Out of Time (TV story)

Synopsis
A plane from the 1950s lands in modern Cardiff, courtesy of the Rift; the passengers are reoriented by the Torchwood team, who become drawn closely to their lives.

Plot
A plane, called the Sky Gypsy, lands on an air strip in Cardiff. Its occupants are the pilot, Diane Holmes, with passengers Emma-Louise Cowell and John Ellis. The Torchwood team welcomes them. The people on the plane think that they are in the year 1953. However, Jack informs them that they fell victim to the rift and were transported over fifty years into their future. The team make it their duty to look after the occupants of the plane until they can adapt to the 21st century lifestyle. At first, they are fascinated, yet appalled by new items they never seen before such as tea bags, and certain obscene magazines.

Gwen looks after Emma, since her parents have died. She takes her to her home, where she lies to Rhys that Emma is her cousin and that she came for a visit. The couple take her to a nightclub. When they later find Emma with a man, they separate her from him as they see the two kissing. Gwen explains that things are different than they were in the 1950s. Later Emma finds a job as a shop-girl in London. Gwen is hesitant, wanting to get her a job in Cardiff where she can look after her, but she has to change her mind when Rhys discovers that Emma is not Gwen's cousin. Gwen agrees to let her go and tells her to not talk to strangers when travelling to London before wishing each other a happy Christmas.

Meanwhile, Jack starts a friendship with John, who wants to find his son, Alan Ellis. Tosh manages to finds him, John pays him a visit, but he is devastated to find out that his son is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. A severly depressed John takes Ianto's car to kill himself by cabon monoxide poisoning. Jack tries to convince him to stop. However, John said that he died decades ago. A reluctant Jack joins him in the car as the carbon monixode slowly kills John.

Owen looks after Diane, who wants to fly, but can't because her licence expired decades ago. Owen convinces her to go out to lunch with him. After spending more time together, they begin a sexual relationship. As the relationship progresses, Owen develops feelings and falls in love with her, with Diane admitting the same feelings. One morning, Owen discovers that Diane has gone, with a note on his pillow. He rushes to the airfield, where he finds her attempting to take off with the Sky Gypsy. Owen attempts to convince Diane to stay, but she is confident that due to the exact weather conditions from where she took off, the rift will open up again to take her back to her timeline. Owen unsuccessfully tells her that the rift won't take her back. After she kisses Owen goodbye, she takes off and her plane disappears into the clouds.

In the end, Jack, Gwen and Owen think back on how the three have touched their lives.

Cast

 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
 * Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
 * Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
 * Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
 * Diane Holmes - Louise Delamere
 * John Ellis - Mark Lewis Jones
 * Emma-Louise Cowell - Olivia Hallinan
 * Alan Ellis - Sam Beezely
 * Nurse - Marion Fenner
 * Alesha - Janine Carrington
 * Jade - Rhea Bailey
 * Flying Instructor - Andrew McBean
 * Barman - Ciaron Dowd

Crew
to be added

Music

 * Moonlight Sonata - Ludwig van Beethoven

Story Notes

 * It is funny to note that by the time Emma-Louise Cowell was setting off for London, the events of DW: The Runaway Bride were taking place at that very same location and day, in which the Webstar came to London.
 * A plane carrying composer Glenn Miller also disappeared while flying over the United Kingdom in 1944, similar to the Sky Gypsy. He composed Moonlight Serenade and In The Mood, both of which featured heavily in The Empty Child, which introduced Jack Harkness.
 * If one differentiates between a "sex scene" like that involving the "Sex Gas" entity in TW: Day One and a romantic "love scene", then the interlude between Owen and Diane is the first example of the latter in an official Doctor Who-franchise production.
 * The way the later film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian handled the departure of Amelia Earhart is very similar to how Diane's departure is handled, including the aspect of a female pilot having fallen in love with a leading man, and flying off with uncertainty regarding her survival.

Ratings

 * BBC3 - 1.0 million viewers
 * BBC2 - 2.2 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Plane landing at the begining of the episode - RAF St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan
 * John visits the Millennium Stadium's gate 3 - Westgate Street, Cardiff
 * The restaurant Owen and Diane visit is The Pearl of the Orient - Cardiff Bay.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * John is unable to smoke his pipe in the pub, but Diane can smoke in the restaurant. Different places have different rules, and some choose to enforce them more vigorously.
 * Shouldn't the events of The Runaway Bride be occurring at this time? The reason it's not referred to is because, due to Cardiff being a good few hours away, by the time Torchwood would be halfway to London, the Doctor would have dealt with the Racnoss. Realistically, the producers couldn't refer to the Christmas Special without spoiling it for the viewers.
 * During his 'emotional speech' with Diane, Owen mentions that although he has had 'many girls' he has never fallen in love before, thus totally forgetting his fiance (TW:Fragments) He may have been just lying or exaggerating, or somehow repressed the memories. Anyway, the production team haven't even wrote the story TW: Fragments', so how could they?

Continuity

 * A vision of Diane appears to Owen in TW: End of Days.
 * The events of this episode are happening around the same time as DW: The Runaway Bride.

DVD Releases
to be added