Ghost Machine (TV story)


 * This article concerns the episode of Torchwood. For the device nicknamed the Ghost Machine, see Quantum transducer.

Ghost Machine is the third episode of Series One of Torchwood.

Synopsis
When Gwen retrieves an alien object from a fleeing hoodie, she's haunted by a vision of a lonely young boy. As the team tracks down the object's owner, the elusive Bernie Harris, Owen experiences an even more terrifying vision and a long-buried crime resurfaces.

Plot
Jack, Owen and Gwen pursue a man through the Cardiff streets, while Toshiko tracks his alien energy signature through the CCTV network. Gwen separates from the group, chasing down the suspect into a train station, and is able to grab the man's jacket but he gets out of it and runs away. Gwen discovers an alien device in the jacket pocket, and when she activates it, she finds herself seeing a brief vision of the past, that of a young lost boy wandering the train station. Gwen remembers a name tag worn by the boy, and the team is able to track the name down to a old man in Cardiff who admits that during the World War II evacuation, he was sent to Cardiff with no one to meet him and wandered lost through the train station. The group determines from further analysis that the nanotechnology of the "Ghost device" allows people to see moments of the past spurred by strong human emotions, and try to learn how their suspect came upon such technology.

They determine the suspect is Sean "Bernie" Harris, a petty thief from Splott, and travel there to find him. Unsuccessful, they return to the train station to try the device again when Owen activates it while under a bridge, where he witnesses the raping and murder of a young woman named Lizzie Lewis in the 1960s by a man named Ed Morgan. Returning to the Hub, the team investigates the crime to confirm what Owen saw, but that Ed was interrogated but never accused of the crime. Owen insists on trying to bring Ed to justice despite that the case has long since closed, and starts to track Ed on his own. Owen confronts the elderly Ed but gets no information out of him; however, upon leaving his house, he spots Bernie and gives chase, catching up with him. Owen takes Bernie to a pub to learn more about the device while the rest of Torchwood is en route. Bernie explains he found the device in a tin of random objects from an old lady, and that he too saw the murder of Lizzie, and wonders if the team wants the "other half". Torchwood follows Bernie back to Bernie's home to retrieve the other half as well as the other objects in the tin, all alien objects that fell out from the Rift. Bernie explains that he only used the other half once, as it showed him bleeding to death outside his home at his current age. As they leave, Gwen accidentally triggers the second half, and has a vision of herself holding a bloody knife, calling out in vain to Owen. Jack tries calms Gwen down, claiming it just may be a possible future.

As the team recollects, they realize that Ed is paranoid and depressed, and that based on Owen's conversation with him, that he was being blackmailed by Bernie to have Bernie remain quiet about Lizzie's murder; Jack becomes concerned that Owen may have triggered Ed to take action. Learning that Ed has left his home and is heading towards Bernie's, Jack, Gwen, and Owen arrive just in time to disarm Ed from stabbing Bernie with a knife. Owen takes the knife and gives to Gwen, when suddenly Ed rushes Gwen, stating "I knew you'd come for me", and impales himself on the knife. As Gwen realizes she is experiencing the future she saw, Jack and Owen attempt CPR on Ed but are unable to revive him. Jack attempts to comfort Gwen, telling her Ed was suicidal and his death was not her fault, and the device makes people act in ways to try to change the future. The team returns to the Hub, and the device is put into the secure archives.

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
 * Ed Morgan — Gareth Thomas
 * Bernie Harris — Ben McKay
 * Eleri — Llinos Daniel
 * Tom Flanagan — John Normington
 * Lizzie Lewis — Emily Evans
 * Young Ed Morgan — Christopher Elson
 * Young Tom Flanagan — Christopher Greene
 * Bernie's Mum — Julie Gibbs
 * Snooker Player — Ian Kay
 * Kid in arcade — Ryan Conway
 * Woman in shop — Kathryn Howard

Music

 * Can't Stand me Now - The Libertines
 * Feeling a Moment - Feeder

Story notes

 * Ben McKay (who plays Bernie) will go on to play another "petty thief" who runs away from the authorities in the movie Hot Fuzz.

Ratings

 * BBC3 - 1.8 million viewers
 * BBC2 - 2.5 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming locations
to be added

Continuity

 * The circled "P" emblem of the Preachers from DW: Rise of the Cybermen can be seen as faded graffiti on rusty bins outside Bernie's flat.
 * The explanation Jack gives for the ghosts matches the one Sarah Jane Smith would later give in SJA: Eye of the Gorgon.

Timeline

 * Ghost Machine occurs before: TWN: Another Life

Home video releases
This episode was first released on DVD, with four other episodes entitle Torchwood: Series 1, part 1 on 26 December 2006. It was later released in Torchwood:The Complete first series on 19th November 2007