Sleeper (TV story)

Sleeper (TV story)

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Sleeper
Featuring:	Jack Harkness Gwen Cooper Toshiko Sato Owen Harper Ianto Jones
Main enemy:	Cell 114
Main setting:	Cardiff, 23rd January, 2008
Key crew
Writer:	James Moran
Director:	Colin Teague
Producer:	Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall(co-producer)
Release details
Release number:	15
Premiere broadcast:	23rd January 2008

Sleeper was the second episode in series 2 of Torchwood.

Synopsis

A burglary turns into a slaughter, and Torchwood suspect alien involvement. The investigation escalates into a city-wide assault, and Captain Jack realises that the whole planet is in danger.

Plot

Two burglars break into a flat owned by a woman called Beth and her husband. There’s a struggle, a flash of light, and soon Torchwood are on the scene investigating the grisly fate suffered by the burglars.

Beth cannot remember the events and is taken into custody by Torchwood, who suspect she is not of this earth. When they take her to a cell, she passes a Weevil and it cowers in her presence. Captain Jack, after flirting with Ianto, decides to take drastic measures and subject Beth to a mind probe.

Despite no initial reaction, the probe eventually uncovers alien technology buried under the skin of her right forearm. It emerges that she is an alien ‘sleeper agent’ from a group called Cell 114, yet to be activated and oblivious to its real identity having been given memory implants. They disconnect Beth's implant from the network and decide to freeze her to prevent her from being activated. While the process appears to work, she awakens inside the vaults.

Around Cardiff, three other sleeper agents are suddenly activated, with their right arms transforming into bayonet-like weapons. The change is both immediate and terrifying – a doting husband snaps his wife's neck as she attempts to stop him from leaving, and a young mother walks off while her baby is run over by a car. They carry out a series of suicide bombings at key locations, paving the way for their leader to head for a base containing nuclear warheads.

Beth manages to escape and is found with her ailing husband in hospital. She is struggling to keep her human identity and unconsciously stabs him in his bed as her arm transforms. Jack and Gwen track her to the hospital, which is hit by a suicide bombing carried out by a Cell agent who was a paramedic.

Captain Jack and Gwen convince Beth to temporarily reconnect with the others so that they can track them down, and discover that only one is still alive. They follow the leading sleeper agent to the army base moments before he can detonate the nuclear weapons. Jack is stabbed in the process and the agent tells him that the main invasion force is already on Earth before self-destructing. Back at Torchwood, Beth turns her sword arm on Gwen, forcing the others to shoot and kill her. Gwen believes that Beth knew this would be the case and wanted to be killed.

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness — John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper — Eve Myles
• Owen Harper — Burn Gorman
• Toshiko Sato — Naoko Mori
• Ianto Jones — Gareth David-Lloyd
• Beth Halloran — Nikki Amuka-Bird
• Mike Lyndon — Dyfed Potter
• David — Doug Rollins
• David's wife — Claire Cage
• Mr A Grainger — Sean Carlson
• Mrs C Grainger — Victoria Pugh
• Burglar 1 — Luke Rutherford
• Burglar 2 — Alex Harries
• Police Officer — Dominic Coleman
• Alex — William Hughes
• Girl — Millie Philippart
• Driver — Matthew Arwel Pegram
• Paramedic — Derek Lea

Production Crew

Executive Producers - Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner Co-Producer – Chris Chibnall Associate Producer – Catrin Lewis Defis Producer – Richard Stokes Script Editor - Brian Minchin Casting Director - Andy Pryor Production Manager - Rhydian Evans Sound Recordist - Jeff Matthews Costume Designer - Ray Holman Make-Up Designer - Marrie Dorris Set Decorator – David Morrson Music – Ben Foster Visual Effects - The Mill Visual FX Producer - Marie A. Jones Visual FX Supervisor - Barney Curnow Production Designers - Edward Thomas, Julian Luxton Editor - Mike Hopkins Director of Photography – Mark Waters First Assistant Director - Marco Ciglia Second Assistant Director - James DeHaviland

Production Coordinator - Hannah Simpson Script Supervisor - Vicky Cole Camera Operator - Martin Stephens Camera Assistants – Anna James, Paul Hanning Grip - John Robinson Gaffer - Dave Fowler Stunt Coordinator - Tom Lucy Stunt Performers - Dean Forster Stunt Double – Curtis Rivers for John Barrowman Production Buyer - Clare Keyte Stand-by Art Director - Lisa McDiarmid Costume Supervisor - Bobbie Peach Costume Assistant – Sara Morgan Make-Up Supervisor - Kate Roberts Make-Up Artist - Andrea Dowdall Casting Associate - Andy Brierley Post Production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Helen Vallis Dubbing Mixer - Peter Jeffreys Sound FX Editor - Howard Eaves

References

• A Weevil in one of the Hub's holding cells appears subdued/recoils at the appearance of a Sleeper agent in a similar way to TW: Dead Man Walking and Exit Wounds.
• Owen jokingly refers to Gwen as "Jessica Fletcher" (the Agatha Christie-inspired sleuth of the TV series, Murder, She Wrote).
• Mind probes have previously appeared or been mentioned in DW: Frontier in Space and DW: The Five Doctors.
• The sleeper agents share similarities with the T-1000 in the Terminator movies: both are infiltrators who are able to turn their hands into stabbing weapons. The Torchwood The Official Magazine Yearbook (2008) says that James Moran was inspired by the Terminator movies in creating Cell 114, as well as the Bourne movies and Doctor Who's Cybermen.

Story notes

to be added

Ratings

• Overnight - 3.4 million viewers
• Official BARB ratings - 3.78 million viewers

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.

to be added

Home video releases

• This story along with the rest of Torchwood Series 2 was released in a complete series boxset in 2008.

External links

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