A small passenger plane from the 1950’s flies through the rift and lands in Cardiff 2006. Torchwood is drawn into strong personal relationships as they help the three temporal immigrants adapt to contemporary life.
Length 49’41”
First Transmitted
10pm, 17th December 2006, BBC Three and BBC HD; 9 pm, 20th December 2006, BBC Two
Guest Cast
Kai Owen (Rhys); Louise Delamere (Diane [Holmes]); Mark Lewis Jones (John Ellis); Olivia Hallinan (Emma [Louise Cohen]; Sam Beazley (Alan Ellis); Janine Carrington (Alesha); Rhea Bailey (Jade)
Writer Catherine Tregenna
Director Alice Troughton
Setting
Cardiff, across approximately one week. Friday the 29th of December, referenced when Owen and Diane were trying to get a flight time, is in 2006 despite other references that the show is set in 2007. December 18th, 1953 is the date that the three passengers leave their own time – it’s possible (but not specified exactly) that they arrive in 2007 on the same date. Numerous references (particularly when Gwen is asking Rhys if Emma can stay) suggest Christmas is nearly upon the Torchwood team. Owen and Gwen dance to a full moon – if the year is 2007, that would mean this part of the episode is set on November or December 24th (neither of which seem likely).
Did You Spot?
Unusually, the Creator, Writer, Producer and Director credits come after the saga sell rather than the opening credits. The magazine that Emma is reading (Missy B) says one way to spice up your sex life is to treat your lover like a stranger – Owen does exactly this when he takes Diane out to go dancing.
Twisted Reality
Do Drugs, Don’t Live – what is that slogan advertising? Most anti-drugs campaigns will be accompanied with a phone number or web URL for backup. Emma references Deborah Kerr (star of An Affair to Remember and Julius Caesar, amongst others). This episode is packed with avoidances of product placement (the BBC, as a public-funded organisation, has very specific rules concerning this): QM logos replace what are obviously ASDA logos, and the rest of the store retains the ASDA livery. All the magazines and newspapers we see on the rack are fake except for Western Mail. The TV logos are all cunningly covered by Christmas decorations. We can’t see the logos on the candy that Emma grabs off the shelves, the ones we can recognise, she doesn’t touch. The cigarette pack is also without a logo, and does not match any brand’s packaging that is currently sold in the UK. Finally, CitySwift coach service doesn’t really exist – but they use the National Express colours (and Gwen and Emma are seen walking away from the National Express ticket office). The only biplanes that had a de Havilland engine was the Tiger Moth and the Gypsy Moth, neither of which had an enclosed cockpit. It’s possibly that she had an experimental/prototype design plane. FA cup final was played on Saturday 2 May, 1953; Blackpool 4 Bolton Wanderers 3. The 1953 Final has been dubbed the ‘Matthews Final’. Amelia Earhart actually disappeared in 1937 despite Diane’s claim that she disappeared in 1932.
Love is in the Air
Owen looks after Diane as she tries to adjust to the present day and they fall in love – Diane leaves at the end of the episode. Rhys is shocked by his kiss from Gwen in the club. Emma picks up a bloke on the dance floor, but Gwen scares him off before things move beyond a “kiss and a cuddle.” During Emma and Gwen’s “modern day sexual attitudes” lesson, Gwen looks rather uncomfortable talking about sex with Rhys – he doesn’t’ seem to compare to Owen…or indeed anyone else? Rhys has finally cottoned on that Gwen may not have been telling him the full truth since taking her new job.
If it’s Alien, it’s Ours
No alien devices, but a transcendental portal that enables Diane, Emma, and John to travel to present day Cardiff.
Captain Jack’s Large Weapon
John uses carbon monoxide laden car exhaust to commit suicide.
Torchwood Shop: Now Open for Business
Torchwood have watermarked papers with their logo on.
Cymru am Byth
Stadiwm Y Mileniwm is displayed on the Millennium Stadium. We see the Welsh translations for Tickets (Tocynnau) and Waiting-Room (Ystafel- Orffwys) at the coach station.
To Live and Die in Cardiff
All three time-travellers were presumed dead in 1953. Emma’s father died at 48 in 1959. Her mother lived till 81. John kills himself when he realises that there is nothing left in his life worth preserving in the present day.
Sounds Brilliant
Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven is played when the group is settling in the hotel. Emma sings “Just Blew In From the Windy City” by Doris Day, on the 1953 “Calamity Jane” soundtrack she boasted about earlier. Ray Lamontagne’s Trouble (the title track from his first album, released in 2004) is playing in Owen’s flat when he brings Diane there. In the prelude to the club scene, we hear “I See You Baby” Groove Armada, the third single from their second album ‘Vertigo’ (and their seventh overall), released in 1999 and arguably the hit that first made them a recognisable name. “The Good Life” by Tony Bennett is played when Owen and Diane are dancing.
Quotables
“She’s gone next door, so Uncle Finn can telephone. She’ll know we’re missing by now.” – Emma
“Emma, she found out in 1953. Over 50 years have passed.” – Gwen
What will she think happened? It must have been like one of those murders where they never find the body.” – Emma
“You can’t take away our names. For God’s sake, man, it’s all we’ve got left. It’s my son’s name. It’s the name above my shop!” – John
On automatic doors: “How did it do that?” – Diane
“It’s automatic. It knows you’re there.” – Ianto
“But how?” – Diane
“There are wave-bouncing detectors which emit high frequency radio waves, then through…” – Ianto
“Bananas!” – Diane
“Of course, bananas are far more interesting.” – Ianto
On a magazine cover: “Good God!” – John
“Welcome to the wonderful world of scantily dressed celebrities.” – Ianto
“There’s children around!” – John
“She’s a children’s TV presenter.” – Ianto
“So, they didn’t leave you a house or anything?” – Jade
“No… I’ve got nothing.” – Emma
“We could go back to mine. Read up about yourself on the ‘net. That sounds like a line. It’s not a line. I’m not chatting you up. Not because I don’t think you’re attractive, because you are, because I wouldn’t want you to think I was taking advantage of…” – Owen
“Got any Scotch?” – Diane
“What’s a fuck buddy?” – Diane
“It’s a friend that you have casual sex with.” – Owen
“There’s nothing casual about what we just did.” – Diane
“Oh no, I didn’t mean that.” – Owen
“Sex shouldn’t be devalued. Both parties should give it 100% concentration. Because when you take off together, it’s the next best thing to flying.” – Diane
“Emma’s parents are a bit religious.” – Gwen
“Better not tell them you saw my morning glory then, eh.” – Rhys
“John’s witnessing the end of his world, the end of his line. And we can’t help. There’s no puzzle to solve, no enemy to fight. Just three lost people who’ve somehow become our responsibility.” – Jack
“So, how many men have you… done it… with?” – Emma
“A few.” – Gwen
“So, if I meet a boy and…” – Emma
“Mm-hm.” – Gwen
“…we get on and…” – Emma
“Mm-hm” – Gwen
“…he wants sex then…” – Emma
“Mm-hm” – Gwen
“… you think I should let him.” – Emma
“No.” – Gwen
“You wish you’d waited for Rhys? He’s your special someone, isn’t he?” – Emma
“Yes, yes I suppose!” – Gwen
“And sex with him is… better than the others.” – Emma.
“Well.” – Gwen“It’s like two separate worlds. There’s Torchwood, and then there’s real life.” – Gwen
“I don’t know if I can do this any more. This isn’t how it works for me. I’ve slept with enough women, I’ve done the fuck buddy thing, and this is not it. I can’t concentrate. All I see is you. All I can think about is what you’re wearing, what you’re thinking, what your face looks like when you come. It’s been, what, a week? And it’s like when I’m not with you, I’m out of focus. How have you done this to me? I’m scared. I’m fucking scared.” – Owen
Weren’t You In?
Louise Delamere appeared in “No Angels” (2004-2006) as Lia Costoya. Mark Lewis Jones featured as DI Russell Bing in “55 Degrees North” (2005) and had a role in “Troy” (2004) as Tecton. Olivia Hallinan was Kim in “Sugar Rush” (2005-2006) and Ellie in “Girls in Love” (2003-2005). Sam Beazley played the Vicar in “Pride and Prejudice” (1995). Rhea Bailey was Yasmin in “Waterloo Road” (2006).
Unanswered Questions
Why were Torchwood at the airfield? What indication did they have that the plane came through the transcendental portal? How did they know the plane would land there? Why bring the three travellers to a hostel/hotel and not let them sleep at Torchwood, at least for the first night? Jack could have kept guard. How is Ianto such a fantastic mathematician that he can total Emma’s shopping so quickly? Would Emma have known the meaning of “lush”? What kind of beer were the girls drinking, and why did they have three cans already open If Emma was drinking out of a can, how does she come to the conclusion that she’s only had half a glass? Was it half a can? John was very brusque with Emma – is this because he’s trying to regain some control he feels he’s lost by this ordeal? Owen says he doesn’t have a girlfriend – does this mean he considers Gwen one of his “fuck buddies?” Does John travel with the family pictures? Don’t most posh shops have logos on their shopping bags? How does Owen guess Diane’s dress size so perfectly? How does Emma get such a fabulous job so quickly? Does Emma even have any references or work history? The fashion industry is usually much more thorough when hiring people to be buyers – whilst knowledge of the returning fashions of the 50s (quite a coincidence) would doubtless be handy, she would surely be asked about the other recent fashions of 2007 and where she expected 2008 to take them. Where does she get the money for all the new clothes? Is Torchwood’s budget to them really that generous? Why does Gwen feel so protective of Emma? She looks really disappointed/hurt when Emma says “there’s nothing to keep me here”. How did John know that Ianto’s keys would be behind the counter – there do appear to be several hooks with keys, but that was awfully fast thinking. Furthermore, how does he know where the Torchwood staff park their cars? And which care is Ianto’s? Why do Gwen and the others appear to have loads of free time for shopping/dating suddenly? Ianto says he can’t get hold of John – how would he? Did they give them all mobiles? Jack seems to hold John in very high regard – why is he so desperate to keep him around? Does he see something of himself in John, or some other quality that he wants to hold on to? How old is Owen that he’s never been in love before? How does Diane get the plane outside? Why wasn’t it in a more secure hangar if it was straight out of the 1950s? Torchwood have many ways to cover things up, but surely it wasn’t just in any public hangar.
Fuck Ups
Pink Panther release date is advertised in QM with a July DVD release, but it is obviously Christmastime. Alicia barely looked at Emma’s shoes when she described them as lush. The colour scheme on the QM teabags do not match QM’s shop colours. They should be green and white. John lights his pipe twice – this in and of itself may not be strange but there is a bit of tobacco hanging out when he goes to light it the second time which surely would have burnt the first time around. Also, where was the bar staff when he lit the pipe the first time? Diane doesn’t get told to put out her cigarette in the restaurant (most restauraunts these days are non-smoking, and certainly by December 2007 a smoking band will have covered all restaraunts in Cardiff for nine months). Owen goes from holding Diane’s hand in one camera angle to the two of them not touching at all in the next camera angle after they had sex for the first time. Alan Ellis is WAY too old-looking for 60 (presuming the setting is 2007) – he was born 6th April 1947. How is Diane able to stand the cold wearing a sleeveless dress in December? The full moon we see does not coincide with other information we are given. Full moon dates in 2007 are 24th Nov or the 24th Dec. There are leaves on the trees despite it being December. Since 1992, cars were built with catalytic converters making it difficult to kill oneself in the way John is trying to do. During the last sex scene, Diane has only 1 patch of sweat carefully placed on her arm and no where else – nor does Owen appear in any way sweaty. Jack may be immortal, but surely he would start hallucinating after breathing in all that carbon monoxide. You can see a brief glimpse of the National Express logo above the sign saying Tickets/Tocynnau as Gwen is walking Emma to the coach. No one checks Emma’s ticket as she got on the coach. How is Diane suddenly flying without a license? She’ll have to land sometime. There is an insect flying around in the car – how did it survive the carbon monoxide poisoning?
Torchwood: Declassifed Episode 10 (Length: 10’28″)
Broadcast BBC Three, Monday 18th November, 1:40am.
John Barrowman and Mark Lewis Jones introduce the show, Russell T Davies explains the idea behind the episode, Barowman talks about the lack of science fiction, Richard Stokes enthuses about the opening image and Catherine Tregenna discusses the characters’ displacements.
Jones looks at the story from his character’s point of view, which Barrowman and Treganna expand upon.
Jones and Alice Troughton talk about the car death scene.
Davies and Tregenna cover the Gwen/Emma relationship, Olivia Hallinan explains her motivation and Eve Myles tells us what it reveals about Gwen.
Kai Owen on being naked and Tregenna on the Rhys/Gwen relationship and its turning point. Myles defends her character’s lies.
A look at Owen’s love story by Davies, Richard Stokes, Burn Gorman and Tregenna. Gorman takes a moment to lust after Louise Delamere.
The next episode is previewed by Gorman, Barrowman and Davies.
Site Review by Rob Tizzard
Another very stand-alone episode in both style and storyline as three people from the 40’s are lost in time. Although science fiction is involved, most of this is glossed over to tell a tale of how different the world is today. It also tells us there have always been strong women and it is the man who can not adjust.
There are no aliens, no danger, just life and it’s a refreshing change in pace for what has become quite a dark series. There is a scene with Gwen and the displaced teenage girl where they talk about sexual attitude which is genuinely the funniest scene of the whole series so far. Rhys also appears in a fuller role and there are hints his involvement is about open up.
The female pilot tears up Owen’s world like no woman has so far managed, making his fling with Gwen all the more trivial. He’s a very grim character and I wonder what back story is hiding there now. He barely smiles for such a joker.
Jack sees himself reflected in the displaced man leading to a bleak climax for what began as such a light story. Ianto and Tosh are again sidetracked again, there is definitely room in the format for a more even handed show. It’s now become easy to expect the unexpected as each episode is so vastly different from the last and with a second series on the way, I just wonder where it will weave next…
Reader Reviews
As Torchwood moves inexorably towards the inevitable, gung-ho conclusion to its first series, we are served a breather episode in the form of ‘Out of Time’. No aliens, no tangible danger for the Torchwood team, just a trio of lost souls who end up in the present, over half a century from their own time of 1953. What could possibly have been a very hum-drum fifty minutes is woven by Catherine Tregenna into a moving and at times heartbreaking tale brimming with real emotion.
There are no prizes for guessing the source of Tregenna’s plot. Richard Matheson’s classic episode of the original The Twilight Zone, ‘The Last Flight’, focused on a British fighter pilot who disappeared in 1917 whilst engaging the enemy in a battle over France. Forty-three years later, he lands his biplane on the airstrip of a US Air Force base. As in ‘Out of Time’, the pilot (Kenneth Haigh) returns to his craft at the story’s conclusion and takes off, aiming for the time anomaly through which he had arrived. The parallels are obvious, but Tregenna takes the idea one step further, and explores how three very different people would cope in a world that’s as alien to them as the Victorian era would be to us. These reactions and adjustments are at once entertaining, surprising and, in the case particularly of John Ellis, the family man, heartbreaking.
The stories of the three are handled very deftly, with the assisted suicide of John being particularly moving and beautifully played by Mark Lewis Jones and John Barrowman, who is really beginning to shine as the Torchwood era Jack. Likewise, Louise Delamare impresses as Diane Holmes, and it was with great regret that I realised that we would not be likely to see any more of her character as the episode neared its end. Emma, played by Olivia Hallinan, blends in with the morés of the 21st Century with seeming ease, after a shaky start – whether this is believeable is open to question, but the episode needed a positive story for one of the three, what with the death of John, and Owen being left bereft at the loss of Diane after their whirlwind romance.
In a nutshell, this was a great episode of Torchwood. In fact, it was as sophisticated, mature and affecting piece of television drama as I have seen on British TV in recent years – no faint praise. My only problem with it was that it was a little too self-contained. It would have been interesting to see Diane stay for a while longer, and to explore how this affected Gwen and Owen’s illicit relationship and Owen’s work at Torchwood. The bar keeps being raised, and ‘Out of Time’ is the most effective Torchwood episode I’ve seen to date.
Alan Hayes
