A Day in the Death (TV story)

A Day in the Death (TV story)

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A Day in the Death
Featuring:	Owen Harper Martha Jones (departs) Gwen Cooper Toshiko Sato Jack Harkness Ianto Jones
Main setting:	Cardiff, Wales, UK, Earth, 2009
Key crew
Writer:	Joseph Lidster
Director:	Andy Goddard
Producer:	Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (Co-producer)
Release details
Release number:	21
Premiere broadcast:	27th February, 2008

A Day in the Death was the eighth episode in the second series of Torchwood. It heavily featured Owen Harper coming to terms with his untimely death in the story Reset.

Synopsis

Owen chats with a suicidal woman on a rooftop, reflecting on his adjustment (or lack thereof) to his new life (or lack thereof). Will a mission with Torchwood assist in his salvation or bring about the end of the world?

Plot

Owen Harper sits on a rooftop ledge, talking to a woman who is on the verge of committing suicide, whose name is later revealed as Maggie. He tells her about his recent ordeal with being dead and resurrected. As his memories begin, we see Jack let him off, but he has to stay at the Hub so that Martha can run some tests on him. Martha has been assigned the position of Torchwood Three Medical Doctor. As he talks to her, he cuts his hand on a scalpel. Martha has to stitch it back together, saying that it will have to be stitched every week because of his inability to heal. The team has a meeting about a man they've been keeping an eye on named Henry Parker, who hasn't left his house since the 1980s.

Later that day Owen is in his flat, where he decides to get rid of some things (food, shaving foam, etc.) since he no longer needs them. After he has finished clearing up, Toshiko comes round and begins talking to him, He does not really listen. After a few minutes Owen demands to know why Tosh has come and why she is still in love with him when he has nothing to give her. He yells at Toshiko that he is broken and breaks one of his fingers to prove it. Leaving Toshiko distraught and alone in his flat he runs outside and then to the Cardiff canal, where he jumps in and spends thirty-six minutes under water before giving up trying to drown himself. After realising he has no breath and returning to the surface, he finds Jack watching. The Torchwood team has another briefing and decide they want to obtain the alien device that Henry Parker has. Owen agrees to go get it, using his death to pass heat sensors and multiple guards. Owen comes to a room where there is a bed hidden by veils, in which Henry is lying. He tells Owen that he needs the device to live but dies of natural causes. Later, the Torchwood team bid farewell to Martha as she leaves to return to UNIT. Later that night, Owen sees Maggie on the top of a building, and goes up to the roof to talk to her, completing the flashback that started the episode. Owen finishes his story to Maggie. He talks her out of suicide by revealing that the Pulse is more than just a random artefact- it is a reply to humanity's search for extraterrestrial life, proof that they are not alone.

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
• Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
• Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
• Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman
• Henry Parker - Richard Briers
• Maggie Hopley - Christine Bottomley
• Philip Farrington - Louis Decosta Jonson
• Ben Taylor - Brett Allen
• Webb - Gil Koliran
• Kristian Digby - Himself

Crew

Created by Russell T Davies

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner

Written by Joseph Lidster	Produced by Richard Stokes	Directed by Andy Goddard	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
Original theme music by Murray Gold

General production staff Co-producer - Chris Chibnall Associate Producer - Catrin Lewis Defis Production Manager - Steffan Morris Unit Manager - Geraint Havard Jones Script department Script Editor - Gary Russell Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Richard Harris 2nd Assistant Director - Lynsey Muir Camera Operator - Martin Stephens Focus Puller - Anna James Gaffer - Dave Fowler Best Boy - Chris Davies	Art department Production Buyer - Clare Keyte Standby Art Director - Cathy Featherstone Costume department Costume Supervisor - Bobbie Peach	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Kate Roberts 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 On-line Editor - Mark Bright Special and visual effects Colourist - Mick 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

• Owen mentions NASA.
• One of Henry Parker's items is a Dogon eye.
• There are several joking references to the comic strip character Tintin -- including an on-screen appearance when Owen unravels a T-shirt with the character on it. Steven Moffat, scriptwriter for the Doctor Who revival and newly appointed executive producer, wrote the screenplay for a trilogy of films based upon Tintin, directed by Steven Spielberg and scheduled for release starting in 2011.
• Owen listens to an iPod while cleaning his flat.

Music

• Atlas - Battles

Story notes

• This episodes title is a play on the common phrase "A Day in the Life". It is possible that the title is a reference to the Beatles song entitled as the aforementioned phrase.
• Martha returns to UNIT at the end of this episode.
• In the scene in which Owen asks Jack what can he do when he goes home, the computer behind Jack shows the Dalek weapon from Evolution of the Daleks.

Rating.

to be added

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

• Kai Owen is credited despite Rhys Williams 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.

• In the sequence of Owen's life, clips from Everything Changes, Ghost Machine, Out of Time and Meat are seen.
• A Dogon Eye was first seen in Random Shoes.
• From this episode on, Owen always has a bandage over his left hand because he cut his palm and broke a finger.
• The episode takes place three days after the shooting in Reset, meaning the events of Dead Man Walking occurred within the preceding forty-eight hours.

Timeline

For Torchwood Three

• This story takes place after: TW: Dead Man Walking
• This story takes place before: TW: Something Borrowed

For Martha

• This story takes place after: TW: Dead Man Walking
• This story takes place before: BBCR: Lost Souls

DVD releases

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

External links

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