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Children of Earth: Day Two
Added by Skittles the hog
Main character(s):	Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Rhys
Featuring:	Lois, Frobisher, Bridget, Alice, Clem, Andy
Main enemy:	The 456, Johnson (Children of Earth)
Main setting:	Cardiff, London and Ashton Down, 2009
Key crew
Writer:	John Fay
Director:	Euros Lyn
Producer:	Peter Bennett
Release details
Season/series:	Series 3
Premiere broadcast:	7 July 2009
Premiere network:	BBC One
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Torchwood
Children of Earth: Day One	Children of Earth: Day Three

Children of Earth: Day Two was the second episode in the third series of Torchwood. It was significant for showing the extent of Jack Harkness' regeneration ability, as he survived being blown apart.

Synopsis Edit

Torchwood 3 has been blown up by a bomb planted in Jack Harkness. Gwen, Rhys and Ianto are on the run. Can they elude the government and save the planet from the 456?

Plot Edit

The Hub has blown up. As Gwen emerges from the rubble she is seized by an assassination squad and is dragged into an ambulance. The men pin her flat on a stretcher. One prepares a needle, but they let go of her when she bites one of them. Leaping to her feet, Gwen drives off in the ambulance with one of the men. Holding him at gunpoint, she is told that the the government has ordered the destruction of Torchwood but he doesn't have any further information. She makes it home and hurriedly wakes Rhys telling him what has happened and that they need to leave immediately. Just then she gets a call from Ianto who has also survived and tells him what she has learned. Neither can understand why the Government has ordered their deaths, however they cannot set up a meeting point as the phones have likely been bugged and Gwen is forced to leave when the assassination squad show up. Shooting out the tires on the squad's vehicle, she and Rhys go on the run.

The next morning, Johnson finds Jack Harkness' remains in the ruins of the Hub, little more than an arm and a head. They are taken to a warehouse in London. His body begins to reconstruct itself. Meanwhile, Ianto sends a card to his sister, asking her to meet him at the park where his leg was broken as a child and to bring a laptop computer. The children of the world again stop and chant: “We are coming – tomorrow.” Meanwhile, the body bag containing Jack's remains is now filled with a skeleton and muscles, as opposed to the few pieces of flesh from the explosion, showing that his body is regrowing.

Gwen and Rhys find that their bank accounts have been frozen, and with nowhere else to go decide to head to London as this is where everything is happening. The two sneak aboard a lorry; during the trip, Gwen tells Rhys she is pregnant. In London, Gwen tries to contact John Frobisher. Her call is taken by Lois Habiba. At MI5, Frobisher, Bridget and Lois see an unknown device being built by Mr. Dekker to the 456's specifications. Lois meets with Gwen and Rhys and tells them it was Frobisher who issued the kill order on Jack and several others. Gwen recognizes none of the names. Lois also gives Gwen information about the compound where Jack is being kept. She also suggests a way for Gwen and Rhys to gain entry.

Jack, now fully re-formed and no longer in acute pain, is sealed in concrete by Johnson to prevent his escape. Gwen and Rhys, as Lois had suggested, pose as funeral directors come to fetch Rupesh Patanjali's body, also held at the compound. However, they are caught during their attempt to free Jack.

Ianto, who has also arrived in London and learned where Jack was taken, steals a forklift, lifts Jack's cell and pulls it out of the compound. Gwen and Rhys escape with Ianto in the forklift. Ianto drops the concrete block into a quarry where it breaks apart, releasing Jack. Back at the MI5 headquarters, the mysterious device is completed: a sealed, glass-walled chamber filled with a gas poisonous to humans.

Cast Edit

Crew Edit

Created by Russell T Davies

Executive Producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner


Written by John Fay	Produced by Peter Bennett	Directed by Euros Lyn	Director of Photography Rory Taylor	Production Designer Edward Thomas	Visual Effects The Mill

Make-up Designer Marie Doris	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Ben Foster	Costume Designer Ray Holman	Edited by Philip Kloss	Special Effects Any Effects
Original theme music by Murray Gold • With thanks to BBC National Orchestra of Wales

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Stunt Co-ordinator - Tom Lucy

Casting

Casting Associate - Andy Brierley

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Colourist - Jon Everett

Sound


Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

References Edit

Individuals Edit

Ianto's leg was broken by his father when he was younger.
This is the second time that Jack has been shown completely naked. The first time was in TV: Bad Wolf. On that occasion the BBC had filed a request that the "offensive" parts be either blurred or concealed by props.
Queen Victoria created other institutions, although the present government is not aware of them.

Torchwood Edit

The government believes Torchwood Two has disbanded but is unsure.

Religion Edit

Johnson uses the name "Lazarus" to describe Jack's immortality. This is a Biblical reference to Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead.

Story notes Edit

Gwen and Rhys pretend to be undertakers to retrieve Jack. Gwen is a double of Gwyneth (also played by Eve Myles), who was the servant to an undertaker. (TV: The Unquiet Dead, Journey's End)

Ratings Edit

5.8 million overnight (BBC1)

Filming locations Edit

Darwin Drive (play area) - Where Ianto met his sister.
Avesta Polarit Steelworks - Torchwood, London Warehouse.

Production errors Edit

When the concrete-filled cell is pulled out of the wall by the forklift, it appears to be much smaller than earlier, when it was filled with concrete. At some points it doesn't appear wide enough for Jack Harkness to be lying horizontally.
A concrete block would not break falling from that height, but would only chip; when the concrete cell smashes apart in the quarry, there's no sign of the gurney Jack was lying on.
When all the children stop at where Ianto and his sister are talking, a girl with blonde hair is still moving around and laughing.
Gwen's gun does not run out of bullets.

Continuity Edit

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

Whilst Lois is on the computer researching Torchwood, the MacLeish Estate and Canary Wharf are mentioned in the article.
A new detail of Jack's immortality is revealed: he can regrow major parts of his anatomy even after experiencing physical destruction, although this is not a quick process. He does so without losing memories, though it is stated that "part of a head" survived the blast and it is not indicated if that part happened to include his brain.

Home video releases Edit

Children of Earth: Day Two was released on DVD along with the rest of Children of Earth on 13 July 2009.

Footnotes Edit

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