Sleeper (TV story)

Synopsis
A burglary turns into a slaughter, and Torchwood suspect alien involvement. The investigation escalates into a city-wide assault, and Captain Jack realises that the whole planet is in danger.

Plot
Two burglars break into a flat owned by a woman called Beth and her boyfriend. There’s a struggle, a flash of light, and soon Torchwood are on the scene investigating the grisly fate suffered by the burglars.

Beth cannot remember the events and is taken into custody by Torchwood, who suspect she is not of this earth. When they take her to a cell, she passes a Weevil and it cowers in her presence. Captain Jack, after flirting with Ianto, 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’ from a group called Cell 114, yet to be activated and oblivious to its real identity having been given memory implants. They disconnect Beth's implant from the network and decide to freeze her to prevent her from being activated. While the process appears to work, she awakens inside the vaults.

Around Cardiff, three other sleeper agents are suddenly activated, with their right arms transforming into bayonet-like weapons. The change is both immediate and terrifying - a doting husband snaps his wife's neck as she attempts to stop him from leaving, and a young mother walks off while her baby is run over by a car. They carry out a series of suicide bombings at key locations, paving the way for their leader to head for a base containing nuclear warheads.

Beth manages to escape and is found with her ailing husband in hospital. She is struggling to keep her human identity and unconsciously stabs him in his bed as her arm transforms. Jack and Gwen track her to the hospital, which is hit by a suicide bombing carried out by a Cell agent who was a paramedic.

Captain Jack and Gwen convince Beth to temporarily reconnect with the others so that they can track them down, and discover that only one is still alive. They follow the leading sleeper agent to the army base moments before he can detonate the nuclear weapons. Jack is stabbed in the process and the agent tells him that the main invasion force is already on Earth before self-destructing. Back at Torchwood, Beth turns her sword arm on Gwen, forcing the others to shoot and kill her. Gwen believes that Beth knew this would be the case and wanted to be killed.

Cast

 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
 * Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
 * Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
 * Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Beth Halloran - Nikki Amuka-Bird
 * Mike Lyndon - Dyfed Potter
 * David — Doug Rollins
 * David's wife — Claire Cage
 * Mr A Grainger — Sean Carlson
 * Mrs C Grainger — Victoria Pugh
 * Burglar 1 — Luke Rutherford
 * Burglar 2 — Alex Harries
 * Police officer — Dominic Coleman
 * Boy — William Hughes
 * Girl — Millie Philippart
 * Driver — Matthew Arwel Pegram
 * Paramedic — Derek Lea

Production crew

 * Writer - James Moran
 * Director - Colin Teague
 * 1st Assistant Director - Marco Ciglia
 * 2nd Assistant Director - James DeHaviland
 * Executive Producers - Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner
 * Producer - Richard Stokes
 * Co-Producer - Chris Chibnall

Story notes
to be added

Ratings

 * Overnight - 3.4 million viewers
 * Official BARB ratings - 3.78 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * If the Sleepers cannot be pierced, then how does Beth have ear-rings? She probably got them from the same shop that serves Claire Bennet (if you look at 24:03, when Beth is about to be frozen, you can see that they are proper ear rings, not clip-ons). Possibly she got them before her protective force field was activated as a simple part of her disguise, false memories and all.
 * Why are all the sleepers in Cardiff? Surely they would spread themselves out in order to make the invasion more successful? The Sleepers came to Earth through the Rift, they may have been attempting to secure the Rift and open it with the nuclear missiles in order to summon the invasion force. As not knowing how many they truly are, they could be used for another story Arc.

Continuity
to be added

DVD releases

 * This story along with the rest of Torchwood Series 2 was released in a complete series boxset in 2008.