property Master - Eric Bates Construction Coordinator - Chris Forster Computer Graphics - Twisted Media	Make-up and prosthetics Special Make-up Effects - Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger General post-production staff Post-production Supervisor - Kenneth Requa High Definition Post-Production - Modern Videofilm, Inc. Special and visual effects Visual FX Supervisor - Michael D. Leone Sound Production Sound Mixer - Julian Howarth Supervising Sound Editor - Walt Newman Co-supervisor - Ken Young Music Editor - Tom Trafalski Re-recording Mixers - Dan Hiland, Gary Rogers Post-Production Sound - Warner Bros.

UK crew

General production staff Producer - Brian Minchin Line Producer - Debbi Slater Production Executive - Julie Scott Unit Manager - Paul Davies Production Coordinator - Sam Baker Production Accountant - Sarah Hulls Stunt Co-ordinator - Lee Sheward	Camera, lighting and sound departments Director of Photography - Nathaniel Goodman 1st AD - George Walker Grips - John Robinson, Clive Baldwin Sound Recordist - Gareth Meirion Thomas Casting Original series and UK casting - Andy Pryor CDG	Make-up Make-up Designer - Claire Pritchard-Jones Costume Associate Costume Designer - Lindsay Bonaccorsi Effects Special Effects - Real SFX

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.
The Starz broadcast carried a final credit of "Originally Developed and Produced by BBC Cymru Wales". The BBC One broadcast says, instead, "BBC Worldwide Productions for BBC Cymru Wales and STARZ Originals".  In the Starz credits, Julie Scott is mis-identified as the production designer when clearly she is the production executive. Ed Thomas is obviously the sole UK production designer.

References

Buildings

• Gwen flies into Cardiff Airport.

Story notes

to be added

Ratings

• UK: 5.17 million

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

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.

• When Rex starts recording what is happening to the category one patients, the camcorder says it has fifty-four minutes of recording left and has recorded one hour and twenty three minutes worth of film. Several minutes later, when Rex is outside the module, he starts filming again. The camcorder has the same amount of film recorded and film left to record.

Continuity

• Owen's Theme is heard at the beginning of the episode.
• When talking with Esther, Jack mentions his mother, but notes he has no idea what has happened to her. This suggests she was still alive when Jack was last in the fifty-first century.
• When Rex introduces Vera to Jack, Rex expresses his doubt that he is really "Captain Jack Harkness". (TV: Captain Jack Harkness)
• Vera's death in this episode is very similar to that of previous Torchwood medic Owen Harper's death two years before. Both Owen and Vera were trapped in a state of "immortality", Owen being undead and Vera undying. Both had bullet wounds in their upper torsos. Both were vaporised trying to save other people: Owen was killed by coolant while trying to stop a nuclear meltdown, and Vera by an incinerator while trying to save category one patients. Each had a love interest, also suffering from mortal wounds to the chest, witness their deaths through an electronic device. Tosh was suffering from a bullet wound to the abdomen and saw the room Owen was in flooded with coolant on a computer monitor, while Rex had a hole in his chest and saw Vera burn through the the glass in the door and through his video camera.

Home video releases

This episode was released worldwide in a box set containing all ten episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day. In the United Kingdom, it was released on Region 2 DVD and Region Free Blu-ray on 14 November 2011. In Australia, it was released in Region 4 DVD and Region B Blu-Ray on 1 December 2011. In New Zealand, the same sets were released on 7 December 2011. In North America, it was released on Region 1 DVD and Region Free Blu-Ray on 3 April 2012.

External links

• The Categories of Life at The Locations Guide

Footnotes