Doctor Who and Related Transcripts
Torchwood transcripts - series 3
Episode 2: Children of Earth, Day Two
Go here for the main Torchwood page.
Episode transcribed by
beccaelizabeth (e-mail address beccaelizabeth @ yahoo.com )
of the Torchwood
Transcripts LiveJournal community as follows.
Transcript hosted at
beccaelizabeth.dreamwidth.org/1623.html (link valid on 11 March
2010).
TORCHWOOD
Children of Earth
Day Two
Transcript
SPOILERS
Oddly enough, since this has every word written out.
Belongs to the BBC. Transcribed without permission. Hope they don't mind.
(This is the transcriber writing stuff down.)
Between // and // people talk over the top of each other.
"This is where a character is quoting a different character."
'This is on comms, in this one mostly phones.'
NAME: This was in the subtitles.
This was not in the subtitles but I heard it.
This was in the subtitles but I did not hear it.
(VO) Is voice over, something like narration, said by a character not there.
(OS) Is off screen, said by a character not in the shot but in the same location.
I have tried to balance not giving away the plot early with making the transcript clear and detailed, but sometimes you just have to name someone or observe something. Since everyone reading this has seen and probably bought this already is all good, yes? Yes.
I skipped the Previously. A chant of We Are Coming... Back. BANG!
TORCHWOOD
CHILDREN OF EARTH
DAY TWO
EXT NIGHT Plas
(Gorgeous crane shot, from really high up. Just enough of the familiar to recognise, like the light pillars at one end and a half circle opposite the invisible lift. But the lift fountain is blown to an outline of girders, and there's a bloody great crater where everything else used to be. Broken rocks, depths, and fire.)
(Off at the back, one ambulance parking.)
(Gwen lies curled up face down amidst fire and wreckage. She crawls to her knees. Sits up, shaky.)
(POV shot of smoke and fire, all the sound muted – Gwen after the BANG.)
(Wider shot again – Gwen in front of the light pillars, Millennium Centre off in the background with the lettering lit red. Flames and rubble everywhere.)
(Close again. Gwen on her feet, staggering in front of the bridge. Hands to her head.)
(POV, more flames and rubble, mute sound.)
(Gwen running, heading *to* the crater, rubble, flames.)
(Two paramedics, running in to intercept her.)
AMBULANCE GUY: Whoa! Whoa! You can't go back there, love. No, no, no, it's too dangerous.
GWEN: Yeah My friend's still in there. My friends are in there!
AMBULANCE GUY: Go back to the ambulance. Walk as quick as you can, now.
GWEN: Let me go and get him. Let me go! Let me go! No! (screams) No!
(Ambulance guys pick her up and carry her to the ambulance. She struggles and screams.)
AMBULANCE GUY: Hold her down! Control said no survivors.
GWEN: Aaagh!
(White guy pins Gwen to a stretcher while black guy gets a syringe out and taps it.)
(Gwen gets the man's arm into her mouth and BITES. He screams and releases her.)
(With blood on her mouth Gwen punches one guy in the nuts, sits up, grabs the fire extinguisher, clangs both of them with it.)
(They're both down and knocked out. Gwen sits hard and takes a deep breath.)
(She grabs their guns – shoulder holsters under paramedic uniform.)
(On a nearby roof a red laser sight draws our attention to a Sniper.)
(There's a dot on Gwen's jacket.)
(She looks up ... dot lines up with her eye.)
(Gwen dives and shoots two handed! Sniper shoots but only hits the white ambulance guy! Shots exchanged too fast to count!)
(Gwen sits up, fires. Sniper ducks. Gwen gets up and runs behind the ambulance.)
(She climbs in the driver's seat, dumps guns on the passenger seat, and puts her foot down.)
(Dead ambulance guy falls out the back.)
(Back at the crater...)
(Twisted metal, rubble, and Ianto! Yaays! You'd think stuff that blows up metal and concrete would be a problem for flesh, but no, Ianto clambers and staggers and emerges with suit intact, albeit dusty. Ninja Butler Superpowers!)
(The shot from above the crater leaves you wondering how he survived the fall, let alone the explosion. Wreckage!)
(Ianto gets to the top... and sees red laser through smoke! Dramatic sprinting time! Oops, dramatic getting trapped time instead. Sprint in another direction Ianto! Sniper continues to miss. Even with a little dot to show him where it's pointed. He keeps hitting lamp posts and sparking dramatically off the floor instead.)
(Ianto runs away!)
(Gwen with blood mouth drives away. In an ambulance with the back doors open.)
(Dramatic red and black and neat metal shapes and black clad soldier' sniper rifle in hand, soldier is running down the stairs.)
(Ianto runs away more!)
(Stairs!)
(Ianto!)
(Sniper on the corner behind Ianto! He aims! He fires! He's really really bad at this!)
(Ianto skips and the bullets miss! ... no, really, watch for it ...)
(Ianto runs around a corner and stops! Sirens! Starts running again!)
INT NIGHT Frobisher house
(Anna gets mugs of something for Holly and Lilly. They're still in pink bathrobes. They've stopped chanting then.)
PHONE RINGS
FROBISHER: Sorry, I've got to take this.
ANNA: Work? After what just happened?
FROBISHER: Because of it. They're OK now. Get yourselves to bed, girls. And don't worry. Hello.
EXT NIGHT Plas crater
(Johnson in the boots standing over the burning crater talking to a cell phone.)
JOHNSON: Target one's eliminated. Two and three have escaped, but we're in pursuit.
INT NIGHT Frobisher house
(Alternates with crater.)
FROBISHER: What went wrong?
JOHNSON: They got lucky. But they won't get far.
FROBISHER: We can't have witnesses. 'Call me when you've got them. And make it quick!'
(Ends at his house, and as he hangs up...)
KNOCK ON DOOR
(Freeze, then opens door. Dekker. Peers past. Frobisher turns.)
(Girls going past on the stairs.)
FROBISHER: Off to bed.
(Turns back to Dekker.)
DEKKER: I've got the translations.
(Nods and lets him in.)
INT NIGHT Frobisher house, different room
(The two men sit at a table, fancier chairs, not the kitchen. Photo in a frame behind them. Pot plant in foreground. Formal domestic.)
(Dekker gets a big set of papers out.)
DEKKER: Instructions. Specifications for something they want us to build. And we haven't got much time to do it in.
(Frobisher reads. Pages and pages of dense type, complicated stuff.)
FROBISHER: When they can communicate like this, in this kind of detail, why do the thing with the children?
DEKKER: Because they can. And because they want to scare us.
EXT NIGHT Cardiff Millennium stadium I think
(Gwen pulls up, grabs the guns, gets out. In the back the remaining ambulance guy, awake, hunts around for his syringe. Finds and conceals it.)
(He's sitting in front of a poster that says: NO EXCUSE. An ambulance crew is assaulted every day in London.)
(Gwen gets to the back door and climbs in talking.)
GWEN: Who do you work for?
(Silence. She points a gun at his head. ... you can do that from outside the ambulance you know. Though I guess people could see you easier?)
GWEN: Who do you work for?
AMBULANCE GUY: The NHS.
(Shift aim, fire, aim for his eye, all in a single motion.)
GWEN: Who do you work for?! You tried to kill me. My friends my friends could be dead. So don't think I won't use this.
AMBULANCE GUY: Government. I'm working for the government. I just follow orders, that's all.
GWEN: We're on the same side?
(Puzzled Gwen, guy pounces, tries to get her with the syringe. Struggle! Gwen shoots him in the foot!)
AMBULANCE GUY: Aaaargh!
GWEN: Why would the government want to destroy Torchwood? Why?
AMBULANCE GUY: I just do as I'm told. I'm just following orders, that's all.
(Sirens zoom past outside.)
RADIO: 'Please come in.'
(Gwen looks at the radio, at the man. Gun pressed between his eyes. Then she turns and backs out the ambulance, keeps her gun on him as she climbs down; he's terrified.)
(Gwen wipes the blood from her face and runs.)
EXT NIGHT Plas crater
(Many emergency vehicles there now, fire trucks, ambulance. Lots of hi vis jackets.)
(From ground level it's still pretty impressive. Destruction. People running in with equipment.)
JOHNSON: (OS) Jackson, keep the police back.
(Johnson is openly in charge.)
(PC Andy! He spots her giving orders.)
JOHNSON: You, come with me.
PC ANDY: If she's anti-terrorist, I would not mind being Uncle Terrorist.
JOHNSON: Get some back up. Two escaped suspects. Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper. Armed and dangerous.
PC ANDY: I know Gwen Cooper. She's an ex-police officer, she's not a terrorist.
JOHNSON: Haven't you got tape to tie?
PC ANDY: Fine, I'm just saying. You're barking up the wrong tree, that's all.
JOHNSON: I want their homes raided.
PC ANDY: Gwen Cooper is not a terrorist.
JOHNSON: You must know where she lives.
INT NIGHT Cooper-Williams house
(Rhys is in bed snoring with a book on his chest.)
(Gwen slams the door open, gun in hand.)
RHYS: Yerh!
(Noise of Startle and jumping.)
(Gwen gets the light on and moves while snapping orders.)
GWEN: Get up! Now! We've got to go!
RHYS: Bloody hell, Gwen!
GWEN: Get up, get dressed. We've to get out of here.
RHYS: What's going on, man?
GWEN: Listen, someone is trying to kill me. And if they're after me, they're going to come after you. Now get up, and get dressed!
RHYS: What?
(Naked Rhys is not swift but trying his best. Gwen is packing a backpack. She grabs a contact lens case off the bedside table – next to a white rose in a glass stand, sweet – and some other stuff.)
(Rhys has his underpants on.)
GWEN: Come on Faster Rhys, faster, faster!
(Rhys has jeans on, and is going for shoes.)
RHYS: All right, all right.
EXT NIGHT Cardiff road
(Black jeep travels, blue light and siren going.)
(Andy is sitting in the middle of it. 4 armed black clad soldiers around him, one hi vis police officer with sticky out ears stuck between. Johnson in the passenger seat.)
PC ANDY: Down to the bottom, take a left. (pause of look around at the dodgy ops team) I mean, shouldn't there be some sort of briefing first? Like a risk assessment? Not that Gwen's a risk.
INT NIGHT Cooper-Williams house
(Gwen sorts things frantic. For a moment it looks like she's desperate to stock up on booze for the journey.)
GWEN: Rhys, car keys?
(He's doing his trousers up. Speedy!)
RHYS: Try the top of the fridge, I think.
(Gwen bangs on the wiggly glass partition between their bedroom and front room. Rhys is still mostly pink Rhys skin.)
GWEN: I've tried on the top of the bloody fridge, man! Come on! If you put the keys in the same place all the time we wouldn't have to go through this time and time again!
(I am LOL and loving the acting because this is one of Those Conversations that you have a lot and you can tell they have a lot and yet Gwen is putting all the urgency into it.)
(Rhys trundles out still half naked, with his phone and his book in hand.)
GWEN: What are you doing?
RHYS: Packing.
GWEN: You're not going to have time to read! And they can trace us with that!
(Throws book + phone over shoulder.)
RHYS: Well, I don't know, I've not gone into hiding before have I!
EXT NIGHT Cardiff street phone box
(Ianto has found a phone box! ... which isn't easy, this day and age.)
EXT NIGHT Cardiff street with Jeep
(Sirens and lights and jeep driving.)
PC ANDY: So, er, you lot are some sort of specialists from London. Am I right? I mean, I totally respect that. Really I do. But sometimes, there's no substitute for a little bit of local knowledge. And let me tell you, Gwen'll be absolutely no bother. (pause of looking shifty eyes erk at all the weapons) We're not going in there all guns blazing, are we?
JOHNSON: How far is it?
PC ANDY: Two minutes.
CHA-CHICK (Everyone gets their guns ready.)
(Andy's eyes could possibly get bigger if he got outside equipment. He sits very still.)
EXT NIGHT Cardiff street phone box
IANTO: Come on, come on... Come on.
INT NIGHT Cooper-Williams house
(Gwen is at the window peering out.)
PHONE RINGS
GWEN: No! Rhys! Rhys!
(Rhys – still topless – answers the phone. As you would. When on the run.)
RHYS: Hello.
GWEN: (hisses) Jesus Christ, Rhys! (fists of I-could-throttle-you)
RHYS: It's Ianto, right? (hands phone over)
GWEN: Christ's sake, man! (takes phone.) Ianto, are you OK?
EXT NIGHT Cardiff street phone box
(Alternates with Gwen's location.)
IANTO: Yeah, have you heard from Jack?
GWEN: 'No.' No I haven't. Sorry, hang on. (tangled in unaccustomed phone wire) Do you think he survived?
IANTO: He usually does. 'Who was it? Any idea?'
GWEN: Yeah I had a run-in with one of them. Said he was working for the government.
IANTO: That doesn't make sense.
GWEN: How did they get close enough to plant it inside him, Ianto?
IANTO: It was him, that Dr Rupesh guy. He was shot and killed in the hospital earlier tonight. 'It must've been then.'
(Rhys has found the keys! They're in the sofa! And he's even dressed!)
RHYS: Let's go.
GWEN: Yeah (snaps fingers) Take the bag. Get the car ready.
(Rhys runs out.)
GWEN: Er, where shall we meet, Ianto?
IANTO: Your phone, your phone could be bugged.
EXT NIGHT Outside Cooper Williams house
(Rhys runs for car. Alternates now with phone conversation.)
GWEN: Erm, right... Er...
(Rhys in the drivers seat, bag in the back seat.)
GWEN: Remember the last time we had ice cream together?
IANTO: No.
GWEN: Yeah, you do. After the Grand Slam.
IANTO: I don't like ice cream. It gives me a headache.
(Gwen sees out window.)
CAR HORN
GWEN: I've got to go.
(She runs.)
(Rhys sees the jeep out the back window and keeps leaning on the horn.)
RHYS: Gwen!
(Car full of soldiers and Andy)
(Street full of Gwen – she takes aim)
(Passengers duck as she fires precisely 4 times.)
(Gwen dives into the car.)
(PC Andy is Really Not Amused. Look on his face! New trousers time?)
GWEN: Go!
(Rhys does dramatic escape driving with tyre screech!)
(Andy in the car is still sort of ducked.)
JOHNSON: Now do you believe she's a terrorist?
(Jeep rolls forward... ka clunk ka clunk... flat tyres all round.)
PC ANDY: She shot the wheels. What kind of terrorist shoots your wheels?
JOHNSON: A clever one.
EXT NIGHT Cardiff somewhere else
(There's something a bit industrial at the end of the street and possibly houses all around.)
(Rhys drives up and pulls up.)
RHYS: Right. I think...we made it.
GWEN: (out the car like a bunny) Let's go.
RHYS: Where? (still fumbling his belt)
(Gwen with her gun out moving quickly, gets the backpack from the back.)
RHYS: Can't we just take a minute? Just to...
GWEN: Number plate recognition. They can trace us. We need to ditch it.
RHYS: It's a brand new car Gwen!
GWEN: It's no good to us now, OK? We need to keep moving.
RHYS: Well Wouldn't it be better if we gave ourselves up? You know, like, tell somebody what happened.
GWEN: When I know what's happened, I'll tell someone. Until then, we're going underground.
RHYS: Well Let me carry the bag.
GWEN: Huh?
RHYS: You want your trigger finger free, don't you?
(We loves Rhys. So does Gwen. Bag and a quick smooch, gun still in hand.)
INT NIGHT Davies house
BANG BANG CRASH
(Soldiers bash the door open. Rhi is almost down the stairs, stops and YELPS when the gun men come in.)
SOLDIERS: We're looking for Ianto Jones.
(Men both ways from the front door, guns up and ready, torches the only light.)
(Upstairs, breaking into Mica's room, make her scream, all tiny in her pink bed.)
SOLDIERS: Don't move! Don't move!
(Kick the door in on the master bedroom, rush in, pull the blankets back.)
(Naked fat blokes is a theme I see.)
SOLDIER: We're looking for Ianto Jones.
JOHNNY: Well, you won't find him in my bed, will you?! I'm a married man.
EXT NIGHT Cardiff street near clock
(Ianto, dusty suit and smudges, walks along an old street. He looks around behind at shadowy figures walking away. Clock behind him says 3:10.)
(Mysterious ominous van trundles along street slowly behind him. Pulls up. He turns, looks, face of :-o aaaand... it's delivering a stack of newspapers.)
(phew)
(He runs a hand through his hair and turns away, stays like that til the lights pass, then jogs back to grab the news.)
---
Newspaper:
(sun and raincloud pic) Max 21C min 8C Wednesday September 2009 timesonline.co.uk No. 69400
Message to the Wo
'We are coming'
(big pic of seaside and British flag)
---
(Ianto looks around and walks away.)
EXT DAY – London again? Oh yeah, there's the dome on the right, unless there's another bowl and chopsticks around.
(View from sky again.)
EXT DAY Frobisher house
(It's big, detached, really impressive doorway, all yellows and green grass with topiary box hedges. Swish much?)
INT DAY Frobisher house
(Nice bright yellow kitchen, green school uniform. Frobisher walks in, sees his kids at breakfast eating cereal – from Tupperware not boxes – and looks sort of :-( )
LILLY: What?
FROBISHER: Keep your phones on today.
LILLY: Why?
FROBISHER: I want to be able to speak to you.
HOLLY: Since when?
LILLY: Since we were possessed by the Devil.
FROBISHER: I'm serious.
HOLLY: If they go off during a lesson, we can't get them back till Friday.
FROBISHER: Keep them on mute.
(Frobisher walks out. Anna, who has been having a Conversation with frown face throughout, follows him.)
ANNA: Every suspicious phone call, every mystery meeting, every time you come home late, you hide behind the Official Secrets Act. And I put up with it.
FROBISHER: Don't start on this. Not now.
ANNA: I accept it. But this is different. When it affects my kids, in my house.
FROBISHER: There is nothing to worry about.
ANNA: I saw how scared you were last night.
FROBISHER: I know. It's frightening to see it first hand, there's no lasting damage. It's quickly over.
ANNA: This isn't a hula hoop craze. It happened to Brian and Wendy's kids and they live in Canada. You don't think this is over any more than I do.
FROBISHER: Just make sure they keep their phones on. (whispers) And don't let them come home on their own.
(Leaves, past Anna, back to kitchen)
FROBISHER: I'm off now, girls. I'll see you.
LILLY: Goodbye kisses, it must be serious.
FROBISHER: If you could get out of bed at a proper time, you'd get plenty of kisses. (kisses wife too) Have a good day.
LILLY: Dad?
FROBISHER: What?
HOLLY + LILLY: We want a pony. We want a pony. We want a pony.
FROBISHER: See? Nothing to worry about.
EXT DAY Frobisher house
(Black car BP08 XGF pulls out of the driveway. Frobisher off to work.)
EXT DAY A street somewhere
(Clem, in his cardigan, wandering down the street, behind parked cars. Shifty eyes, staring at everyone who goes past him.)
(Gets a newspaper.)
---
DAILY VOICE
In Your Free Daily Newspaper Today: Where to go, What to do, Sports Action.
We are coming back
[a whole bunch of stuff might be readable off a HD screencap. But it doesn't linger, it's just for the headlines.]
---
(Clem looks up at the sky, whimpers, and hurries off.)
INT DAY Carter house
(In the kitchen, Steven at the centre island, Alice behind him folding laundry.)
TV: 'Latest headlines. Further reports are coming in about the explosion in Cardiff last night. No organisation has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion, which went off in the Bay area of the city. // So far casualties are said to be low'
STEVEN: Isn't that where Uncle Jack lives?
ALICE: It's a big place Cardiff. Shh!
TV: 'with only // two people reported missing. Although seventeen people from... '
INT DAY Desks outside Frobisher's office
(Lois walks in, new outfit for a new work day. There's a big CONFIDENTIAL sign on one of the filing cabinets and another one says HI. *waves back at the people who make sets* )
TV: "Residents in Cardiff are reacting with shock and outrage. The entire //bay area
LOIS: Morning
(Lois stares at the TV monitor a while. Ambulance, fire engine, people in hi vis uniforms, and people climbing on rubble. Then Lois goes to her desk.)
TV: has // been closed off and witnesses say the effects of the explosion last night could be felt five miles away. No-one can say for sure why this area was the site of such an unexpected attack, and the Prime Minister's office has refused to speculate until more details are known. Fortunately, the timing of the device last night meant very few people were around ..."
(TV fades under the music ... I turned my TV right up and I'm still guessing at the blue words ... while Lois gets her coat off, blue jumper today, and gets to work.)
(The post-it of security fail is probably not necessary any more since she has a memory. So now she's logged in as Bridget Spears and looked up Torchwood again.)
---
Classified Information – Authorised Prersonnel Only [sic] [no, I swear, go check]
Log in ID: Bridget SPEARS
Torchwood: Organisation: History: Archive: Personnel: Case Files
Organisation
Originally established at the MacLeish Estate in Aberdeenshire some 130 years ago, the organisation has since found homes in Glasgow, London and Cardiff although Torchwood 2 in Glasgow is thought to have disbanded and Torchwood 1 in London is now defunct following the Battle of Canary Wharf, during which the base was subject to an alien confrontation in which most of its agents perished.
Torchwood 3, located in Cardiff Bay is thought to be the last operational Torchwood post although there are still some private acquisitions which Queen Victoria herself made that are unbeknownst to us.
[picture: Very distinctive building, big porch and lots of steps.]
---
(Lois looks at TV. Shock: very distinctive building, big porch and all.)
---
CARDIFF BAY DEVASTATED BY BOMB
Police seal off area
BBC NEWS: Are evacuating residents within a two mile radius of Cardiff Bay as
---
(Suspicious Lois can add that together. In case viewers are slow and missed the first episode we get a zoom in with ominous music.)
(Bridget Spears, in Frobisher's office, hangs up the phone and comes out.)
(Lois has mastered the art of the leisurely window change. She clicks. We see her screen briefly:)
---
File//Torchwood>>092977
File//Torchwood>>092972
File//Torchwood>>092969
File//Torchwood>>092965
File//Torchwood>>092944
---
(And many others flicking past fast on a countdown, file numbers longer and cut off by screen edge.)
(Lois looks up something with Jack's picture, and then we see again ORDER TO KILL.)
---
Personnel ACTIVE
Captain Jack Harkness
Position: Captain Jack Harkness is the
Torchwood, responsible for the organ
Torchwood and leading the Torchwood
Biography: File//Torchwood>>Captain
Ianto Jones
Position: Senior Torchwood operative
---
(That's only visible if I play back at 1/16.)
---
ORDER TO KILL
Colonel Michael Sanders (ret)
Ellen Hunt
Captain Andrew Staines
Captain Jack Harkness (active)
---
(That's the image as Frobisher starts to speak.)
FROBISHER: (VO) As you know, Harkness is a difficult man to kill.
INT DAY PM's Office
(Close up on Frobisher.)
FROBISHER: Current theories suggest that his longevity is connected in some way to the Torchwood Hub. Which necessitated taking out the entire operation.
PM: He can't still be alive, after that.
FROBISHER: As I said, awaiting results.
PM: What about these, er... these specifications? From the 456? I could barely understand a word of them.
FROBISHER: Nor me. But I'm told the translations are excellent. And they've started work. Dekker's called in the damage control team, they're working as fast as they can. Early reports are looking, well, lets say promising.
PM: Can we see it?
FROBISHER: They'll be ready to show us work in progress by 1600 hours.
PM: We're building something and we don't even know what it is.
FROBISHER: Can I ask? Did the 456 contact any other country?
PM: Intel's been listening. No chatter on the wires. Seems like it's only Britain.
FROBISHER: And how long can we keep it secret? Given the children's last statement, "We are coming back". That's what everyone seems to be asking - when were they here before?
PM: Yes. Well, if that's everything...
FROBISHER: Sir. (Rises, walks two steps, stops and turns.) Sir, I'd just, um... I just um wanted to say how... grateful I am, sir.
PM: What for?
FROBISHER: Well. I know that I'm something of a middleman in these affairs, but um... I just wanted to thank you, for trusting me with the responsibility.
PM: All I've done is put you on the front line. That's what the front line's for, John. First to fall.
FROBISHER: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
(Frobisher exits through office door, hesitates, looks back, goes. Door close behind him. PM never looks up.)
EXT DAY Wreckage and fire at the Plas
(Close up on rubble and flames. Daylight but still burning.)
EMERGENCY WORKER: Come on, check the gas is turned off.
(A man in a dark red uniform with hi vis stripes, wearing a yellow helmet, is being lowered into the crater, past girders and towards flames.)
(Above, Johnson looks down past more rubble, similar uniformed emergency workers around her, recognisable bits of landmarks behind her. I really should look up some building names.)
(Wrecked metal frames in the half circle fountain shape lie next to a patch of fire. Emergency workers are down there now. There's job chatter happening.)
EMERGENCY WORKER: Get some breathing equipment down here.
EMERGENCY WORKER: Hang on! Stop! I've got something!
(A human hand sticks out of the rubble! Mud and blood but in the pink. Left hand, left wrist, no strap.)
EMERGENCY WORKER: Hello? If you can hear me, clench your hand.
(Pause, looking.)
EMERGENCY WORKER: It's not a body. It's just the arm.
(Johnson does satisfied head tilt back.)
INT DAY Carter house
(Close up on phone. Purple phone and purple nail varnish. Names I-L selected: Jack)
--
Jack
0770900578
---
(Alice, all color coordinated and purple today, uses her cellphone to call Jack, with worried finger not quite biting going on.)
EXT DAY Wreckage Plas
(We see the emergency workers and fire while we hear the phone ring.)
(Johnson presides over it all, striding around casually.)
ANSWER PHONE: 'This is Jack Harkness. Leave a message and I'll get back to you.'
INT DAY Carter house
(Alice through stair bars, fingers on mouth of worried.)
ALICE: It's me. Call me. When you get a chance.
(Her voice is only a little worried. Her curl up and lean on fist is a lot worried.)
(Long shot of her sitting small half way up the stairs like that.)
STEVEN: (OS) Mum, there's no toothpaste.
(Up and back to the grown up job then.)
INT DAY Desks outside Frobisher's office.
(Lois hides the Torchwood files again as the door opens.)
(Looking shifty and a bit worried there.)
BRIDGET: Everything OK?
LOIS: Yeah. They're expecting us, the car's waiting.
BRIDGET: Well, come on then.
(Lois gets up. Frobisher walks past, busy busy. His phone rings.)
FROBISHER: Hello?
JOHNSON: 'We thought there was a body, but' we've got an arm, a shoulder and the remains of a head. It's almost a waste of a body bag.
(She's still with the emergency crews.)
(The body bag, curled up with just a couple of lumps in the top, is carried past on a stretcher. Your transcriber's stomach reacts.)
FROBISHER: 'Is it Harkness?'
(In the office Lois looks up at that name.)
JOHNSON: Presumably.
FROBISHER: Take him to Ashton Down. Keep him under surveillance.
(He walks off and pockets the phone. Lois hurries after, into the corridors.)
LOIS: Sorry, sir, I couldn't help hearing. That name. Harkness. Is that Captain Jack Harkness? From Torchwood? Only he was trying to contact you yesterday. I did mark it in the log. Said he could help.
FROBISHER: Not now, he can't.
LOIS: Are you sure? He was very insistent. He told me his team were the experts at dealing with things like the children thing.
FROBISHER: He told you that? Over the phone?
LOIS: Yes.
BRIDGET: He always was an arrogant sod.
LOIS: So, he can't help? He's not really the expert?
FROBISHER: That bomb in Cardiff last night. He was the one at the centre of it. It tore him to shreds.
(Frobisher walks off. Lois talks to Bridget.)
LOIS: Does that mean whoever's behind the bomb's behind the children thing? Like they wanted him out of the way or something?
BRIDGET: Lois, your job - you don't overhear phone calls. You speak when you're spoken to. OK?
LOIS: Sorry.
EXT DAY Wreckage Plas
(Emergency workers with their sad bundle of body bag.)
(Johnson looking Serious.)
(Camera changes focus to... Ianto on the roof behind them, watching it all. Balls of steel, dude.)
(Worried Ianto is worried.)
(Body bag is loaded into the back of a black van. Doors slam.)
---
+PRIVATE AMBULANCE+
Please leave a minimum of 3m/10ft clearance at rear of vehicle for stretcher access.
NK03 0XR
---
(He writes the car number plate on the back of his hand.)
(Then he leaves the roof.)
(Johnson is still looking tough. And oblivious.)
EXT DAY Davies house
(Kid on a bike with a hi vis satchel, newspaper delivery boy, pedals slowly up hill and goes up to the Davies' door.)
(Car in the foreground shows fuzzy people in the mirrors.)
(Johnny is fixing his door. Soldiers last night left it broken? How rude!)
(In the car one black man has a camera, snaps Johnny and the delivery, while a white man sits and watches in the passenger seat.)
JOHNNY: Thanks, mate.
PAPERBOY: There you go
(Click click goes the camera.)
(Johnny sees them, makes a face like he's starting to say a rude word, turns and goes back in.)
(Black car just keeps sitting there.)
INT DAY Davies house
(Johnny slams the front door and starts reading the paper.)
(As it unfolds, something falls out.)
(Johnny bends to pick it up as his kid David comes down stairs.)
(Johnny looks puzzled, David goes up close and takes a look.)
DAVID: It'll be from Uncle Ianto. Ssh! We're probably bugged.
EXT DAY Surveillance car
(White bloke, no camera, has an earpiece. He is getting an earful.)
INT DAY Davies house
(In the kitchen, Rhi has the letter, Johnny is ranting loudly at the ceiling.)
JOHNNY: 'Innocent kids, fast asleep at home,' and a gang of uniformed thugs break in and point guns at their head? It's no wonder they're traumatised. It's no wonder our poor David pissed the bed.
DAVID: I didn't.
MICA: Ha, you big baby!
JOHNNY: It's the police state to blame, and I'm going to rinse the bastards for every penny they've got!
RHIANNON: Oh, shut up, Johnny!
(Rhi rushes out.)
(Silent staring reaction. David shrugs and goes back to his computer game.)
INT DAY Davies house main bedroom
(Rhi gnaws on a thumbnail and reads the card.)
---
Where dad broke my leg, at noon.
Bring laptop,
I.
---
(Johnny comes in and sits next to her.)
RHIANNON: What's he done? Why's he bringing it to our door?
JOHNNY: Hey, hey. We're the only family he's got.
(Forehead touching hugs.)
EXT DAY Some buildings with lots of empty around them – Ashton Down
(From the air again.)
INT DAY Ashton Down corridor of cells
(Johnson waits in front of an open cell, standing straight with hands behind back. Soldiers wheel in the bits in a bodybag.)
JOHNSON: Put it in here.
(Though the bag is unrolled now there's still only Stuff in one end of it. Two of them carry it very easily.)
(Johnson watches.)
INT DAY Carter house
(Alice tries the phone again.)
INT DAY Ashton Down corridor of cells
(Johnson stares looking impassive.)
EXT DAY Cardiff cashpoint
(Rhys and Gwen at a green cashpoint. Gwen has the bag. Rhys is trying to work the money machine.)
(The cashpoint has one of those eyes in a circle 'Who's looking over you' signs meant to make you not give your pin away.)
INT DAY Ashton Control
(Computer screens zoom in and the Operative gets a good look. Location with a big red blip.)
EXT DAY Cardiff cashpoint
RHYS: Come on, come on!
(Gwen watches a CCTV camera swinging round towards them.)
INT DAY Ashton Control
(But the camera they have to worry about is in the machine, looking up at Rhys. His name comes up, and a wiggle looks like a voice match.)
EXT DAY Cardiff cashpoint
RHYS: No. They've frozen mine, as well!
GWEN: Shit!
RHYS: What now? How're we going to manage without money, Gwen?
GWEN: We need to get to London.
RHYS: London? Everything's dearer in London!
GWEN: That's where all the decisions are made. Whoever wants us dead, that's where they'll be.
RHYS: Right. So where we should be is John O'Groats!
GWEN: I need to speak to people, but I haven't got anybody's numbers any more. So we've got to go there, OK? We've got to go. These things are all linked up. Soon as you put your card in, bells start ringing somewhere. Come on.
EXT DAY London roundabout with the building with the columns in the front
(Er, is that Thames House then? It'd be easier if I remembered such things.)
INT DAY Thames House
(Lobby, stairwell, Frobisher and Bridget lead, Lois follows. Behind them there's a metal desk, barriers before you can get in, and armed police at the barriers. Serious!)
INT DAY Ashton Down
(A bloke in a beret is staring at monitors, hands behind head. Obviously taking it seriously. Johnson walks up on him.)
JOHNSON: Any change?
BERET: No. Complete waste of time. The body next door, Rupesh Patanjali, London wants to know if it's OK to release him to the family.
(But Johnson is staring at the screens with her mouth a bit open.)
(CCTV images on a 4 way split. CD02 and CD04 on the left are the familiar corridor, RM06 and RM03 on the right have body bags. One of these is still and full as expected. The other?)
(In RM03 the body bag is filling out.)
(Beret bloke straightens up, shocked.)
(Zoom in on RM03. Oh yeah, that's movement. *shudders*)
INT DAY RM03
(In the cell it's even more noticeable. The bag of bits is now a bag of moving bits.)
INT DAY Ashton Down Corridor
(Beret and Johnson, feet hurrying... is Johnson in stompy boots with thick soles... Er, tangent. I like the boots. ANYway... hurry to the cell, Beret getting his keys out. He's also got a big gun.)
(Unlock the door, open the cell, both go in.)
INT DAY RM03
(Johnson looks at the bag.)
JOHNSON: Zip it open.
(Beret looks erk at it, but does so.)
(... can you guess the next bit? Transcriber would quite like to keep her hands over her eyes. ......)
(Ziiiiip, ziiiip, and from the dark bag...)
(Skeleton! Erk, no, more bits than that. Skeleton with nose and eyes and... goo... and... guys, this is more gross than Countrycide and I just hit pause on a really big TV screen...)
(They peel the bag back and very briefly we see a really nasty anatomically incomplete but sticky red skeleton.)
(Beret bloke thinks it's gross too.)
(Johnson does deep breath as she starts talking.)
JOHNSON: It was a bag of bits when it came in. And I asked you to keep an eye on it. Get it out of that thing and cuff it to the wall.
(She turns and leaves... less composed than she's been thus far, bit of a stumble on her, trying to get something out her pocket.)
(Beret bloke really clearly doesn't like this idea any more than I would, arm over mouth of about to puke... but he starts unzipping it. There's a big ring and chains right convenient for the job.)
INT DAY Ashton Down Corridor
(Johnson has her phone out.)
EXT DAY Thames House with the columns
INT DAY Thames House in the lift
(13 floors outlined in red ding past slowly. Bridget, Lois and Frobisher inside. Frobisher answers his phone. Conversation alternates locations.)
FROBISHER: Hello.
JOHNSON: 'The good news is', we don't have to wait for the DNA tests. 'This is definitely Jack Harkness.'
FROBISHER: And what's the bad news?
JOHNSON: His Lazarus qualities remain undiminished.
FROBISHER: Jesus Christ!
JOHNSON: 'If he can survive that, what can't he survive?'
(*ding* lift arrives)
INT DAY Thames House corridor on 13
(Frobisher, Bridget, Lois, exit the lift. Dekker hands Frobisher a hard hat. Two men with big guns guard the lift.)
FROBISHER: I haven't got time to worry about this, Johnson. I've got more important things in my in-tray. What about Cooper and Jones?
JOHNSON: 'No sign of him yet.' We've had a sighting of her at a Cardiff ATM.
FROBISHER: We need that whole team out of the way by tonight. Get it done.
(Listening Lois watches as they all walk.)
(They arrive at a plastic sheeted doorway. Dekker puts his hard hat on, Frobisher following.)
BRIDGET: (To Lois) Wait out here.
(Bridget has a hat too. Lois does not. And one of the men with the big guns on this doorway heard her being told to wait.)
(Lois waits. And peers through.)
(Inside, construction is happening, with welding and flashing lights.)
EXT DAY Cardiff lorry stop
(Rhys is undoing what turns out to be the side fastenings on a big red soft side lorry.)
RHYS: Now me, I use an electronic seal, see. Even the driver doesn't know the code. So No-one gets in until it reaches it's destination. But this clown...
(Gwen is on lookout, staring at a food place opposite.)
GWEN: You Sure he's going to London?
RHYS: I don't question how you defend the world against extra terrestrial infiltration. Don't you question my knowledge of the haulage industry right .
GWEN: Sorry.
RHYS: It's a small company, Gwen. Cardiff to London. Piss poor security. And best of all, guaranteed food cargo. I'm absolutely bloody starving.
(Rhys gets it open enough and Gwen climbs up under the edge.)
RHYS: The smell from Tony's is driving me crackers.
(Rhys follows her in.)
INT DAY Lorry
(Gwen and Rhys clamber in, Warfdale Produce bags all over the place.)
GWEN: There is food. I can't fault you on that. I've got the smell of bacon in my nostrils, and I'm looking at a lorry-load of raw spuds.
EXT DAY Lorry stop
(A bloke comes over to the lorry.)
RHYS: It mightn't only be spuds. There might be other things at the back.
INT DAY Lorry
(Rhys helps Gwen climb up on the potato stacks. They slide in on top back into the lorry.)
RHYS: Come on.
EXT DAY Lorry stop
(Driver reaches the lorry, sees the loose straps, looks in. Nope, only potato here, nothing to see. He ducks his head out again.)
INT DAY Lorry
(Sighs of relief.)
RHYS: Have you got your pen knife?
GWEN: Rhys, you are not eating uncooked potatoes!
RHYS: We'll need it to cut our way out.
(Lorry starts up with horrible screechy sounds, jolts Gwen and Rhys around.)
EXT DAY Lorry stop
(Lorry drives off.)
EXT DAY Davies house, surveillance car
(Johnny leads a delegation, mostly young male, mostly in hoodies, a little kid in pink at the back.)
(Surveillance car people look nervous.)
(Car is surrounded. Johnny leans to talk in the window, half down and rain covered.)
JOHNNY: What kind of snoops are you? Dibble or dole?
SURVEILLANCE DUDE: Dunno what you're talking about.
JOHNNY: Ah So you're perverts, // then?
(Rhiannon sneaks out the Davies house, laptop under one arm.)
SURVEILLANCE DUDE: Dunno what you're talking about.
JOHNNY Is it you making them do all the weird talking shit? // Everyone look, a couple of paedos on the estate! Get em!
(The whole crowd surrounding the car join in bouncing the thing around, thumping into it, yelling. More adults join them, wave hands of bugger off at it.)
(Behind that Rhiannon gets in the car.)
(Surveillance dude with the earpiece talks into his wrist, presumably going 'aagh aagh bloody kids'. Crowd continues annoyed. Surveillance guys worried now.)
(Rhi drives off.)
INT DAY Ashton Down
(Beret bloke at his desk talking to Johnson standing over him.)
MALE VOICE: (OS) Charlie Uniform Five
FEMALE VOICE: (OS) We have observations in place.
(Same split on the monitors – Ashton Down Block 003 Security Facilities 002010-AD809 CD02 CD04 RM06 RM03)
(RM03 has now not a skeleton but a recognisable human. Bloody and missing bits but mostly there. Its head moves.)
(Johnson leans in to stare at the screen.)
INT DAY RM03
(Bright red burn covered body shifts, breathes, and)
SCREAMS
INT DAY Ashton Down
(CCTV watches. He's thrashing now, pulling against the chains, and still screaming. Johnson and Beret looking shocked.)
BERET: He'd have been better off staying dead.
INT DAY RM03
(One close-up of burnt face, SCREAMING, and very white teeth the only parts looking right.)
EXT DAY Road
(Red sides lorry driving. CN51 ZHP)
INT DAY Lorry
(Gwen and Rhys both lie on their fronts on the top level. Gwen has her chin propped in both hands. Rhys has his arms crossed.)
RHYS: Oh, God, this is uncomfortable. Bloody torture, man!
(He moves some potatoes. His wedding ring is visible. Close up on Gwen and her wedding and engagement rings are showing too.)
RHYS: How are you, love?
GWEN: My best friend's belly had a bomb go off in it last night. Someone's been trying to kill us ever since. I'm travelling at 70 miles an hour on top of a bed of potatoes, and I think I'm going to be sick.
RHYS: Travel sick, is it?
GWEN: When have you ever known me to be travel sick?
RHYS: Well, when have you ever travelled like this? On an empty stomach.
(Gwen has a secret grin at that. Gwen has a secret and it's a happy grin.)
RHYS: What? What?
GWEN: You know some announcements, you... rehearse in your head?
RHYS: Hm.
GWEN: Yeah. And this wasn't... quite what I had in mind.
RHYS: What do you mean, announcements?
(Gwen has happy big eyes, bites lip, looks sideways at him. They have a little conversation in expressions. She grins.)
RHYS: Oh, God, no!
GWEN: Yes.
RHYS: Bloody hell, no!
GWEN: Yes.
RHYS: Oh, come here. (mwah) Oh, my God! I don't believe it.
(Grins and back patting.)
RHYS: Hang on... The bomb, the guns, the car-chase, The hiding from the law. God! What am I like? Letting you do all that in your condition!
GWEN: Well You carried my bag.
RHYS: I'm serious. This changes everything.
GWEN: No No, it doesn't. We're up the same creek, and we still need a paddle.
RHYS: Yeah, but three of us in the boat.
EXT DAY Road
(Lorry zooms past and honks.)
EXT DAY Park bench and playground
(Rhiannon, with closed laptop, sits at the park bench and taps on the sides of the computer.)
(Kids play on the playground.)
(Ianto walks up quickly to the park bench, looking around everywhere, checking.)
IANTO: Hey.
RHIANNON: Oh, my God! What happened to you?
IANTO: I'm not sure yet.
RHIANNON: I wasn't followed. Sit down.
IANTO: You worked out my little code, then?
RHIANNON: Dad didn't break your leg on purpose, you know.
IANTO: He pushed me too hard. He always did.
RHIANNON: Well, you should've held on tighter. Seriously. How did you get in that state?
IANTO: That bomb. It was meant for me and the people I work with.
RHIANNON: My God! Why?
IANTO: I don't know.
RHIANNON: What sort of civil servants are you?
IANTO: Unappreciated ones.
RHIANNON: Are they OK? The people you work with?
IANTO: I don't know. Gwen's alive, but there's no way of contacting her. I'm not sure about Jack.
RHIANNON: Is he your boss? The one Susan saw you with?
IANTO: He'll be OK. They won't get rid of him that easy. I just need to find him.
(He looks around, still keeping an eye out. Rhi looks straight ahead and says nothing.)
(Sudden silence.)
(Kids on the playground are staring straight ahead.)
EXT DAY Red blazer school
(Kids in uniform same as Steven's stand and stare. Church building in the background and great big houses. Orange leaves fallen off trees in drifts against the square wire mesh. Kids inside the cage-like. A ball bounces abandoned.)
EXT DAY Blue jumper school
(David and Mica's uniform, green trees, tower blocks. Kids standing still and staring.)
INT DAY Lorry
(Now Gwen is leaning on Rhys' middle. Bet that's a squishy comfy pillow.)
RHYS: If it's a boy, Edward.
GWEN: Edward?
RHYS: Yeah. After the king.
(Potato! See, King Edward is a variety. Delayed mutual LOLs.)
(Lorry brakes sharply.)
BRAKE SQUEAL
HORNS HONK
EXT DAY Road
(Red lorry visible through bike spokes. Kid in the foreground, stock still, middle of the road.)
DRIVER: Come on! Out of the way! Come on!
(Little convoy of kids, standing still. Cars stopped around them.)
EXT DAY Red blazer school
(Steven stands and stares.)
EXT DAY Park with bench
(Ianto gets up, can see what's going on. Staring.)
EXT DAY Blue jumper school
(Still kids, moving teacher.)
CHILDREN: We are coming tomorrow.
EXT DAY Red blazer school
CHILDREN: We are coming tomorrow.
STEVEN + CHILDREN: We are coming tomorrow.
COMPUTER SCREEN
---
Government Information Network
Classified Information – Authorised Prersonnel Only
Log in ID: Bridget Spears
News Wire
URGENT – BREAKING NEWS
Children speaking in unison – urgent
Terror Alert – Severe Specific. Emergencies Services on standby. Risk group – children.
New message across UK –
'We are coming tomorrow'.
URGENT BREAKING NEWS
Cardiff Bay bombing
Casualties are low as rescue workers continue to search the wreckage. As yet no group has come forward to take responsibility.
£220 million pound overspend
The national Audit Office report on the Department of Transport IT overspend criticises tendering process and
---
BRIDGET: (OS) OK, I'll tell him.
INT DAY Desks and Frobisher's office
(Bridget puts phone down and goes in to Frobisher's office.)
BRIDGET: It's happened again.
FROBISHER: Shit. (grabs phone) What did they say?
BRIDGET: "We are coming tomorrow".
(He speed dials. Lois, on the phone, watches through the window.)
EXT DAY Blue jumper playground
(Is that David? Child recognition fail. That's definitely tiny Mica.)
CHILDREN: We are coming tomorrow. We are coming...
INT DAY Pub
(Clem is standing at the bar in a pub.)
CLEM: ...Tomorrow. We are coming tomorrow...
(Lady behind bar and other bloke look at each other and shake heads.)
EXT DAY Park bench playground
(Kids Ianto can see, chanting.)
CHILDREN: We are coming tomorrow. We are // coming tomorrow.
IANTO: This has something to do with it. It must do. When they tried to blow us up, this is what we were working on.
CHILDREN: We are coming tomorrow.//
EXT DAY Blue jumper school
(Still chanting... and action! Kids back to playing. Run and jump and laugh.)
(And in PLAYGROUND.)
(And in RED BLAZER SCHOOL.)
INT DAY Pub
(Clem puzzled.)
CLEM: Tomorrow?
BARLADY: Over and over again.
CLEM: Are you sure?
BARLADY: Positive.
(Upset sniffing Clem.)
CLEM: Can you smell that?
EXT DAY Pub
(Hereford Arms. Clem runs into the street and shouts.)
CLEM: They're coming! I can smell them. They're coming! Tomorrow, and they'll be here.
(He sniffs, he shouts, people walk past giving him the sideways stare.)
EXT DAY Park bench and playground
(Ianto runs in to the kids area to try and talk to a kid.)
IANTO: Hey, hey, hello. What did it feel like? Just then?
MOTHER3: Leave her alone! Go away!
RHIANNON: They said the // same thing here.
MOTHER3: Leave her alone. Piss off, // you perv!
RHIANNON: Yeah, OK, bye. It happened to David and Mica. What is it? What is it?
IANTO: I don't know. But this is what we do. We deal with things like this.
RHIANNON: So deal with it. Stop it.
IANTO: I need to find Jack. Give me that. (Takes laptop)
RHIANNON: How will this help?
IANTO: I took the number of the van they put him in. You can track any vehicle with the right computer programmes.
RHIANNON: Really?
IANTO: Yeah. Give me the car keys.
RHIANNON: Oh, Johnny'll do his nut!
IANTO: Please! We don't have time to spare.
(Takes keys and jogs off. Rhi chases.)
RHIANNON: A "thank you" would be nice!
IANTO: Look, I'm sorry. I've got to go. Thanks for all this.
(Gets into car.)
RHIANNON: Be careful!
(Ianto screeches away. P149 YWN.)
EXT DAY London opposite the Eye again
(Sky eyes see.)
LOIS: (OS) Hold the line, please.
BRIDGET: (OS) Hello, I'll put you on hold if that's all right. Mr Frobisher will be back in a moment.
INT DAY Frobisher office desks
LOIS: I'll have to put you on hold... Hello?
TV: ' 'We are coming tomorrow', repeated in total 38 times....
LOIS: I'm Sorry, it's a bit chaotic here at the moment with the children thing...
TV: 'Reports from all around the world confirm that // every single child said the same thing.'
LOIS: Can you spell that please? // Give me the name and I'll look into it, and get back to you now.
FROBISHER: (To Bridget) Get my daughters on the phone. Ring the school office if you have to. Drag them out of their lessons. I want to speak to them. Then get me the Prime Minister.
LOIS: There's a call waiting, sir.
FROBISHER: Take a message!
LOIS: It's the Home Secretary. And your wife wants you to call her.
FROBISHER: OK.
LOIS: Hello. John Frobisher's office.
EXT DAY London street
(Gwen in a phone box! One of the old fashioned red ones. Conversation alternates locations.)
GWEN: Can I speak to Mr Frobisher, please?
LOIS: He's not available at the moment. Can I take a message?
GWEN: It's Gwen Cooper from Torchwood. 'I need to see him urgently. Can you set up a meeting?'
---
Personnel – Gwen Cooper
Status: ACTIVE
Date of Birth: 16/08/1978
Height: 5'8 "
Hair Colour: Brown
Eye Colour: Green
Last Known Address: 138b Pentre Ro
Next of Kin: Rhys Williams – Husband
Position: Senior Torchwood operative.
Expert. Former Police Officer. Has stron
Force and an excellent understanding of
[and there's a picture]
---
LOIS: Erm... I'm not sure.
GWEN: Just put me straight through, then.
LOIS: He's very busy.
GWEN: Yeah, he would be! Who is this?
LOIS: Lois. Lois Habiba.
GWEN: What happened to Bridget Spears?
LOIS: She's on another line.
GWEN: 'Do you know what Torchwood is, Lois?'
LOIS: Yes.
GWEN: 'Then you should know' that right now you lot need us. The whole world needs us. We can help. But someone's trying to kill us. Someone who claims to be working for the government.
LOIS: Why would the government want to kill people who can help?
EXT DAY London street
(In view of houses of parliament I think, two red phone boxes showing with a distinct Crown mark on top and some landmark in the back. Rhys is looking around and carrying a backpack. Still alternates.)
GWEN: Exactly, that's what I have to find out. That's why I need to see him! Look, I know all this sounds mad, but you have to believe me.
INT DAY Frobisher's office desks
LOIS: I do. I do believe you.
(Frobisher opens the door to talk to her and Lois quickly flips windows and voice tones.)
LOIS: Hold the line, please.
FROBISHER: Call my wife. I'm in a meeting with the PM. I'll ring as soon as I can.
BRIDGET: I'm putting the school through.
FROBISHER: Ah!
EXT DAY London
(Gwen not best pleased.)
GWEN: If you're tracing this call...
LOIS: 'I'm not.'
GWEN: So you can set up a meeting, then?
INT DAY Frobisher office
(Lois stares. Frobisher is on the phone.)
FROBISHER: Lilly, is Holly there? They're both all right? Are you sure?
LOIS: (To Gwen) Yes.
(Gwen does fist of yaay to Rhys and then open hand of wait.)
(Bridget walks in to Frobisher's office.)
BRIDGET: The Prime Minister's on his way. He'll be there in ten minutes.
FROBISHER: OK, thanks. Ring ahead, let them know we're coming.
BRIDGET: Right.
FROBISHER: Simon, we're going back to Thames House.
(Lois, left at her desk, bites a thumbnail and worries.)
INT DAY Café
(Christmassy lights in the window, nice chairs, some squishy armchairs, ketchup and HP in their bottles on the table.)
(Gwen has the chair with the view of the door. Rhys twitches to look over his shoulder when the door opens.)
(Just some balding bloke. Back to talking to Gwen.)
RHYS: Can we trust this guy?
GWEN: He's our man in the government. If we can't, we really are in trouble.
RHYS: Gwen, we really are in trouble!
GWEN: Yeah We've got to trust someone, Rhys, OK?
(Lois walks in. Gwen looks out from under her fringe. Lois walks over.)
LOIS: Hi. I'm Lois.
GWEN: Where's Frobisher?
LOIS: He's not coming.
GWEN: Why not?
LOIS: Oh, God, this is probably the worst mistake of my life. I've read your files. Some of the stuff you've done, you're like unsung national heroes.
GWEN: Listen, I don't do autographs and I don't want to be rude, but why am I talking to you and not your boss?
LOIS: Because if he knew you were here you'd be dead. He gave the order to have Jack Harkness killed.
GWEN: Are you sure?
LOIS: I've seen it with my own eyes.
RHYS: We really are in trouble.
LOIS: Do you know a Captain Andrew Staines?
GWEN: No.
LOIS: A Colonel Michael Sanders? Ellen Hunt?
GWEN: No.
LOIS: They're all dead. They were killed on the same day as Jack Harkness. I didn't sign the Official Secrets Act to cover up murder. But then, I didn't take the job to commit treason on my second day. What am I doing here?
GWEN: You tell me, Lois.
LOIS: If you're the bad guys, why doesn't it say that on your file? And if you're the good guys, who am I working for, and why do they want you dead?
RHYS: Listen, this a lot to talk about. And we're going to arouse suspicion. And we haven't ordered. When we went on the run, we didn't have any money, see? We put the last of the coins into the phone box to get through to you. So If there's any chance you could, er...
(Gwen looks just short of facepalm. Lois looks a bit put out. But she pulls out money. Purple note money, lots.)
RHYS: Thank you. Oh, great. Thanks. That's magic.
GWEN: I'll have steak pie and chips. And a cup of tea.
LOIS: Just a latte for me.
RHYS: OK, I won't be a sec. I'll leave you to it.
GWEN: Thanks, we owe you one. A big one.
LOIS: Everyone in the office seems to think what's happening with the kids is all to do with aliens. And that they'll be here tomorrow. And there's something big being built on the top floor of the MI5 building.
GWEN: OK, what do you mean something?
LOIS: I don't know. But it's like they're getting ready. And if you lot... Torchwood... if you're the alien experts, and they really are coming tomorrow, why does Mr Frobisher want you out of the way all of a sudden?
GWEN: I've no idea. But I'm going to find out. Can you tell me anything about Jack Harkness? Or Ianto Jones?
LOIS: Jones is missing. I've been told Captain Harkness is dead.
GWEN: Well, that can't be true.
LOIS: Well, that's what I thought. I overheard Mr Frobisher say to keep him under surveillance. I mean Why do that to a dead person?
EXT DAY Ashton Down
(Sky establishing shot.)
(Jack shouts)
INT DAY RM03
(Close up on camera in a red dome.)
JACK: (OS) Come on! Who's the genius behind the camera?
(4 way split CCTV again, Jack on lower right, RM03. 002010 – ADB09 – ACTIVE – A----X is across the screen, with the X where it provides the world's smallest figleaf. Between that and the streaky CCTV effect naked Jack is sort of... boring. :-( )
JACK: Come on, come on out and take your bow! Show yourself!
INT DAY Ashton Down
(Beret bloke sits up and watches.)
INT DAY RM03
(Jack chained to the wall naked from about the armpits up. Angry and struggling.)
JACK: Face me like a man!
(Round hatch in the ceiling opens.)
(Worried Jack!)
(Calm Johnson steps into view in the daylight above.)
JOHNSON: I'm not a man.
JACK: Who are you? What's all this about?
JOHNSON: Apparently you can't die, so it would be foolish to tell you anything. But I will say this. If I can't kill you... I can contain you.
(Johnson steps aside. Jack struggles lots with his arm muscles showing. A hose is lowered into the ceiling hatch. Concrete!)
(Jack is covered in the nasty grey stuff, liquid pouring everywhere, filling the cell.)
JACK SCREAMS
EXT DAY Outside Ashton Down
(Ianto has binoculars, a good view, and a very worried woob face.)
GWEN: (VO) Do you know where they're keeping him?
INT DAY Cafe
LOIS: I've got a floor plan in my bag.
(Gwen smiles. Lois gets the file out.)
WAITRESS: Steak pie and chips, twice?
RHYS: Oh, lovely, thank you.
(Food! ... I'm hungry. And vegetarian. Microchips? ahem, ANYway, Rhys and Gwen take food and tuck in. Lois briefs them as soon as the waitress is gone.)
LOIS: It's, um... it's a military compound.
GWEN: Are you sure?
LOIS: That's where Mr Frobisher told them to take him. Salt?
GWEN: Thanks. This is brilliant work, Lois.
RHYS: Can you? (HP passed) Oh, thanks.
GWEN: The only problem is, how do we get inside?
LOIS: Well, Mr Frobisher's just authorised the release of a body from Ashton Down. This is Rupesh Patanjali.
GWEN: They must have thought he was one of us.
LOIS: Well The undertaker's name is Richard Rossiter and he's got an appointment to pick him up at 5.30 today. I was thinking, access to a funeral director would be easier than access to a secure military compound. So... He'd have to pass through here at some time between 5 and 5.15 to get to Ashton Down for 5.30, and there'd be no witnesses. The name of the contact at the compound is a Corporal Camara. His number's on there, and he'll be expecting you. Sugar?
(Gwen has a look just short of 'damn, already married'. And Rhys too.)
LOIS: I'm a PA. It's what I do.
GWEN: When this is all over, and you want a job, come and see me.
(Lois grins. Dear, check the life expectancy first!)
EXT DAY Road with a coffin
(The coffin is not a permanent feature. Car X186 DAA a big black van is parked at the side of a leafy road, and Rhys is backing up holding the head end of a coffin, Gwen helping him on the feet end. Muffled shouts from the bloke inside, stripped to his shorts, tied up, and gagged.)
GWEN: I'm sorry. I don't suppose you'll believe it. But this is all in the national interest.
(They dump him there, with the lid off beside him, and go for the car. Get his funeral suit out the back, go to the front. Gwen slams the doors and they drive off.)
EXT DAY London Thames House
(Roundabout from a different angle.)
INT DAY Thames House car park
(The underground car park with scary security again, two cars driving in together.)
INT DAY Thames House Floor 13 corridor
(Lift opens, ding. Two security guards with big guns still. Frobisher and Bridget wait with red hard hats in hand.)
FROBISHER: Prime Minister. (Hands him a hard hat.)
PM: Ready?
FROBISHER: Let's go.
PM: Have they sent us any further information?
FROBISHER: Not since they sent us the designs for this thing.
INT DAY Thames House Floor 13
(Under construction – they push through plastic to find metal and sparks.)
FROBISHER: I've got two radio operators working round the clock. We're sending out continuous messages on the 456 wavelength, but we're getting nothing back.
PM: Carry on. Don't mind me.
(This is his way of ignoring Dekker. He turns away and talks to Frobisher.)
PM: What's the latest from Jodrell Bank? Any signs of their approach?
FROBISHER: No. But then there wasn't last time.
(PM sees something, reacts with shock.)
PM: What's that for?
(Big glass tank, heavy frame, half hid by plastic still.)
FROBISHER: It's for them.
EXT DAY Ashton Down Gate
(Nice brick pillars, serious spiked plain gate. Propped open. Black van, Rhys and Gwen arrive. Pull up and wait for the sentry.)
GWEN: Hi, we're here to pick up a body. 5.30 appointment. Corporal Camara?
SENTRY: Kodak's dead!? When did that happen?
GWEN: No, he's the contact. The name of the deceased is Patanjali. Rupesh Patanjali.
SENTRY: Jesus! Shit meself then! He owes me money. Sorry. I'll have to look in the back.
INT DAY Ashton Down
(4 way split CCTV, CD02 CD04 AR04 GT01. The van is G01, the corridors are where they're about to go, and I think AR is the outside.)
(Beret is watching the screens.)
SENTRY: (VO) Kodak, got a couple of body-snatchers down at the gate for you, over.
EXT DAY Ashton Down
(A building, some construction looking vehicle in the foreground, Corporal Camara answering the sentry.)
KODAK: OK, let 'em in. Over.
(Rhys and Gwen drive in. The gate is up the back with a building, then there's a bar to lift and they drive over a cattle grid, then past a parked mixer lorry and a 30 speed limit sign.)
(CCTV on a stick is watching you them.)
(4 way screen, CD02 GT04 AR04 CD04. The GT04 screen has the gate bar falling now.)
(Rhys and Gwen arrive at the building with Corporal Camara. There's stacks of green barrels and lots of blokes in black armour and helmets.)
RHYS: We're not going to get away with this.
GWEN: You really shouldn't be here, Rhys.
RHYS: I shouldn't?! Hello?! (eye flick at her belly) If Jack needs carrying, you're going to need me here.
(Gwen has grin of awwww I married that!)
(Rhys winds the window down as the Corporal gets there.)
KODAK: See that fire exit? Do you wanna back up to that? Save you having to wheel him round the block.
RHYS: OK.
(The building has a lot of sealed up windows and one broken one near a door. Rhys drives where he's told. Camera on a stick still watching.)
(AR03 shows Rhys backing up, GT0? Is the gate bar, CD04 empty corridor, CD03 has Gwen and Camara walking.)
INT DAY Ashton Down corridor CD03
(Gwen and Camara walking.)
KODAK: So there's an upside to this place being turned into a mortuary all of a sudden.
GWEN: So you don't get many bodies, then?
KODAK: Not usually. But we've got in three at the moment. (pause walk stare) Do I know you?
GWEN: No, I don't think so.
(CD02 empty RM06 body bag CD03 – which was a corridor a minute ago... I think is showing Rhys getting the body trolley out the back of the van. CD04 has Camara walking.)
KODAK: You don't look like an undertaker. If more undertaker's looked like you, there'd be more of a demand for bereavement. Ooh, ooh, hang on. I'm just going to open the fire door for your mate.
(AR03 is Rhys with the car now. RM06 body bag. CD04 empty and CD03 with Gwen and Camara below. It's a very quick way to show a mobile story.)
KODAK: (VO) Corporal Camara at the west corridor. I'm just opening the fire door for the body-snatchers. OK?
BERET: (at his CCTV watching seat) OK.
(Kodak and his big gun are following Gwen along the corridor with a big grin. Gwen looks heavenward. Rhys rolls the trolley in behind them.)
KODAK: She's shy, isn't she?
GWEN: I just prefer the company of dead people.
KODAK: Is she seeing anyone?
RHYS: She's married. Married and pregnant, so you can forget it, mate, right?
(Gwen has Urgent Hands Conversation of waving No.)
(Rhys has oops face.)
(Gwen does pleasant work smile.)
(Kodak looks suspiciously between the two...)
KODAK: You're a couple, aren't you?
(Gwen nod and little squeak of agreement.)
(Kodak sighs and turns to unlock the cell door.)
(Gwen makes with the hands talk again, yap yap yap, zip it.)
(Rhys replies with eyebrows.)
(Kodak, oblivious, unlocks the door.)
(CD02 and CD04 are the corridor outside the cells, RM06 and RM05 both have body bags. RM05 is in the lower right quarter like Jack was. But he was in RM03.)
(Cell door open, Gwen and Kodak go in, CCTV swings around to watch them.)
KODAK: No offence. You can't blame a man for trying.
(On the split screen Gwen stares directly into the CCTV lens. Good thing nobody on the other end is hunting her or anything.)
KODAK: Do you want to check this is the right one?
(He unzips Rupesh. Gwen, clipboard ready, gets out her 'pen': the gizmo!)
GWEN: Yeah.
(On the split screen RM06 fuzzes out.)
BERET: Corporal Camara?
KODAK: Yeah.
BERET: Everything OK? The camera's not working.
KODAK: Yeah. Just checking the paperwork. No problem.
(*Crunch*. Gwen thwacks him one, Kodak goes down. Rhys sort of ducks and makes the most amusing face. He checks the corridor. Gwen grabs the keys. She comes out and hands them to him, closing RM06 cell door. Rhys unlocks the next one as Gwen gizmos the corridor camera.)
GWEN: Oh come on.
BERET: What's going there? I've lost two cameras now.
GWEN: That's the one. Come on.
(Rhys gets the cell unlocked.)
(On CCTV Gwen walks in, turns, aims gizmo, zaps the camera.)
(Beret bloke hits the alarm and grabs a phone.)
ALARM
(Gwen unzips the bag ... but it's a stranger.)
BERET: (VO) Intruders. Two of, west corridor. Intruders, two of, west corridor.
GWEN: Shit.
(Rhys runs for the next door, keys ready.)
GWEN: Leave it, Rhys. Out the way!
(She pulls a gun and shoots the lock. Because clearly that's more reliable and quicker than using the actual key and doesn't use up your limited ammo supply at all and you don't have to worry about ricochets.)
(Open door and... wall of concrete!)
GWEN: What the hell is that?
(Well it's grey, solid, concrete looking, and kind of wall like. A concrete wall maybe? I think you mean what's it doing there.)
(Stares at it.)
SOLDIERS: Move! Move! Move! Positions.
(Soldiers run in. Gwen and Rhys hide behind the big metal door. Bullets fly and clang. Gwen shoots back.)
RHYS: We'll have to surrender.
(Gwen leans around the door again to shoot some more.)
(Soldiers walk up behind them and point big guns.)
(Johnson, not even with her gun out, walks up between them.)
(Gwen aims, fires, *click*. ... oops. No bullets!)
(Johnson is unfazed.)
JOHNSON: I'd lay down your weapons, if I were you. You're as trapped and helpless as the man in the concrete cell.
(Gwen has two guns. Only the top one went click. Will she fire? Steps forward, with menace.)
JOHNSON: Put the guns down!
(Johnson has four armoured men with fully automatic big guns around her. Stands still with menace.)
(Tense standoff.)
(Gwen puts the guns up. Hands in the air.)
GWEN: OK.
(Bends slowly, lowering guns to the floor. Rather cutely, Rhys drops the keys too. Because clearly he is *dangerous* with those.)
(Guns almost down and...)
(Concrete recedes rapidly with crunch noises!)
EXT DAY Ashton Down
(A forklift truck has just nicked the whole damn cell.)
(Inside bits of building fall down on soldiers.)
(Outside Ianto, in builder hat and hi vis but with his tie done up and showing, drives the forklift.)
(Best boyfriend ever! To the rescue!)
(Gwen and Rhys duck falling rubble.)
GWEN: Run!
(And follow the cell out, Gwen taking one more shot as they leave.)
SOLDIERS: Positions. Come on! Positions.
IANTO: Come on, get on.
(Grin of win.)
GWEN: Ah, Ianto. You took your time.
RHYS: Come on.
(Rhys climbs on and helps Gwen up. She's left mostly outside, gun hand free.)
(Inside still in disarray, falling ceiling, lots of shouting, soldiers in a mess.)
SOLDIERS: I can't see. Come on!
(Gwen rides the forklift.)
SOLDIERS: Move it!
JOHNSON: Take your positions.
(Soldiers shoot, Gwen hangs on and shoots back at them, great big forklift speeds away.)
(Rhys flinches with every shot but keeps hold of his wife. *loves* )
(Soldiers in pursuit.)
RHYS: They're going to catch up.
GWEN: Rhys, get out and move that truck.
(It's the truck near the entrance cattle grid. He does.)
IANTO: Hold on tight.
(Soldiers run for their black jeeps. Land Rover they all say, that's not the same is it? I'll go fix later.)
(Forklift rattles over the grid.)
(Soldiers start the cars moving.)
(Rhys rolls the truck forwards.)
(Jeeps come round the corner.)
(Gwen gets off the forklift and Rhys runs out the truck.)
GWEN: Move, Rhys!
(He runs, he ducks, she shoots, the truck goes up in a bloody great BOOM!)
(Soldiers stuck behind the fire.)
GWEN: Come on.
(Team Torchwood, even the concrete encased member, all back on the forklift, making their daring high speed getaway.)
JOHNSON: (To phone) We've got a problem. Cooper and Jones stalled us at a roadblock.
INT DAY Thames House
(Frobisher on the phone with a beige wall behind him. Locations alternate.)
FROBISHER: How did that happen?
JOHNSON: 'I'm sorry.' There's a chopper on the way, but they've got a head start on us now.
FROBISHER: If he talks, we're in deep, deep shit. 'I'll have to call you back.'
(Johnson lowers phone. Flames in the foreground.)
EXT DAY Quarry
(Close up on forklift, Ianto driving.)
RHYS: Where the hell are you taking us, Ianto?
(It's a quarry! Being a quarry, this time. Great big forklift loaded with Team turns in and pulls up.)
GWEN: What are we doing?
(Ianto clicks some buttons and the forklift starts doing a Transformer bit, growing feet and stuff.)
IANTO: You'll see in a moment. Get the car started! We've only got a few minutes. Come on!
(Gwen and Rhys hop off and head for the car.)
(Ianto plays expertly with forklift controls and starts extending the big concrete block.)
IANTO: (mutters) Come on, come on, come on.
(Big block stuck out over big drop.)
(And further.)
(Looong way down... and drops!)
(Tumble... fall... SMASH!)
(Ianto jumps out the forklift and gets into the car, which drives off fast.)
(Down to the floor of the quarry and...)
(Concrete wreckage, moving, pink... skin... JACK!)
(Jack gasps back to life. Yaaaays!)
(He stands up. Totally expected naked Jack. Nice view. Plus, bondage! Still wearing the chains.)
(Staggers out the mess, face grimy, but hair remarkably in one piece. I mean it's bad enough getting glue in your hair, what's concrete like?)
(Car full of team arrive! X794 CEP. Jack has frown face until they pull up and get out.)
(Mass grins! Check out Ianto's grin there. 'My boyfriend! Naked! Yaays!')
JACK: Told you I'd be back.
IANTO: With a little help from us.
JACK: What the hell is going on?
(Gwen holds out a hand to Rhys, who gets his coat off and passes it to her.)
GWEN: Dunno yet, but the latest from the kids is that it's happening tomorrow.
JACK: I'm just in time, then.
(Walks forwards.)
GWEN: Get in the car. Come on, we've got work to do.
(Holds out coat to him, head turned aside, Officially Not Looking.)
(Naked Jack takes the coat, throws it over one shoulder.)
(He walks past Ianto, heading for the car. Ianto turns only once Jack is past. Everyone gets in.)
EXT NIGHT London from above
(Evening, Big Ben glowing and lights making towers pretty.)
(TV voiceover while Stuff happens.)
(Thames house from above.)
TV: (VO) '..United Nations has issued a statement asking parents and guardians // of children...'
TV: (VO) '..the question // still remains why every child in the world is giving their statements in the English language...'
TV: (VO) '..no theories as to why and how...'
INT DAY Thames House Floor 13 corridor
(Frobisher, Bridget, a couple of unnamed women, walking corridors past armed men.)
TV: (VO) 'The focus now is on tomorrow. With every child in the world claiming that tomorrow is the day, the world is left wondering.'
INT DAY Thames House Floor 13
(Frobisher leads the way, pushing doors open. The construction mess from before is gone. The last bits of plastic being removed.)
DEKKER: Mr Frobisher, sir.
(Frobisher, Bridget, and Dekker, come to a halt standing in front of the Big Glass Tank.)
DEKKER: Seals locked and... ..release.
LAB TECH: Sir
(Billowy whitish gas pours into the Big Glass Tank.)
DEKKER: As per the 456 instructions. A combination of 25% nitrosyl chloride, 22% hydrogen chloride, 20% nitrogen, 12% fluorine, 9% hydrogen cyanide, 6% acetone, 6% phosgene. In short... poison. I'd hold on to your nose, Bridget! Though, come to think of it, you've been doing that for years.
FROBISHER: And that's what they breathe?
DEKKER: Breathe? Eat? Fart? We know nothing about them!
BRIDGET: Excuse me, if we know the composition of that gas, can't we work out what sort of creature could live inside it?
DEKKER: Could do. If we had all the time in the world!
FROBISHER: So they arrive... and then what?
DEKKER: The whole room's laid out, according to 456 instructions. Something of an ambassadorial suite, I'd say. Or a throne room. Who knows, maybe a slaughterhouse.
BRIDGET: But if they arrive tomorrow, then how? How do they arrive inside that?
DEKKER: No idea.
BRIDGET: Who else knows about this?
FROBISHER: For all we know, they've sent the same instructions to every country in the world. We've said nothing, maybe everyone else is keeping quiet, too.
DEKKER: Oh, I don't think so. Whoever they are, they're coming for Britain.
BRIDGET: Well, why?
DEKKER: Exactly. Why is that, Mr Frobisher?
(Frobisher looks shifty... and walks out.)
(Bridget follows him.)
(Dekker, with worrying music, takes his glasses off, goes over to the Big Glass Tank, and... hugs it? And sniffs. Then huffs a breath onto the glass.)
(Last image, him spread out, the Big Tank swirling full of gas.)
TORCHWOOD
[Next Time]
[Left for next time]
(Dramatis personae)
Imdb and internal sources gives us character names:
Captain JACK Harkness
IANTO Jones
GWEN Cooper
RHYS Williams
John FROBISHER
Mrs ANNA Frobisher
LILLY Frobisher Older one
HOLLY Frobisher Younger one
ALICE Carter
STEVEN Carter
RHIANNON Davies
JOHNNY Davies
DAVID Davies
MICA Davies (spelled that way in the credits but sounds like Misha to me)
LOIS Habiba
BRIDGET Spears
Colonel ODUYA
PM Prime Minister Brian Green
Mr DEKKER
JOHNSON
CLEMent McDonald
Parliamentary secretary?
Press Officer?
OPERATIVE
CHILDREN
PC ANDY Davidson
Recovery worker
Corporal Camara KODAK
Paramedic
Sentry
Guard
Mother (different one so MOTHER3 )
Newsreader
(/dramatis personae)
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk
Transcript by beccaelizabeth
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