Fragments (TV story)

Fragments was the twelfth episode of Series 2 of Torchwood. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed by Jonathan Fox Bassett. Composed largely of flashbacks, it established how each of the main Torchwood Three members had come to work for Torchwood before the start of the series.

Synopsis
A booby-trapped building explodes and knocks the Torchwood team unconscious, and kills Jack again. Each team member's life flashes before their eyes. There is a series of flashbacks for all of the main characters except Gwen. Captain Jack was initiated into Torchwood in 1899; Toshiko went on a mission to trade alien technology for her mother's life; Ianto wooed Jack with coffee and a flair for alien-catching; and Owen lost his normal life to an alien in his fiancée's brain.

Plot
The Torchwood team, minus Gwen, investigate a derelict building and are trapped when it explodes. The four experience flashbacks about their origins with the alien-fighting organisation.

Captain Jack Harkness (1,392 deaths earlier)
Captain Jack is picked up by the all-female Torchwood Three in Victorian times when they become aware of his immortality. They torture him to extract information about the Doctor to no avail, but soon decide to enlist him as an agent. After many decades have passed, Jack now works for Alex Hopkins, and it is New Year's Eve, 1999. Jack discovers that his boss has murdered everyone else in the Hub because of his fear of the new millennium and the horrors it may hold. Alex has used a piece of alien technology that showed him the future and decided to eliminate his team as "mercy killings", knowing that if they lived, their fates would perhaps be even worse. He cannot do the same to Jack because of his immortality. He turns Torchwood Three over to Jack, telling him, "The 21st century is when it all changes... and we're not ready". Hopkins puts his gun to his head and takes his own life. Jack is now left without a team, but he is now in command of Torchwood Three. After 100 years of servitude under supervising authority, Jack is free to act as he desires.

Toshiko Sato (5 years earlier)
Tosh joins Torchwood after Jack finds her in a top secret prison. She leaked information from her Ministry of Defence job to a vicious gang holding her mother captive. UNIT raid the building and take Tosh, Milton and her henchmen to a secret prison where she is told she will be kept forever. However, Jack is impressed by her ability to assemble a sonic modulator despite flawed instructions. He has her released and given a pardon once she accepts the Torchwood job.

Ianto Jones (21 months earlier)
Ianto harasses Jack for a job after the demise of Torchwood One, where he worked. Helping Jack fight off a Weevil and repeatedly praising his coat doesn't work at first, but they capture a pterodactyl together — with the help of some chocolate — and Ianto is enlisted.

Owen Harper (4 years earlier)
Owen meets Jack when he bursts into a hospital room after brain surgery on Owen's ailing fiancée Katie. Despite warnings from Torchwood, the surgeon tried to remove an alien from her brain. When the alien lifeform was threatened, it emitted a toxic gas, killing all the humans in the operating room. Jack arrives too late. After explaining the situation to Owen, Jack knocks him out. Owen wakes to discover a massive cover up. He encounters Jack when visiting Katie's grave. After a fight, he agrees to join Torchwood as a medic.

Back in the present, Gwen and Rhys help to pull everyone from the debris in the building. However, Jack receives a holographic message from John Hart in which he claims responsibility for the bombs and says he has taken Jack's brother Gray captive.

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
 * Alice Guppy - Amy Manson
 * Emily Holroyd - Heather Craney
 * Blowfish/Weevil - Paul Kasey
 * Little Girl - Skye Bennett
 * Alex - Julian Lewis Jones
 * Toshiko's Mother - Noriko Aida
 * Bob - Simon Shackleton
 * Security Guard - Gareth Jones
 * Milton - Clare Clifford
 * Katie - Andrea Lowe
 * Doctor - Richard Lloyd-King
 * Nurse - Catherine Morris
 * Psychiatrist - Selva Rasalingam

Uncredited cast

 * Captain John Hart - James Marsters
 * Gray - Lachlan Nieboer

Individuals

 * Jack references Lisa Hallett.
 * Jack has died 1392 times since his enlistment into Torchwood in 1899.

Organisations

 * Jack took control of Torchwood Three at the turn of the 21st century.
 * Ianto mentions the destruction of Torchwood One and the Battle of Canary Wharf.

Species

 * Ianto finds a pterodactyl with a rift monitor.
 * Jack and Ianto wrestle with a Weevil.

Technology

 * Toshiko constructs a sonic modulator.
 * Alex Hopkins is driven mad by a psychic locket that gives him a glimpse of the future.

Places

 * The UNIT prisoners being held indifinitely without citizen rights, charges, or access to legal representation could be a reference to Guantanamo.

Story notes

 * This episode aired 40 minutes after the BBC Two repeat of Adrift at 10:30pm on BBC Three; and was repeated on BBC Two in its usual 9:00pm timeslot the next week, on Friday 28 March 2008.
 * A family friendly pre-watershed edit of this episode aired at 7:00pm, six days later, on Thursday 3 April 2008 on BBC Two.
 * The Doctor is named explicitly for the first time in the series.
 * This is the first appearance of UNIT soldiers and a UNIT facility in the series. UNIT is depicted as a somewhat malevolent organisation, in contrast to previous depictions in Doctor Who, more in line with the portrayal of its evil parallel universe counterpart on Inferno Earth, the Republican Security Forces (RSF). Jack suggests this may be due to the political climate of 2004.

Ratings

 * 3.0 million BBC Two viewers, with an AI of 88%
 * 7.17 million BBC Three viewers
 * 3.69 million viewers

Filming locations

 * Caerwent Military Training Area

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * When Jack begins to work with Torchwood, they know about the Tenth Doctor. However, they are operating in accordance with Queen Victoria's declaration that the Doctor is an enemy of the Crown and Torchwood because of her vehement reaction toward him. (TV: Tooth and Claw)
 * Jack mentions that he has no clue about the whereabouts of the Doctor, as he left Jack behind. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
 * The tarot card reading girl appears to Jack in 1899, (TV: Dead Man Walking) and predicts that "two turns of the century" will pass before Jack finally meets up with the Doctor again. (TV: Utopia)
 * Alex says that the 21st century is when "everything's gonna change". Jack later says a similar thing to Gwen. (TV: Everything Changes)
 * UNIT has become more stern and callous in the early 21st century. (TV: Aliens of London, World War Three, The Christmas Invasion) Martha Jones would express a desire to improve the organization from the inside. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem) The organisation will eventually be steered back towards benevolence by Kate Stewart. (TV: The Power of Three)
 * It was once noted that Toshiko and UNIT were "not mates" (PROSE: The Twilight Streets) Ironically, Tosh was working with UNIT when she met the Ninth Doctor. (TV: Aliens of London)
 * Ianto mentions Torchwood One's destruction and the Battle of Canary Wharf in 2007. (TV: Doomsday)
 * Jack mentions Lisa Hallett and Ianto says she's dead. (TV: Cyberwoman)
 * Jack indicates that he was on Earth following the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs. Unknown to Jack, however, the impact was actually caused by a freighter in a failed attempt by the Cybermen to change Earth history. (TV: Earthshock)
 * Captain John Hart is apparent behind the bomb attack, (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) and Gray is seen in a hologram. (TV: Adam) John had previously told Jack how he had "found Gray". (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) Gray would soon be discovered to be the true mastermind behind the bomb attack. (TV: Exit Wounds)

Home video releases

 * , along with the rest of series 2, was released in a complete series box set in 2008.
 * It was also released in the Series 1-4 boxset (Region 2 release: 14 November 2011.)