Children of Earth

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27 – Children of Earth
Torchwood serial
Title card
Cast
John Barrowman – Captain Jack Harkness Eve Myles – Gwen Cooper Gareth David-Lloyd – Ianto Jones Kai Owen – Rhys Williams
Guest stars
Peter Capaldi – John Frobisher Paul Copley – Clement McDonald Nicholas Farrell – Brian Green Susan Brown – Bridget Spears Lucy Cohu – Alice Carter Cush Jumbo – Lois Habiba Liz May Brice - Johnson Ian Gelder – Mr Dekker Colin McFarlane – General Pierce Deborah Findlay – Denise Riley Nicholas Briggs – Rick Yates Patric Naiambana - Defence Secretary Tom Price – PC Andy Charles Abomeli – Colonel Oduya Rik Makarem – Rupesh Patanjali Katy Wix – Rhiannon Davies Rhodri Lewis – Johnny Davies Hilary MacLean – Anna Frobisher Sophie Hunter – Venessa Anna Lawson – Nurse Rachel Ferjani – Parliamentary Secretary Christopher James – Press Officer Phylip Harries – Water Taxi Man Ben Loyd-Holmes – Operative Luke Perry – David Davies Aimee Davies – Mica Davies Bear McCausland – Steven Carter Julia Joyce – Holly Frobisher Madeleine Rakic-Platt – Lilly Frobisher Sandwich Shop Man - Patrice Etienne Simon Poland – 456 Voice Gregory Ferguson – Young Clem Crisian Emanuel – Mother (Day One) Melanie Barker – Mother 2 Scott Bailey - Father Ashley Hunt – Recovery Worker Osi Okerafor - Kodak Emmanuel Ighadaro - Paramedic Robert Shelly - Sentry Quill Roberts - Guard Fay McDonald - Mother (Day Two) Lorna Bennett - Female Teacher Rhiannon Oliver - Mum (Day Five) Louise Minchin - Newsreader Anthony Debaeck - French Newsreader Lachele Carl – Trinity Wells Libby Liburd - Barmaid
Production
Writer	Russell T Davies (episodes 1, 3 & 5) John Fay (episodes 2 & 4) James Moran (episode 3)
Director	Euros Lyn
Producer	Peter Bennett
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner
Production code	3.1 to 3.5
Series	Series 3
Length	5 episodes, 60 minutes each
Originally broadcast	6-10 July 2009[1]
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "Exit Wounds" (episode) "The Dead Line" (radio play) —
IMDb profile

Children of Earth is the banner title of the third series of the British television science fiction series Torchwood, which broadcast for five episodes on BBC One in 2009.

Plot

Day one

Children of Earth begins with children coming to a complete stop at exactly the same time across the world. Torchwood investigates as the children begin to chant a message "we are coming", and discover one adult chanting along with the children, identified as Clement McDonald (Paul Copley), who evaded abduction by the aliens — known to the British Government as the 456 — in 1965. He has a heightened sense of smell, and through this ability reveals that Gwen (Eve Myles) is three weeks pregnant. Jack (John Barrowman) and Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) attempt to find children to study, but Jack's estranged daughter Alice (Lucy Cohu) refuses him access to his grandson Steven (Bear McCausland), while Ianto's sister Rhiannon (Katy Wix) stops him from taking his niece. The Prime Minister Brian Green (Nicholas Farrell) foists responsibility for the situation onto Home Office Permanent Secretary John Frobisher (Peter Capaldi). Frobisher orders the murder of Jack and other persons who were involved in the events of 1965. Jack is killed by doctor Rupesh Patanjali (Rik Makarem), whom he had considered hiring as Torchwood's new medical officer. Before he resurrects, Government agent Johnson (Liz May Brice) has a bomb placed in his stomach. The bomb later detonates, destroying the Torchwood Hub and killing Jack once more.^[2]

Day two

Gwen flees from Cardiff Bay and travels to London with her husband, Rhys (Kai Owen). They attempt to contact Frobisher, but are met instead by Lois Habiba (Cush Jumbo), a new personal assistant at the Home Office, who gives them information on Jack's location. Agent Johnson has taken what is left of his body to a secret governmental prison, where he regenerates. His cell is then filled with concrete to prevent his escape. Jack is rescued by Ianto, who breaks out the concrete block using a forklift truck. He drops the block into a quarry, shattering it and releasing Jack.^[3]

Day three

The 456 arrive in Britain, at Thames House and are unofficially met by Frobisher, who requests that the previous contact between the 456 and the UK not be discussed in further meetings due to the possible embarrassment the revelations would entail. Soon afterwards, UNIT and the Prime Minster agree that Frobisher should be the sole contact with the 456. While preparing for his first official meeting with the aliens, Frobisher is called by Jack, who demands to meet with the 456 under threat of making public the events of 1965. Frobisher tells him that Jack's daughter and grandson are being held hostage and will be killed should he act. He then begins diplomatic talks with the 456, with Torchwood watching by way of contact lenses containing hidden cameras, which Gwen persuaded Lois to wear. The 456 demand a gift: 10% of Earth's children. Clement, who has been collected by Gwen and brought to the team's temporary base, recognises Jack as the man who, in 1965, gave twelve children to the 456.^[4]

Day four

It is revealed that Jack gave away the children in exchange for a cure for a new strain of Indonesian flu, which the 456 claimed would kill 25 million people. Meanwhile, the government tries to bargain with the aliens, but the 456 threaten the human race with annihilation if their demand is not met in full. Prime Minister Green and his cabinet then decide that the government will offer the 456 those 10% of children whose schools have been placed in the bottom of the British league of school achievement. At this, Lois confronts the cabinet with a message from Torchwood, announcing that Torchwood has recorded their discussions and will make the information public unless Jack is allowed to meet with the 456. Agent Johnson tracks down Gwen with the help of The Operative (Ben Loyd Holmes). Instead of killing Gwen, as she originally set out to, Johnson listens to what Gwen has to say about the people in charge, and sits watching what's going on with the Torchwood operative. The 456 then kill Clement by generating a burst of sound, which causes him to die of cerebral hemorrhaging. Granted access, Jack and Ianto tell the 456 they will not sacrifice a single child. In response the 456 declare war and release a virus into the building which kills almost everyone inside. Ianto succumbs to the virus and dies in Jack's arms, just before Jack himself dies.

Day five

Green orders Frobisher to continue with the plan.^[5] Questioned why they want the Earth‘s children, the 456 reveal that certain chemicals produced in their bodies act as a kind of recreational drug for them. To gather the children, Green informs the country that some children will receive an inoculation against the effects of the 456, when in actuality these selected children will be given to the aliens. Despite official agreement that children of the political elite will be spared, Green tells Frobisher that his daughters will be taken, to convince the public that the government were victims also. A desperate Frobisher then kills his family and himself. The army are dispatched to collect the selected children, but the public start to fight back in defence of their children. In Cardiff, Gwen and Rhys help Ianto's family hide the children they are looking after. While hiding, Gwen records on a camera a message explaining "how the world ended": in it, she comments she now understands why the Doctor, the person Jack venerates so highly, doesn't always return to save the day, because at times like the present he is too ashamed of humanity. Jack realises the aliens are vulnerable to the frequency after which they are named, and he plans to use it against them. Requiring a child to act as a transmitter, Jack uses his own grandson, defeating the aliens but killing Steven, who dies from the extreme vibration caused by transmitting the signal.

The prime minister plans to blame events on the US General to save his own career; however, Frobisher's personal assistant, Bridget Spears (Susan Brown) reveals that earlier in the day she retrieved the Torchwood contact lenses and has recorded everything that happened and will release the incriminating footage to the public, ending Green's tenure as prime minister. Six months later, Rhys and Gwen meet with Jack, who has been away travelling the world since the defeat of the 456. Gwen returns his vortex manipulator with a newly-tooled leather wrist strap to him and pleads with him to stay, but Jack states it is time for him to make a new life for himself, and teleports away into space.^[6]

Production

A pyrotechnics-laden barricade on Roald Dahl Plass, cordoned off before filming.

Locations

Filming for the series started in Cardiff in August 2008, with a week's filming taking place in London.^[7] Additional filming took place in the Maindee area of Newport for the pub scene,^[8] and on the set of BBC's Casualty in Bristol, which doubled as the fictional St. Helen's Hospital in Cardiff.^[9] The set for Floor 13 was the largest ever built at Upper Boat Studios.^[9] However, many of the scenes set in the corridors of the same building (supposedly Thames House in London) were shot in the corridors of the Guild Hall, Swansea.

Casting

Nick Briggs, the voice actor who provides voices in the revived series of Doctor Who, including the Daleks, appears in his first on-screen role in any Doctor Who-related television episode in this serial. He has previously played many roles in the Big Finish range of officially licensed Audio dramas.

Katy Wix and Rhodri Lewis play Rhiannon and Johnny Davies, Ianto's sister and brother-in-law respectively.^[10] Lucy Cohu plays Captain Jack Harkness's daughter Alice.^[11] Having been set up to do so by the conclusion of their storylines in "Journey's End", Freema Agyeman and Noel Clarke were due to reprise their roles as Martha Jones and Mickey Smith respectively, but were unable to participate due to "scheduling issues".^[12] Davies explains that Agyeman was cast in Law & Order: UK before Children of Earth had been officially commissioned. Because Law & Order offered her 13 episodes a year, she went with that over Torchwood which had been reduced to 5. In response, Davies created the character of Lois Habiba, played by Cush Jumbo, to be a "kind of a Martha figure", one with added innocence who is out of her depth.^[13] Agyeman doesn't rule out returning to the show at a later date, however.^[14] Should Agyeman's career permit, Davies might like to have her back in a hypothetical fourth series.^[13] In the third series, Jack and Gwen explain Martha's absence by saying that she is on her honeymoon.

Preview

A preview of Children of Earth was screened at the National Film Theatre on 12 June 2009.^[15]

Broadcast

Children of Earth was broadcast during the week of 6–10 July^[1] on BBC One and from 7 July 2009^[16] on UKTV Australia, and was shown from 20 July 2009^[17] on BBC America in the US and Space in Canada. This air date was set to coincide with the launch of BBC America's HD simulcast.^[18] It is a mini-series of five episodes, aired on consecutive days.^[19] Having started on the BBC's digital-only BBC Three channel and being broadcast on BBC Two in series two, Torchwood moved to BBC One in its third series.^[20][21]

Soundtrack

Silva Screen released the soundtrack via MP3 on 10 July, and CD on 27 July. The CD features 40 tracks, 38 tracks divided between the five 'days' of the programme, the other two being the opening and closing theme.^[22]

DVD Release

The Region 2 DVD release was released on 13 July 2009, followed by the Region 1 release on both DVD and Blu-Ray on 28 July 2009. The Best Buy limited edition included the CD for the audio drama Lost Souls. Music for the fifth episode differed from the original broadcast version. The Region 4 DVD release will be available on the 1st October 2009.^[23]

Episodes

Reception

Reviews of the third-season serial have been predominantly positive. Metacritic, an American review aggregator website, gives Children of Earth a normalised rating of 80 out of 100 (based on a sample of 12 reviews), indicating "generally favourable reviews", with the highest score being a 91 from Time and the lowest a 60 from The New York Times.^[27]

Daniel Martin ran a day-by-day review of the show on guardian.co.uk which culminated in a positive assessment of the mini-series as a whole: " ... what an incredible week. From its hideous Sex Alien vs Cyberwoman beginnings, Torchwood has become a true treasure." He speculated on the programme's thematic implication that "as people realise their potential in this world, they die", and remarked: "If the same thing does happen to the series it would be awful. But God, it would be poetic."^[28]

Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy gave a very favourable pre-review to the first three episodes of the serial. He particularly praised Davies' script for its "economical" and "seamless" re-establishment of the show's returning trio for new viewers whilst not alienating fans. The inter-weaving of the stories for "credible and appealing" supporting characters Rupesh, Clement and Lois was praised; as were the performances from Paul Copley and Liz May Brice. He did however feel that the second episode paled after the explosiveness of the first episode, on which they "failed to capitalise".^[29] Summing up the series, Rawson-Jones described Children of Earth as "a powerful human drama, reliant not on special effects but incredible acting, direction and writing" that was a "massive success."^[30]

IGN writer Ahsan Haque gave the miniseries a rating of 9.5 out of 10, also awarding it their Editor's Choice Award. John Barrowman's performance was highly praised, saying that he handled "these gut-wrenching moments with poise, yet manages to give us just enough to know how much his choices are tearing him up inside. He might not be able to die physically, but emotionally, what Jack has to suffer and live with is a fate far worse than death." Also, Haque felt that the additions of Rhiannon and Johnny "supply a lot of the grounded humanizing moments that really help the story stay grounded to the human condition, and not turn into a mindless sci-fi action-fest." However, Haque pointed out the "slightly campy feel" as well as technobabble as faults. The review ended with: "Best. Torchwood. Ever. Really, we mean it!"^[31]

Mike Hale of The New York Times was more mixed in his review, noting that the mini-series pays tribute to the 1960 British sci-fi film Village Of The Damned, and sums up by saying "Children of Earth is still good fun, if not good, exactly."^[32] Hale also mentioned the problem with maintaining a 5-hour mini-series over 5 nights, a sentiment echoed by L.A. Times reviewer Robert Lloyd who felt that the format led to an inevitable lag in the middle.^[33]

Not all reviews were positive. Jim Shelley of The Daily Mirror gave the mini-series an unfavourable review, commenting that "Torchwood is the modern-day Blake's Seven: ludicrous plot, hammy acting, an adolescent penchant for 'Issues'. This week's plot was plagiarised from 50s sci-fi classic, The Midwich Cuckoos. Contrary to its scheduling, Torchwood always seems to me like Dr Who lite." He went on to say that he felt a large part of the problem was with lead actor John Barrowman: "Unlike David Tennant's Doctor, Barrowman's endless appearances on friendly drivel like Tonight's the Night, The Kids Are Alright and Any Dream Will Do, is so over-exposed, 'Captain Jack' is about as intriguing or alien as a Weetabix and twice as irritating. Unlike Tennant, as an actor he is just not good enough."^[34]

A plot point in the Torchwood miniseries Children of Earth triggered protests from fans of the show, including the "Save Ianto Jones" campaign, which collected more than 10,000 pounds for the Children In Need charity.^[35] Other fans resorted to abuse and threats, causing writer James Moran to fire off an angry missive in a blog post.^[36] Showrunner Russel T Davies made no apologies for the decision to kill off the character, saying, "I’m just delighted that the fans are so wrapped in the character to have that reaction."^[37]

The death of a character involved in a same-sex relationship led several writers to accuse the show's creators of homophobia.^[38] An opposing view analyzed the death in view of the character's earlier refusal to admit to his relationship with a man, and claimed that, instead of being an expression of homophobia, the death was a sign that the LGBT community was leaving behind its image of victimhood.^[39]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Torchwood

• Children of Earth on TARDIS Index File, an external wiki
• "Children of Earth" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
• Torchwood season three at The TV IV