Torchwood Children of Earth: Day One

Wimbledon is over. Monday 6^th July 2009 is Torchwood Children of Earth Day One.

The story opens in Scotland, 1965, with a bus load of children heading towards the white light, with a hint of a nod to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We then catch up with the Torchwood team, and Rhys, in present day with a much smaller group of team members. Martha Jones is missing from the line up, apparently on holiday and Mickey (who we felt was going to cross over from Doctor Who) was also noticeably absent. Then, the children stop and the story starts – but is it only the children?

The Home Office are in command, in discussion with some military UNIT, and certainly hold most of the cards leading to the unearthing of information about the elusive 456 – the frequency allocation of what? Jack and Ianto relationship is solidified with numerous references to them being a couple as they deal with an alien parasite in the hospital and meet up with a very curious doctor. Jack and Ianto split up to find a child, something which offers us an interesting insight into their back stories, especially Jack who now appears to have a very unusual home life … but who is this apparent sibling “Alice”?

Captain Jack and a number of others are soon red flagged at the Home Office and a strange blank page order is issued – we soon discover exactly what a blank page order means. It was interesting to see the Home Office personal secretary give out her login name and password to a new starter, Lois Habiba, who then puts it on a post-it note attached to the screen. Later, Gwen scans her hand on what appears to be an old Umax scanner – though it seems to have had a slight firmware upgrade.

The patient, Timothy White, in the psychiatric ward could hold the key as he is the link between the events of 1965 and those happening today. He has a keen sense of smell but can the Torchwood team keep him safe from the oncoming blank page order.

Jack suffers from a sudden case of upset stomach, Ianto is up in the air, Gwen discovers some startling news and we are left with the children chanting “We are coming … back”. One thing is for sure, the Hub is going to need slightly more than a new lick of paint.

Day One has opened, and finished, with a bang with the Torchwood behind the scenes team, and on screen team, pulling out all the stops to offer a much darker, edgier, storyline and open up can after can of worms as skeletons fall out of every closet. 

We can’t wait for day Two … bring it on.