Sleeper (Torchwood)

Doctorwhobox
number=15
serial_name = Sleeper
caption = Beth reveals her true identity under the influence of the mindprobe.


show = TW
type = episode
cast =
* John Barrowman – Captain Jack Harkness
* Eve Myles – Gwen Cooper
* Burn Gorman – Owen Harper
* Naoko Mori – Toshiko Sato
* Gareth David-Lloyd – Ianto Jones
guests =
* Paul Kasey – Janet the Weevil
* Nikki Amuka-Bird – Beth Halloran [cite web
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/sites/arg/pages/episodes.shtml?folder=tw_case_ep02
title = www.torchwood.co.uk - Police Incident Report
publisher = BBC
date = 2008-01-23
accessdate = 2008-01-23]
* Dyfed Potter – Mike Lyndon
* Doug Rollins – David
* Claire Cage – David's wife
* Sean Carlson – Mr. Grainger
* Victoria Pugh – Mrs. Grainger
* Luke Rutherford – Burglar 1 (Leonard Bull) [cite web
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/sites/arg/pages/episodes.shtml?folder=tw_case_ep02
title = www.torchwood.co.uk - Police Incident Report
publisher = BBC
date = 2008-01-23
accessdate = 2008-01-23]
* Alex Harries – Burglar 2 (Gareth Hopkins) [cite web
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/sites/arg/pages/episodes.shtml?folder=tw_case_ep02
title = www.torchwood.co.uk - Police Incident Report
publisher = BBC
date = 2008-01-23
accessdate = 2008-01-23]
* Dominic Coleman – Police officer
* William Hughes – Boy
* Millie Philippart – Girl
* Matthew Arwel – Pegram Driver
* Derek Lea – Paramedic
writer = James Moran
director = Colin Teague
production_code = 2.2
producer = Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer)
executive_producer = Russell T Davies Julie Gardner
script_editor = Brian Minchin
series = Series 2
length = 50 mins
date = 23 January 2008
preceding = "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"
following = "To the Last Man"
imdb_id = 1160003"Sleeper" is the second episode of the second series of British science fiction television series "Torchwood", which was first broadcast by BBC Two on 23 January 2008.cite press release
title = Week 4 Unplaced
publisher = BBC - Press Office
date = 10 January, 2008
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/wk4/unplaced.shtml
accessdate = 2006-01-10 ] A specially edited pre-watershed repeat was shown the following day.

Plot

ynopsis

Two burglars break into a flat owned by a woman called Beth and her husband. There is a struggle and the burglars are suddenly terrified as a flash of light fills the room. Soon, Torchwood are on the scene investigating the fatal injuries sustained by the burglars.

Beth cannot remember events and is taken into custody by Torchwood, who suspect she is an alien. When they take her to a cell, she passes a Weevil and it cowers in her presence. Captain Jack decides to take drastic measures and subject Beth to a mind probe.

Despite no initial reaction, the probe eventually uncovers alien technology buried under the skin of her right forearm. It emerges that she is an alien ‘sleeper agent’, yet to be activated and oblivious to her real identity, having been given memory implants.

Around Cardiff, other sleeper agents are suddenly activated, with their right arms transforming into bayonet-like weapons. They all immediately kill someone close to them - a doting husband snaps his wife's neck, a paramedic walks away from a terminal patient and a young woman simply abandons her baby to let it roll into the road - and carry out a series of suicide bombings at key locations such as a telecommunications center taking out the Cardiff phone lines, killing the Leader of the City Council who is in charge of the city during emergencies, and taking out a military fuel pipeline, paving the way for their leader - the former husband - to head for an army base containing nuclear warheads.

Beth manages to escape and is found with her ailing husband at the hospital. She struggles to remain human but accidentally stabs her husband in his bed. Jack and Gwen manage to apprehend her and convince her to help them track the locations of the other sleeper agents.

Captain Jack manages to find the leading sleeper agent at an army base moments before the agent can detonate the nuclear weapons that are held within. Jack is stabbed in the process and the agent warns him that there are others of his kind on Earth before blowing himself up. Jack, Gwen and Beth barely escape from the explosion. Back at Torchwood, Beth tells Gwen she cannot live knowing that one day she will not be herself anymore. She uses the weapon in her arm to threaten Gwen, forcing the others to shoot and kill her. Beth uses her last piece of humanity to kill herself.

The episode ends with Gwen telling Jack that if more agents come, Torchwood is prepared against them.

Outside references

Owen calls Gwen "Jessica Fletcher", the lead character from television series "Murder, She Wrote".

Production

The explosion of a building that was scheduled to be filmed in Cardiff on 1 July 2007, the day after 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack, was in danger of being cancelled. Instead, the filming was announced via the local media to warn the public that there would be a controlled explosion, and not another terrorist attack. [cite episode | title = Torchwood Declassified | series = 2 | airdate = 2008-01-24 | number = 2]

Cast notes

William Hughes, who plays the Graingers' son, previously appeared as the eight-year-old version of the Master in the 2007 "Doctor Who" episode "The Sound of Drums".

Reception

Broadcast at 9pm on BBC 2 on Jauary 23, 2008, the episode achieved 3.4 million viewers, a 14% share, "a solitary share point" down on the share of the season 2 debut episode on January 17, according to The Guardian's report of overnight returns. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/24/tvratings.television Crimewatch mugs ratings rivals] , January 24, 2007, The Guardian] BARB later listed the episode as BBC2's top audience draw for week ending 27 January, 2008, on a certified estimate of 3.78 million viewers including timeshift. [BARB Weekly Viewing Summary, Terrestrial Top 30, BBC2, week ending 27 January, 2008]

References

External links

*Brief|torch=y|id=2008b|title=Sleeper
*Doctor Who RG|id=torchwood_15|title=Sleeper|quotes=y