Days 810 to 814 - Torchwood: Children of Earth

"Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame"

Well that was five pretty dramatic days and no mistake! This mini series of Torchwood lends itself so well to my challenge as each episode takes place on consecutive days so I really felt the pressure mounting.

I can't go into full details of the plot but the basic idea is that an alien creature makes contact with the governments of the world and holds the entire planet to ransom. They will destroy the Earth unless the human race willingly hands over 10% of its children. Now that's pretty dark stuff! To make it even darker, the children are being used as drugs by the aliens. Kept alive, free of pain but strapped to a machine pumping chemicals into the aliens.

The 456, aliens are known, are fantastically creepy. Speaking only to an ambassador from the UK government, the 456 can be barely distinguished from inside its glass case of smoke which it breathes. 

Really struggling to write up something as I'm worried I'm not going to do this justice. Let's just say this is my favourite series of Torchwood by far and above that it's probably one of my favourite TV events of all time!

Of course I have to mention Peter Capaldi as John Frobisher. A civil servant who is caught up in the events transpiring and made an unwitting middle man by the Prime Minister who does not want any of the responsibility or blame to fall on his shoulders. His performance of a man under intense pressure is superb! In many ways he could be considered to be one of the villains of the series as he sets about trying to destroy Torchwood as he knows Captain Jack has information about the UK's prior dealings with the 456 when they handed over 12 children in the 1960s in exchange for an antivirus that would save millions. However John Frobisher is probably one of the biggest victims of this whole affair. More on this later.

By Day Four, Jack and Ianto finally come face to face with the 456 and, after so recently losing Toshiko and Owen, the Torchwood team is again reduced by one more member as Ianto succumbs to a virus released into the building. Throughout series 2 and the first four days of this series, Jack and Ianto have been growing ever closer. Ianto has come out to his sister (in a pretty funny scene where she try's to wheedle the truth out of him about the good looking guy he has been seen having dinner with) and Ianto has begun to see him and Jack as being in a proper relationship. It's signposted early on that this can't last, simply because Jack lives forever. One day he will see Ianto die and have to move on. Unfortunately this day comes sooner that he anticipated.

There was a pretty loud outcry when Ianto was killed off as he was a popular character but I've never been one to question the writers. If they see that it's his time to go, then so be it. And it gives a pretty big cliffhanger for the final day of the series!

One of the things I love about this story is the morality of it. I love all the scenes where the politicians meet up and debate whether they should allow 10% of the children to be given away in order tosave billions. One guy even try's to sell it as a good thing! He claims that in a world with an ever growing population then maybe they could promote it as beneficial. After deciding they will do it they then need to decide how to pick the 10% which is another interesting question with no one at the table wanting to risk their own children being picked. In the end it is decided that they will be picked from the lowest scoring schools and the children will be taken away under the illusion of being given an immunisation.

I now need to return to Peter Capaldi as I talk about one of the most soul shattering scenes I've ever witnessed on television. Not wanting to make it look like no one in the government has lost out, the Prime Minister orders that Frobisher's children should be amongst those selected. Knowing this, and also knowing there is nothing he can do to stop them, John takes a gun home with him and after pretending that everything is alright calmly follows his wife and two daughters into a bedroom where we hear three swift gun shots, then a pause, then one more. After watching this I literally felt like I'd been punched in the chest. It's just so horrible and his loss is felt so completely!

Overall this was five days of fantastic telly! Now back to Bannerman road to see what Sarah Jane has been up to!