A Day in the Death (TV story)

"Three days ago I died, and they think I’m fine..."

- Owen Harper

Synopsis
Owen chats with a suicidal woman on a rooftop, reflecting on his adjustment (or lack thereof) to his new life (or lack thereof). Will a mission with Torchwood assist in his salvation or bring about the end of the world?

Plot
Owen Harper is on a rooftop, talking to a woman who is about to throw herself off of it. He tells her about his recent ordeal with being dead and getting resurrected. As his memories begin we see Jack let him off but he has to stay at the hub so that Martha can run some tests on him. Martha has been put in place of Torchwood 3 Medical Doctor. As he is talking to her he cuts his hand on a scapel, so Martha has to stitch it back together saying that it will have to be stitched every week because of his inability to heal. The team then has a meeting about a man named Henry Parker who has been missing since the 1980's, yet Torchwood has been servaling him for years since. Later that day Owen is in his flat and Toshiko walks in he thinks to himself that he is losing the will to live since he cant die. He jumps in the Cardiff canal and spends half an hour in the water but jack rescues him from dieing. The sucidal woman who is revealed to be called Maggie says that she got married a year ago today but her husband died in a car crash. The team has another briefing and they want to obtain the alien device that Henry Parker has. Owen agrees to go in and get it off him by getting past six secruity gaurds and heat sensers. Owen manages to get into the building and get past them all. Owen comes to a room where there is a bed hidden by veils. Owen goes in to see that Henry is in the bed. He tells Owen that he needs it to live but then he dies of natural causes. Later after Owen has gotten out of his mansion the team says good bye to Martha as she leaves to go back to UNIT. Later that night we see Maggie and him talking about his story. She is talked out of dying and shows her the device that Henry had.

Cast

 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
 * Owen Harper - Burn Gorman
 * Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori
 * Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman
 * Henry Parker - Richard Briers
 * Maggie Hopley - Christine Bottomley
 * Farrington - Louis Decosta Jonson
 * Taylor - Brett Allen
 * Webb - Gil Koliran

Production crew
to be added

Story notes

 * Martha (played by Freema Agyeman) departs at the end of this episode.

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
If Owen cannot breathe, as he realises in this episode when he fails to resuscitate Henry Parker, then he shouldn't be able to speak. Owen also claims that he has no sense of feeling. This presents numerous inconsistencies, for example the fact that he can speak also presents a problem here. Anyone who has had a local anesthetic for a filling will know how unclear speech can be with a numbed mouth. ''This can be explained by the fact alien technology is what has brought him back, he is no longer conscious due to natural circumstances. ''

Continuity

 * In the sequence of Owen's life clips from Everything Changes, Ghost Machine, Out of Time and Meat are seen.
 * The Dogon Eye was first seen in Random Shoes.
 * From this episode on, Owen always has a bandage over his left hand because he cut it.

DVD releases

 * This story along with the rest of Torchwood Series 2 is due to be released in a complete series boxset.