Children of Earth: Day Three (TV story)

Children of Earth: Day Three (TV story)

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	Jack Harkness Gwen Cooper Ianto Jones
	The 456
	London, September 2009 Cardiff, September 2009
	Russell T Davies and James Moran
	Euros Lyn
	Peter Bennett
	29
	8th July 2009

Children of Earth: Day Three was the third episode of the third series of Torchwood. It notably introduced the 456 after the build up of previous episodes.

Synopsis

The eyes of the world turn to Britain, as the 456 announce: "We are here," as the new Torchwood adventure continues. As a pillar of fire descends upon London, the members of Torchwood must battle to protect their own families as the fight gets personal. But will Clem's memories destroy everything?

Plot

The team, plus Rhys, have set up a base in an old factory (christened "Hub 2" by Rhys) that was used by Torchwood One for storage. Through her work as a former Police Officer, Gwen knows all the tricks of the criminal trade, namely stealing mobile phones, debit cards, and laptops from people off the street. Jack makes off with a car. Soon the base is stocked with equipment and supplies. While he researchs the other people who were targeted for assassination, whose names he didn't know, Jack is shocked. He seems to recognize them. He runs off.

In Cardiff, Jack's daughter Alice is still trying to contact him; she goes outside and borrows a girl's mobile to phone the Cardiff police, but the government's scanners pick up the mention of Jack's name and attempt to find the connection between them. Agent Johnson gets word of this and her team take Alice and her son away with them to "help" them, as it would be safer for Alice and Steven. Suddenly, Steven points southeastwards to London. All the children on Earth are pointing towards London.

A pillar of light shoots out of the sky and enters Thames House. Fiery energy fills the gas containment system. Mr Frobisher and Mr Dekker meet with the aliens, who instruct the humans to call them "456". During the discussion, Frobisher extracts a promise from the 456 that it will not mention its previous visit to Earth in 1965.

Gwen surprises Lois Habiba at the cafe and asks her to wear some special contact lenses that allow the Torchwood team to view what is going on through them. Lois protests but takes the contacts with her despite her fear of committing treason. Gwen then phones PC Andy to bail Clem out from police custody and brings him back to the base.

Jack sneaks into Frobisher's house and steals his wife's mobile. He phones Frobisher, having made the connection between the children and the events of 1965 and threatens Frobisher with "blow[ing] this thing sky high". In retaliation, Frobisher informs Jack that they have taken his daughter and grandson into custody and will kill them if he does so. Jack threatens to do the same, but Frobisher knows that he would never do such a thing. The conversation ends.

It is now night. Frobisher, Bridget Spears and Lois Habiba enter the gas chamber room where it is being filmed for the prime minister and being transmitted to a conference room where UNIT, the American general and the Prime Minister are watching. Frobisher demands that the 456 cease using human children to communicate; in return the 456 demand a gift: 10% of the children on Earth.

Back at the warehouse base, Clem tells Gwen that he can smell the man who brought the children to the aliens. When Jack walks in, Clem then recognizes him as the man in 1965 who gave the twelve children up to the aliens. When Gwen protests that Jack is a "good guy" who fights aliens, Jack informs them that in this instance, he had done what was asked. He gave the 456 the children... "as a gift."

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
• Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
• Lois Habiba - Cush Jumbo
• Alice Carter - Lucy Cohu
• Steven Carter - Bear McCausland
• Bridget Spears - Susan Brown
• John Frobisher - Peter Capaldi
• Johnson - Liz May Brice
• Clem MacDonald - Paul Copley
• Brian Green PM - Nicholas Farrell
• General Pierce - Colin McFarlane
• Andy Davidson - Tom Price
• Trinity Wells - Lachele Carl
• Defence Secretary - Patrice Naiambana

Crew

Created by Russell T Davies

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner

Written by Russell T Davies & James Moran	Produced by Peter Bennett	Directed by Euros Lyn	Director of Photography Rory Taylor	Visual Effects The Mill
Make-up Designer Marrie Dorris	Casting Director Andy Pryor	Music Ben Foster	Costume Designer Ray Holman	Edited by John Gillanders

General production staff Associate Producer - Catrin Lewis Defis Assistant Producer - Brian Minchin Unit Manager - Rhys Griffiths Production Accountant - Ceri Tothill A/Production Accountant - Carole Wakefield Script department Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Steffan Morris 2nd Assistant Director - James DeHaviland 3rd Assistant Director - David Chalstrey Continuity - Non Eleri Hughes Camera Operator - Alwyn Hughes Focus Puller - Steve Rees Camera Assistant - James Leigh Boom Operator - Jeff Welch Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Steve Slocombe	Art department Supervising Art Director - Stephen Nicholas Set Decorator - Julian Luxton Standby Art Director - Arwel Jones Construction Manager - Matthew Hywel-Davies Costume department Costume Supervisor - Lindasy Bonaccorsi Costume Assistants - Gemma Evans, Sara Morgan	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Abi Brotherton Make-up Artists - Nel Blatt, Hannah Proverbs Movement Stunt Co-ordinator - Tom Lucy Stunt Performer - Dean Forster Casting Casting Associate - Andy Brierley General post-production staff Post-production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Helen Vallis Assistant Editor - Carmen Roberts On-line Editor - Matt Mullins Special and visual effects Colourist - Jon Everett Sound Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts 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

• This is the second time in the recent Doctor Who multiverse that an alien asked for ten percent of a population, the first being in The Sound of Drums when the Master kills ten percent of Earth's population. Both stories involved Captain Jack Harkness.
• The footage of the lift going up is the same used in Rose, et al.
• Clement MacDonald is held at a police station in Camden.
• Clem describes Ianto as "Queer"

Real world

• The Children's program Trapped! is seen on the television.

Story notes

to be added

Ratings

• 5.9 million viewers ( overnight )

Myths

to be added

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.

• During the first scene in the warehouse, when Jack "lets slip" he knew about the pregnancy, Gwen mutters "You promised, John" instead of "You promised, Jack".
• When Lois Habiba wears the contact lens, she puts them both in the same eye (her left eye).
• The green goo sprayed on the front of the tank disappears and reappears in different shapes several times between shots.
• When Gwen is demonstrating the lenses to Lois, several times she looks in different directions and moves her head, but the display on the laptop doesn't move. Also, when Gwen blinks, the display is unaffected.
• Frobisher welcomes the 456 ambassador on behalf of "The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland", instead of "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and later, when listing the countries which have agreed to let him speak on their behalf, Frobisher refers to "The Provinces and Territories of Canada". The correct formal name is simply "Canada."

Continuity

• Lois wears contact lenses with same abilities as Martha wore in TW: Reset.
• The Doctor is mentioned. The last episode of Torchwood to explicitly reference the Doctor was TW: Fragments.
• Trinity Wells and the French Newsreader both make their first appearances in Torchwood, and become the only two characters to have appeared in Doctor Who and both of the spin-offs.
• Jack's wife is mentioned to have died in 2006, thus making him a widower.

Home video releases

• This Episode was released on DVD along with the rest of Children of Earth on the 13th of July, 2009.