Torchwood s01e03 Episode Script

Ghost Machine

Torchwood.
Outside the Government, beyond the police.
Tracking down alien life on Earth, arming the human race against the future.
The 21st century is when everything changes, and you've got to be ready.
Owen.
Gwen.
Left into the alley, right, 30 metres.
What can you see? I can't get a visual Just a signal.
Definitely alien in origin.
Diagonal right, towards the castle.
Jack, sharp right, 20 metres.
Can you identify the target? Still trying to get a visual No heroics, we've got no idea what we're dealing with.
Ten seconds.
Got it! Got a visual.
Suspect's male, wearing a hoodie.
Go, Gwen! Come on! Open it up! Open it up! In trouble now, mate.
Damn! You star, you did it! I was that close No, you got it.
I've lost him, Tosh, I've lost him.
I swear, whatever it is You're holding it.
Let me check the cameras.
BEEPING SHE BREATHES HEAVILY FOOTSTEPS STEAM TRAIN CHUGS Hello? Who are you? Can you hear me? I want to go home.
No-one knows who I am here.
I'm lost.
Come back Come back.
ANNOUNCEMENT OVER TANNOY I'm sorry, that damn gate cut us off.
Gwen? Are you all right? I've just seen a ghost.
This is the feed from the station camera.
Gwen grabs the kid.
She's got his jacket, and he just slips out.
You OK with this? And then? Jack and Owen arrive.
Then, nothing.
Sorry.
No.
It was as real as this is.
More real.
I didn't just see that boy.
I could I could hear what he was thinking, I could feel it.
Like I was lost.
Intense emotion can be part of a neurological event.
Hallucinations, dementia I wasn't hallucinating, Owen.
And I'm not bloody senile.
You pushed this button which caused this apparition moment? Yeah.
Jack, please don't! THEY ALL SHOUT "NO" As if! But that's how it felt.
Like an apparition.
A ghost.
Toshiko, where do we start? The guy you were chasing, I've got lots of CCTV, so tracking him down's gonna be easy.
You said there was a name on the card around the little boy's neck? Flanagan.
Tom Erasmus Flanagan.
Unusual name, that'll help.
Run a full check.
Births, marriages, deaths, criminal record, passports.
However long it takes, wherever he is, we'll find him.
I've found him.
Flanagan, Thomas Erasmus.
He's in the phonebook.
Hi, I'm DI Cooper, this is DS Harper.
Could you spare a few minutes, please? Yeah, OK.
Dad, visitors.
It's the police.
Oh! Caught up with me at last, have you? I'm Gwen.
This is Owen, he's training.
It's just routine - we're looking for eye witnesses to an incident at the railway station last night.
We were here, weren't we, Dad? Strictly Come Dancing finals.
Who won? That newsreader.
She's got legs up to her armpits! Would you like a cup of tea? I'd love one, thanks.
Owen will give you a hand.
This way.
She'll talk him to death out there.
He'll give as good as he gets.
She was right, though.
We were in all last night, we wouldn't have seen anything.
Just for the record, you are Tom Erasmus Flanagan? My father was an Erasmus, his father before him.
Now, that's not a Welsh accent, is it? No.
Lived here 66 years, and still sound like a barrow boy.
I was evacuated during the war - The Germans bombing the hell out of the East End.
Cardiff was being bombed as well as London, wasn't it? We were taken to the countryside.
My mother packed me a suitcase Big sister wrote my name on a card.
They put me on a train at Paddington.
Kept saying I had to go, had to be a good boy, telling me not to cry, and the pair of them were crying their eyes out! That was the last I saw of them, though I didn't know that then, of course.
Waving goodbye.
How old were you? Eight.
You must have been very, very frightened.
I didn't know a soul here.
And there was a mix-up.
I kept my head down so much they forgot all about me.
So they left me all on my own.
Felt like the end of the world.
I wandered down this tunnel, totally lost.
Forgotten.
Looking for someone, anyone, who'd look after me.
"Why don't they come for me?" I kept thinking.
No-one knows me.
I'm lost.
They worked it out in the end, they came back for me, and I got taken in by a lovely couple, no kids of their own.
And well, at the end of the war, I had no-one left in London.
So I stayed here.
I'm still here now.
Just! I don't get it.
He WAS the boy at the station.
I can't comment - I was stuck in the kitchen with Motormouth, thanks to you.
So was what I saw just a bit of him from years before? Hanging around? PHONE RINGS Hi.
Gwen, I'm just putting a wash on, you got any whites need doing? I don't know.
Just leave it, I'll sort it out.
No, no, no it's no trouble.
Just remind me, which drawer do the tablets go in? Ah, just leave it.
OK, so, are you in or out tonight? I don't know.
Again?! Sorry? All I'm asking is you in or out tonight? I don't know.
I can live with all the Secret Squirrel stuff, but if you can't even tell me if you're coming home! Well, nagging isn't helping.
Right.
Well, that's me told.
Aw, Rhys I'm not staying in on the off chance.
Daf's having mates round.
I'll stay there.
Do what you want.
CAR HORN BEEPS Hello? All right! ENGINE REVS Our friend with the alien machine in his pocket is one Sean Harris aka Bernie.
And what he's doing with an alien machine is anyone's guess.
shoplifting, credit cards Do warn me if he's dropping in(!) The theft conviction - he was stealing tyres off a car when the owner turns up, gives him so much grief, he apologises.
starts putting them back on again.
Which is when the police show up! And here - shoplifting conviction.
Bottle of vodka and three Pot Noodles.
A criminal mastermind(!) Got anywhere with that mystery object? Alien, of course Gorgeous nanotechnology, makes NASA look like Toys 'R' US.
Well, you've really narrowed things down, haven't you? At the station it was doing this.
When I held it, it lit up and went mad.
It's not doing it now, is it? No.
So.
What next? This kid, Bernie, where does he live? Splott.
Splott? I believe estate agents pronounce it "Sploe".
Hi, I'm looking for Bernie, is he in? Friend of his, are you? Yes, I'm from I'm his mother.
He's a robbing little bastard who won't set foot in here till he pays me the £50 he owes me! He's barred.
He said he'd get me a iPod and he never.
And he smoked my fags.
Wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire.
Bernie Harris, the Scarlet Pimpernel of Splott.
Tell me about it, give me aliens any day.
Any luck? Nope, but I got four pasties for a pound - anyone? If I wanted days like this I'd've stayed in the police.
We did try, Jack.
What's he gonna tell us? "Got it off an alien down the market.
" Where are we going? To the station.
Controlled experiment.
We replicate the original events as far as possible.
Observe and analyse the results.
What I have to do that again?! Someone does - any volunteers? Whoa! We don't know what it is, what it does.
Nope.
Jack, this could be dangerous.
Yep.
Don't mean to be picky, but I think I can spot some flaws in this I'm sorry, I thought you gave up looking for a 19-year-old kid this morning(!) I figured maybe you were after something more exciting.
A bit of a challenge.
This door-to-door stuff never gets us anywhere.
BEEPING Guys, come here! Owen! Owen! Wait! THUNDER RUMBLES RAIN WOMAN WEEPS He's a rotten bastard! My mam was right, his eyes are too close together! I said, "Just a dance," but he wasn't having a bar of it.
I shouldn't have gone outside with him, I should have known better! What's your name? MAN CALLS MENACINGLY: Lizzie! Lizzie Lewis You're a bad one, Ed Morgan! The girls said not to go with you, and they were right.
Am I bad? Am I a bad boy? You're a big girl now, Lizzie.
You can make your own decisions.
That's why I like you.
You're not like the others.
You don't follow the herd.
You're smart.
Don't you like it that someone can see how smart you are? Hmm? I can see you, Lizzie.
The way you really are.
SHE SCREAMS I don't want to hurt you, I don't I-I told my mam I'd be home by 9! Shhhh PLEASE! Oh, God, someone help me! Help me! Help me! Owen? Are you all right? Sheshe was so scared! I-I-I couldn't I couldn't move! I couldn't help her! The first time, it happens to Gwen.
A boy, at the railway station.
Who's now in his 70s, alive and well, and living in Butetown.
The second time it happens to Owen.
Like me, you didn't just see it, you felt emotions that weren't yours.
She was terrified.
The victim's name was Lizzie.
It was maybe 40, 45 years ago.
Toshiko, do we know anything about her yet? Elizabeth Lewis.
Lizzie.
Only child of Mabel Ann Lewis of Hafod Street.
Died March 29th, 1963.
Raped and murdered on Penfro Street, under the bridge.
No-one was brought to trial.
She told her Mum she'd be home by nine.
So what about Ed Morgan? That's what she called him.
"You're a bad one, Ed Morgan" Look him up.
It's kind of a common name.
What's the connection? Where did they come from? It's like being haunted.
Quantum transducer! Look.
Wow.
I'd kill to get one of those.
Transducers convert energy from one form into another.
They're in headphones.
They convert electrical signals into sound.
They're in this device too converting quantum energy and amplifying it.
Into ghosts? Of course.
It's emotion.
Human emotion is energy.
You can't always see it, or hear it, but you can feel it.
Ever had deja vu? Felt someone "walk over your grave?" Ever felt someone behind you in an empty room? Well.
There was.
There always is.
A ghost.
What else have we got on Lizzie Lewis, what else have we got? Um.
1963 - the records aren't always that detailed.
What about newspapers? Witness statements, coroners' reports.
Owen! What do you want me to find? To re-open the case you need new evidence, or a new witness.
I saw it happen.
You didn't! You weren't there.
You saw the echo of a moment, amplified by alien technology.
So just tell me how that will play in court? Since when did we care about court? Tomorrow we look for Bernie Harris and find out what he knows about this ghost machine.
We do our job and find where this thing came from.
Now, go home.
Gwen! With me! Jack? Whoa.
You need to know how to use these.
Though I hope you never have to.
So, do I SHE LAUGHS I'm sorry, it's justI don't even kill spiders in the bath.
Nor do I, not with a gun.
It's all yours.
Target's that way.
Right.
Let's leave the roof in one piece, shall we? One hand, not two.
Turn sideways to the target.
Looking along your shoulder, down your arm, a straight line to the sights.
Bring up the gun.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Too fast.
It's all in the breathing.
Hold it firmly, don't grip it.
Breathe in.
Focus.
Breathe out.
Squeeze gently.
(Wow.
) That was a joint effort.
Try it again.
This time on your own, and remember, breathe in.
Don't grip it too tight.
Hold it and cock it back.
I didn't cock it right.
Nice and slow.
Up a little.
Yeah.
Breathe first, then go.
You know how to do it.
Two hands or one? One.
Woo-hoo! Wow! Nice work! Like I said, I hope you never have to use 'em.
Yeah.
Oh, God, look at the time.
When do you get to go home? You seem to live here.
You don't, do you? Gotta be ready, the 21st century's when it all changes.
And I hate to commute.
Where do you sleep? I don't.
Doesn't it get lonely, at night? I'd better get back, Rhys'll be wondering where I am.
Goodnight.
Goodnight.
Hello? DOOR SLAMS 'Hi, it's me here, I'm at Daf's 'playing poker, and I'm winning! Ha-hey! 'Look, just so you know, erm, 'I-I-I put your whites on earlier, even though you were bloody grumpy.
'They're still in the machine so you'll need to hang them up.
'I've out the bins out, but I didn't do the washing-up.
'But there's not much of that soand you haven't done it for weeks anyway.
Ha-ha! 'I'll see you when I see ya.
Ta-ra.
' ANSWERING MACHINE BEEPS THUNDER RUMBLES SINISTER CALLING: Li-zzie! WOMAN CRIES Lizzie Lewis You're a bad one, Ed Morgan.
Are you the-ere? The girls said not to go with you and they were right! Am I that bad? Li-zzie Am I a bad boy? WOMAN CRYING Lizzie Lewis Help me! Help me! So, I've got to stay out of trouble now, have I? Best behaviour.
I'm a fully-trained police officer, I'll have you on the floor and handcuffed like that.
Mm-mm! Promises, promises! I'm so proud of you.
CAR HORN BEEPS Rhys! The taxi's here, we're gonna be late! I haven't worn these since the Luckley's interview.
I'll wear jeans with a shirt and tie.
It's mum's 60th.
She wanted us smart, that's the whole point.
I bust my zip! I'll be flashing my family allowance if I'm not careful.
What are you doing? Come on.
You're joking.
I'll staple it! You're not coming near my valuables with that.
Hiya.
Daf and Karen had a barney.
She's making him sleep in the spare room.
I didn't fancy the sofa.
Look, I don't mind you working all the hours.
I really don't.
As long as you still want to come home at the end of it.
I do.
I'm here.
And you're gorgeous.
Bet you haven't hung the washing up.
Let's leave it till tomorrow, eh? Aye.
Who is it? Mr Morgan? What do you want? Well? Mr Morgan.
I need to come in.
Who said there was gas? I can't smell anything.
There's nothing wrong.
I'd have noticed.
Can you smell anything? Was it next door? Can we go into the living room, Mr Morgan? There's nothing in here.
No gas fire, I mean - I haven't got one.
There's an electric heater.
I don't hardly use it.
What are you looking for? Sit down, Mr Morgan.
Was it next door? She can't mind her own business.
Something wrong with her.
She makes stuff up.
Is it her? You won't find anything, if it is.
It's all in her head, know what I mean? What's your name? How long have you lived here, Mr Morgan? Years.
This was my mam's house.
You'd remember your neighbours.
People who lived in this street a while ago? People who livedjust round the corner? Like in Hafod Street? Like Mabel Lewis? She only passed away a few years ago, did you know? Of course, she'd moved away long before that.
Couldn't bear the memories.
Her daughter.
Her only child.
Died in '63.
HEARTBEAT Lizzie.
Little Lizzie Lewis.
She loved dancing.
Do you remember? You should.
Pretty girl.
Blonde hair, blue eyes.
Used to wear a little pink coat.
Bet she saved all her pennies to get that.
All the rage.
She was wearing it last time you saw her.
Last time anyone saw her.
Alive.
Remember now? (I know what happened under the bridge that night.
) (Just the two of you.
In the dark.
) (Water dripping from the roof into the canal.
) (Lizzie's hair all wet from the rain, cold and crying.
) I know what you did, Ed Morgan.
And here you are, justliving your lifefree as a bird.
Lizzie told her mother she'd be home at nine.
"Please don't," she said.
"Please.
" PLEASE! "You're a bad one, Ed Morgan.
" "The girls said not to go with you, "and they were right.
" Get out! Get out! GET OUT! You thought you'd got away with it! You'll get nothing from me! I told you before, you'll get nothing! Get out of my house! Get out of my house! Bernie Harris! Oi! You mind out! Sorry! Sorry! Go on! Kick his head in! Mam, there's a man in the garden! There's TWO men in the garden! Bernie Harris! Who? That wasn't a question.
Don't hurt me please, I got asthma.
I'm not going to hurt ya.
I'm going to bloody kill ya.
Why do they call you "Bernie"? I burned my neighbour's shed down when I was 12.
Why? I was having a fag.
Got a bit carried away.
Well, this IS cosy.
I hope he bought you flowers.
If this is about the dodgy fags, I don't know what happened to 'em.
Well.
It's worth knowing, we're probably the only people you can tell.
Me and a mate was using this lock up, down on Moira Street.
Used to belong to this old guy.
Soft in the head, he was.
Still loads of his stuff in there but we chucked most of it.
There was this old biscuit tin full of foreign coins, weird bits of rock, and that.
Thought it might be worth something.
Take it down the Antiques Roadshow.
Yeah(!) You don't know.
Cash In The Attic, all that.
So I takes the tin home with me and that thing switched itself on.
It makes you see things.
Real things.
Real people.
I was down the Old Wharf, in the bay.
I seen this woman, with a bundle, something wrapped up.
It was night time.
She was putting it into the water all secret like.
It was weird cos it was like I was her, somehow.
She was scared, because she knew what she was doing was wrong.
I knew, without seeing.
It was her baby, wrapped up.
Dead.
She hadn't told anyone.
Then she just ran away.
And I realised, I KNEW her.
She's old now, but she lives up by the Catholic Church in Splott.
So I goes up to see her.
Told her what I'd seen.
She give me money not to tell anyone.
You blackmailed her? She offered.
I've seen things you wouldn't believe.
There's the old bridge, on Penfro Street.
I saw a manand a girl, from ages ago.
He was following her back from a dance, along the canal Yeah.
I know, I saw it.
He doesn't know anything, does he? It's been fascinating meeting you.
Where you going? That's mine! You can't walk off.
I've got rights.
So you don't want the other half, then? The other half.
Weird bits of rock.
Foreign money.
Alien rock.
Alien money.
Driftwood, washing in through the rift.
So, Bernie.
Was this thing in two halves when you found it? I've got it Like clicking Lego together.
You split this into two pieces, didn't you? C'mon, you lot.
We'll take these too, if you don't mind.
Come on, you lot! Aren't you gonna arrest me? We're not the police.
But I stole it.
I know.
And you're going to rob it back off me.
So call the cops.
Don't go! I only used it once .
.
That half.
Anyway I couldn't use it again.
Why not? I'm going to die.
I've seen it happen, out there on the road.
I'm just lying there, bleeding, and then I die.
Just like I am now, not old.
What do you mean? Come on, Gwen! I'm gonna be 20 in July.
Do I die before then? GWEN! Just wait there, I'm coming back.
Jack! Jack! Jack, I need to speak to you.
Gwen, no-oh-oh-oh! Hello? Help me, please I was too late, I couldn't stop it.
Stop what? He's dead.
Owen had the knife.
He wanted to kill him.
Owen? Oh God, I couldn't stop it! Help me! Christ, Gwen, what were you thinking? I didn't see him.
I didn't see anyone but me.
I just said his name.
Owen.
Bernie said he saw himself, dead in that street.
You saw Owen with the knife.
But I was holding it.
My hands were covered in blood.
That was one future, one of many possible futures.
Whatever you saw, what Bernie saw, might not happen.
Might not?! Can't we find out? You've got all this stuff, alien stuff - isn't there anything that can help? I'm sorry.
I wish we'd never found it.
Poor Bernie.
Seeing himself dead.
He might not be.
Possible futures.
He might like to know that.
You're certainly finding it a comfort(!) I don't know what to do.
I found your Ed Morgan earlier - did a trace.
I found him too.
Phone book.
Took all night.
But I found him.
Paid him a visit this morning, put the fear of God into him.
What did you find? His medical records.
He's claustrophobic, paranoid, depressive, got a couple of recorded attempts of suicide.
He's barely left his house in years.
Look Owen, if Jack finds out Well, he won't, will he? PHONE RINGS Hello? I think he thought I wanted money.
He kept saying, "You'll get nothing from me.
" Paranoia.
Yeah He said, "You'll get nothing from me.
Leave me alone.
"I've told you before.
" Told who? 'Look, I've seen things you wouldn't believe.
'There's the old bridge, down on Penfro Street.
'There was a manand a girl, from ages ago.
'He was following her back from a dance along the canal.
' KNOCKING Bernie, it's Gwen.
Can I come in? Thanks.
I know it sounds mad, but just because you saw yourself Dead, yeah.
Doesn't mean it's gonna happen.
But you don't know how to stop it.
For you, or for me.
It's got right into my head, this thing.
Some things you're better off not knowing.
PHONE RINGS Jack? Ed Morgan.
Owen went freelance earlier and paid him a visit.
Wanted to frighten him.
Sounds like he succeeded.
I think Bernie Harris got there first.
Tried to blackmail him.
Bernie was blackmailing him?! Looks that way.
Ed thought Owen was part of the same outfit.
Are you home yet? No.
I'm at Bernie's place.
We're heading over, stay right there.
Owen, with me! Tosh, keep an eye on CCTV, in case Bernie makes a run for it.
So you saw Ed Morgan assaulting that girl and thought you'd make some money out of it.
"Diagnosed with severe depression.
Agoraphobic.
" No.
I don't believe this! PHONE RINGS 'Jack, I'm on CCTVand I'm looking at Ed Morgan.
' What? Where is he? Coming onto Evelyn Street.
That's Bernie's street! He's heading for Bernie's flat.
What, are we expecting someone? Where are you going? Bernie, Bernie! PHONE RINGS Jack, yeah, what the hell is going on? We're on our way, are you OK? Yeah, I would be, if someone would justjust tell me I'm gonna die.
I've seen it happen, out there on the road.
Bernie said he saw himself dead in that road? Gwen?! Gwen! I knew you'd find me in the end.
I knew you'd come for me.
I've been waiting for years.
Have you come for me, too? I used to see it in people's faces when they looked at me.
They knew! I tried to hide, but they knew.
I haven't been outside for so long.
Edwin Little bitch.
You're all the same! You'll blame me, make me the bad one! Edwin, put the knife down.
I've wasted my life for you.
We won't tell anyone, no-one else will know.
Stay calm.
I won't say a word.
You'll never see me again.
I promise.
I know.
That's why I came.
It's what you want, isn't it? Got him! Got the knife.
Are we OK? ARE WE OK?! Yeah, yeah, we're OK.
(I've got the knife.
) I've got the knife, Edwin.
You were so close.
You were going for her, weren't you? Just like with Lizzie.
I've got the knife, Edwin.
You were so close.
As close as I am now.
Owen had the knife.
He wanted to kill him.
Why should you get away with it? Owen.
You said you were sorry, that you didn't want to hurt her, but you didn't stop.
Owen! What if I didn't stop? Would I be sorry? Owen, NO! I don't know.
Go and deal with Bernie! No-one died.
You stopped it from happening.
You got here in time! I knew you'd come for me.
Oh! He's arresting! Help me.
I was too close, I couldn't stop it! Oh, God! (Oh, God!) I just - I just I couldn't stop it.
He wanted to die.
He would have found a way, no matter what.
I screwed up, I know I did.
But um I didn't kill him.
I could of, but I didn't.
No.
I did.
Tosh is right.
It could have been anyone.
What about that? The problem with seeing the future is you can't just sit and look at it.
Got to try and change things.
Make it happen differently.
It's not meant for us.
All these ghosts.
We'd be lost.
Sun's nearly up.
Ianto.
Secure archives? Come on.
I killed him.
I've still got blood on my hands.
He killed himself.
Come on, Gwen.
Look - the sun's coming up.
A new day.
The city'll be awake soon.
All those people.
All that energy.
All those ghosts.
We're surrounded by 'em.
We can't see 'em, we can't touch 'em .
.
but they're there, all right.
A million shadows of human emotion.
(We've just got to learn to live with them.
) What's happening? Internal power drain.
Who the hell is it? It's wrong.
It's beyond wrong.
It shouldn't be here.
We have found parts of a Cyber conversion unit fully powered up and working.
(I'm deadly serious!) Oh, God, there she is! She's still alive! You execute her.

Previous EpisodeNext Episode