To the Last Man (TV story)

To the Last Man (TV story)

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To the Last Man
Featuring:	Jack Harkness Gwen Cooper Toshiko Sato Owen Harper Ianto Jones
Main setting:	Cardiff, 2008 Cardiff, 1918
Key crew
Writer:	Helen Raynor
Director:	Andy Goddard
Producer:	Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer)
Release details
Release number:	16
Premiere broadcast:	30th January 2008

To the Last Man was the third story of Torchwood's second season. It was notable for featuring Toshiko Sato as the main character, in the same vein as she was in the first series story Greeks Bearing Gifts.

Synopsis

Once a year, for a single day, Tommy Brockless is defrosted in the Torchwood hub to make sure he's still working. He is kept alive until the day he is needed, and when ghosts appear at a hospital it's clear that time has come...

Plot

Tommy Brockless, a young World War I soldier, shell-shocked from his experiences in the trenches, is the key to saving the world. He is taken into custody by Torchwood in 1918 – Torchwood having been told to do so by his future self – and held in cryonic storage until the time comes for him to save the world. He is awoken one day each year for a medical check-up and a “day out” as a precautionary measure in case he is needed.

A time shift is set to cause 1918 and the present to bleed together at an unspecified time, and when this happens it is Tommy who will be “stitching” the fragments of 1918 back to their rightful place in time. lanto and Jack have their very first kiss with each other.

It is ninety years before this eventually happens and fragments of 1918 are appearing in an old abandoned hospital. Before the team realise that this is the year, Toshiko becomes infatuated with Tommy. Owen, noticing the closeness between them and having experienced something similar (see TW: Out of Time), warns Tosh about the eventuality of saying goodbye.

When Tommy is told what he must do – actions that will result in him not seeing Toshiko again – Tommy initially refuses to take part. However, with encouragement from Toshiko, he begins to see the bigger picture and agrees. Toshiko is reluctant to do this, as Jack explains that Tommy is destined to be court martialled and shot for cowardice upon being sent back to the trenches. Jack eventually persuades her that it is for the greater good and she relents. During a brief time shift, Tommy tells Torchwood employees from that era that they must take him into custody. Then, with the next time shift, after a tearful goodbye, Tommy goes back to his own time. However, in his own time he reverts back to being shell-shocked and forgets all about Torchwood and why he has the Rift Key therefore the time shift still continues. As the time shifts are forcing the rift open Toshiko is able to be psychically transmitted into Tommy's mind in the past and encourages him to the use the key. Tommy turns the key in his Rift manipulator device, dragging all of 1918 back with him.

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness — John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper — Eve Myles
• Owen Harper — Burn Gorman
• Toshiko Sato — Naoko Mori
• Ianto Jones — Gareth David-Lloyd
• Tommy Brockless — Anthony Lewis
• Gerald Carter — Roderic Culver
• Harriet Derbyshire — Siobhan Hewlett
• Nurse — Lizzie Rogan
• Foreman — Ricky Fearon

Production crew

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner

Written by Helen Raynor	Produced by Andy Goddard	Directed by Colin Teague	Director of Photography Mark Waters	Production Designer Edward Thomas Julian Luxton	Visual Effects The Mill
Make-up Designer Marrie Dorris	Casting Director Andy Pryor	Music Ben Foster	Costume Designer Ray Holman	Edited by Richard Cox

General production staff Co-producer - Chris Chibnall Associate Producer - Catrin Lewis Defis Production Manager - Steffan Morris Production Co-ordinator - Hannah Simpson Script department Script Editor - Brian Minchin Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Richard Harris 2nd Assistant Director - Lynsey Muir Camera Operator - Martin Stephens Focus Puller - Rob McGregor Grip - John Robinson Camera Assistant - Paul Hanning Gaffer - Dave Fowler Best Boy - Chris Davies	Art department Production Buyer - Clare Keyte Standby Art Director - Beverly Gerard Costume department Costume Supervisor - Charlotte Mitchell	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Claire Pritchard Make-up Artist - Andrea Dowdall Movement Stunt Co-ordinator - Tom Lucy Casting Casting Associate - Andy Brierley General post-production staff Post-production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Helen Vallis Assistant Editor - Matt Mullins Special and visual effects Visual FX Producer - Marie A. Jones Visual FX Supervisor - Barney Curnow Visual Effects Co-ordinator - Jenna Powell Colourist - Mark Vincent Sound Dubbing Mixer - Peter Jeffreys Sound Effects Editor - Howard Eaves

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

• There is a scan of a Cyberman in the medical area of the Hub.
• Bilis Manger's antique shop was also described as a "stitch in time".
• The episode establishes that some form of military conflict in Iraq is taking place in the Doctor Who Universe as it is taking place in the real world. Tommy asks Tosh if it's a war and she replies "not really", likely a reference to the Taliban's fighting style.
• The partnership of Gerald and Harriet appears similar to that of Mulder and Scully on The X-Files, or that of Sapphire & Steel.

Music

• One of These Mornings - Moby (featuring Dianne McCaully)
• Whose Gonna Find Me - The Coral
• I Start my Day Over Again (Clock Song) - The Bing Boys are Here
• She's Got You High - Mumm-Ra

Story notes

to be added

Ratings

• Unofficial ==

Headline text

Overnight - 3.2 million viewers

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

• Toshiko and Tommy visit the Norwegian Church in Harbor Drive, Cardiff Bay.
• Penarth Pier, was where Toshiko Sato and Tommy first kissed.
• The Eli Jenkins pub on Bute Crescent, Cardiff Bay.

Production errors

• Tommy states that he is from Blackley in Lancashire but mispronounces the name of the town as "Black-ley". The correct local pronunciation is more like "Blake-ley". See Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackley
• 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.

• Tommy remarks how silly it would be to save the world in pyjamas, a side reference to DW: The Christmas Invasion, or possibly The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
• A Torchwood team from another era is seen for the first time.

DVD releases

• This story along with the rest of Torchwood Series 2 was released in a complete series boxset in 2008.
• The American DVD release of the episode was titled "Last Man Standing".

See also

to be added

External links

• To the Last Man at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• To the Last Man at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
• To the Last Man at The Locations Guide
• Torchwood Locations - To the Last Man