Torchwood Declassified (2006) s02e02 Episode Script

Production-wise for Sleeper, it's an ambitious script because there's so many different elements involved.
Special effects, CGI, explosions.
You know, prosthetics.
The works.
They are like films when they come to you, because the scale of what you've got within the story is massive.
It's a challenge when you get a script like episode two's in to match it because none of us wanted to pull back on it.
It's a proper, organised alien plan to take out the city and then the whole world, actually, which we haven't often done, actually, on that sort of scale.
You never know what to expect every time you turn over one of the pages.
I don't think we all realised quite how action-packed it was until we all just sat there and watched the whole thing on a big screen.
And just thought, ''This is relentless.
'' I just wanted to do an episode with lots of chases and explosions and trauma and emotion and heartache.
How do we stop it? Luckily, they just said to me, ''Whatever you want to do, ''however far you want to take it, ''go there.
'' Torchwood is about kaboom.
Big explosions in the middle of cities are difficult things to plan.
I think what people have got to understand is that the preparation for this started about two months prior.
All those moments where I'd read it and thought, ''This is unshootable,'' I had to actually sort of start breaking down into bits and going, ''Okay, what can we do here? What can we actually achieve, ''and what can we shoot?'' We didn't want just an isolated building.
We wanted somewhere that actually, no, there's traffic.
We want people.
We want cars.
It's one of those moments that you think, ''If we can achieve this, it'll look fantastic.
It'll look amazing.
'' To be blunt, it's a trailer moment.
It's a huge logistical situation to try and get an explosion like that and to try and make it work.
So much of it is in the planning You have one take, if we got the take wrong, there's no way we could afford to go back and do it again.
Yeah, it was a major event that we were doing.
The effects boys, Danny and Paul, had been there for a long time, setting that up, doing a test, coming back to us.
It's my second series, and this is, to date, probably the biggest thing that Torchwood have done.
You've got a series of oil drums and inside of those you are gonna have mortar pots with a black powder, a pyrotechnic charge.
And it's gonna basically push out lots of debris.
And we've got this kind of like scaffold rig to hold it all in place.
A really action-packed episode.
But, yeah, this is gonna look quite nice.
STOKES: I think there were about Many of them with pints on a lovely Sunday sunny day, watching us from across the road.
We moved them when we needed to, they all moved when they were asked.
They all watched quietly when we wanted them to.
And there was a good 50 or 60 of us all there.
Intense period.
We shut down Cardiff central on a Sunday for far more hours than I think was agreed.
Due to the fact that it does take a long time to set these things up! None of those can stay because we see them reflected in the main shot.
-I'm just talking about background.
-The background as well, yeah The effects crew have been here since Friday, rigging for a couple of the explosions and putting the car in place.
Ready just to go for this one explosion that we've got four cameras on and one chance to get right.
So hopefully it won't go wrong.
Fingers crossed.
It's not just this that's happening with these explosions.
What we got in addition to that, we've got the glass around the car that's gonna be detonating.
We've got objects just outside these windows that are gonna be moving through a series of wires.
They're gonna be on a piston, a quick-acting piston.
And it's gonna basically retract, and it makes everything move about, causing mayhem, so a lot to do today.
STOKES: The key thing was to try and get the explosion so that it doesn't happen on an edit cut, which is what everyone is used to.
I really wanted it first-hand so that there was a bit of a shock to the audience.
That no one expected it.
We wanted very much an idea that somebody walks into a building and you follow them across the road, into the building, and then you see the explosion happen.
So it feels very, very real.
And then suddenly, bang, carnage.
MAN: D camera.
And action.
It just looked totally real.
And everyone's kind of like, ''What? The sound.
'' I think the sound was quite loud anyway.
So it did mean that some of the support guys were a bit You know, they felt They really felt the explosion.
I think there's a shot that we use afterwards of just this woman crossing the road.
And I think, for me, that was more gut-wrenching as in like, ''Oh, it's a real camera just caught this thing that's just happened.
'' That is quite horrific, as much so as the explosion itself.
And also there was a lot of paper flying around.
So it's just, you know, real chaos that's going on.
I do tend to sort of like get in there.
It's just something that naturally happens is that you then imagine yourself in the dub with the music with all these other extra sounds.
It's all of that, and then it's just going for these pure emotions that are coming off on these visuals.
So, yeah, I was definitely shocked.
I was shocked as if I was just capturing TV footage from that explosion.
Well done.
He said that I messed up my walk and we'd have to redo the whole thing.
I was, ''What? No!'' TEAGUE: The day went without a hitch.
It was absolutely fantastic.
We got exactly what we wanted.
The eventual outcome of what we got was, I think, tremendous.
Well done, everyone.
Brilliant.
(CHEERING) Beth, we know these men attacked you and your husband.
Now, if you fought back, people will understand it was self-defence.
When you put a character like Beth into Torchwood, again it's playing to one of our strengths, which is Gwen, whose whole point in the drama is to be the beating heart of Torchwood.
The human response to the most extraordinary situations.
It's so big.
-This is crazy.
-Yup.
I suddenly feel very, very small.
You have to identify so much with that character to be able to go on her journey.
Because her journey is what drives the episode.
And the natural character in the Torchwood team who would understand that situation is Gwen.
Gwen is there to constantly remind the rest of the team that they're not dealing with a monster or a killer, they're dealing with a young girl who's terrified.
Do you feel human? -Yes.
-Yes.
Well, then you are.
And the relationship that she then builds up with Gwen is, by the time we've got to the end, is really heartfelt.
MAN: 1 1 66, take 3.
Do you have someone at home? A fiance.
-Have you ever hurt him? -More than once.
Gwen and Beth have quite an instant rapport.
I don't want to die as one of those things, Gwen.
I think Gwen starts to actually like Beth, and vice versa.
And because of that, I think Gwen sees the human side of Beth, Gwen sees a normal girl, could be just like herself.
I think she wants to save her and she wants to help her as much as possible.
Let's get on and do this.
Who knows what we'll be able to do in a month, a year? Thanks for being so good to me.
It's a beautiful relationship.
And it's a very unusual relationship because you're dealing with something extraordinary, in an ordinary world, if that makes any sense.
All right, I need your arm tucked in more.
There, and go.
As soon as she's faced with the news that she's an alien, I think her life's over.
She sort of commits suicide, in the end.
Remember Beth.
I won't let you freeze me! I'll kill you all.
The day that I got shot was really exciting for me as well.
There was a lot of kind of stunt work and prosthetic work and things I hadn't done before.
And the moment when you actually are shot is actually quite fun.
You've got this kind of mattress behind you.
And you've got what's called squibs, I think, which are planted on your On your chest, underneath your clothes.
And when they are given the cue, the squibs explode.
So you actually feel like you are being shot, but without any pain.
I kind of wanted to do it again, which is a bit strange.
But it was a really good laugh! Everyone okay?