Torchwood (2006–2011): Season 1, Episode 3 - Ghost Machine - full transcript

Torchwood.

Outside the government,
beyond the police.

Tracking down alien life on Earth and
arming the human race against the future.

The 21st century is
when everything changes.

And you've gotta be ready.

Owen, Gwen, left into the alley,
right, 30 metres.

What is it? What can you see?

I can't get a visual, just a signal.
Definitely alien in origin.

Diagonal right, towards the castle.

Watch it!

Jack, sharp right, 20 metres.



- Can you identify the target?
- Still trying to get a visual.

20 seconds to contact.

Fifteen seconds.

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!

Oi!

- Come on! Open it up!
- All right, all right.

Hey! What are you doing? MAN 2:
In trouble now, mate.

You tell him.

Watch it!

- You star! You did it!
- Oh, I was that close.



- No, you got him.
- I've lost him, Tosh. I've lost him.

I swear, whatever it is,
you're holding it.

Let me check. Hang on.

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.

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 okay with this?
- And then?

Jack and Owen arrive.

- And then nothing. Sorry.
- No, it... It was as real as this is.

More real. I didn't just see
that little 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 and that
caused this apparition moment?

Yeah.

- Jack, no!
- Jack, please don't...

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 is going to be easy.

The little boy? You said there was
a name on the card around his 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.

Found him! Flanagan, Thomas Erasmus.
74 Brynaeron Terrace, Butetown.

He's in the phone book.

Hi, I'm DI Cooper.
This is DS Harper.

- Could you spare a few minutes, please?
- Yeah, okay.

Thanks.

- 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 eyewitnesses to an
incident at the railway station last night.

We were here, weren't we,
Dad? Strictly Come Dancing finals.

- Who won?
- That newsreader.

Oh, she's got legs up to
her armpits, hasn't she?

- Would you like a cup of tea?
- I'd love one, thanks.

- Owen will give you a hand.
- Oh, 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. 1941.

The Germans bombing the
hell out of the East End.

Cardiff was being bombed as
well as London, wasn't it?

We were taken out to the countryside from
here. 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, to be a good boy.

Telling me not to cry.

And there was the pair of them,
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.

There was a mix-up. I'd kept my head
down so much, they forgot all about me.

So they left me all on my own.

It felt like the end of the world.
I wandered down this tunnel.

Totally lost. Forgotten.

Looking for someone,
anyone who would 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'd 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 motor mouth thanks to you.

So was what I saw just a bit of him from
years before sort of hanging around?

- Hi.
- Gwen?

Er, 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.

Oh, no, no, it's no trouble.

Just remind me, which
drawer do the tablets go in?

- Oh, just leave it.
- Okay, then. So are you in or out tonight?

- I don't know.
- Again?

- I'm sorry?
- What I'm asking is you in or out tonight?

I don't know.

Gwen, 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.

Oh, Rhys...

Well, I'm not staying in on the off-chance.

Dav's having mates round tonight.
I'll stay at his. You do what you want.

Hello?

All right.

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.

19 years old. String of convictions,
burglary, 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 apologies,

starts putting them back on again,
which is when the police show up.

And here, shoplifting conviction.
Bottle of vodka and three Pot Noodles.

Criminal mastermind.

Got anywhere with that mystery object?

Alien, of course. Gorgeous nanotechnology.

Makes NASA look like "Toys R Us".

You've really narrowed
things down, haven't you?

At the station it was doing this.
And 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 "splow".

- Hi, I'm looking for Bernie. Is he in?
- Friends of his, are you?

- Yes, I'm from...
- Well, I'm his mother,

and he's a robbing little bastard
who's not setting a foot in this house

till he pays me the
50 quid he owes me.

He's barred.

He said he'd give me an 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?
- No.

But I got four pasties
for a pound. Anyone?

If I'd wanted days like this,
I'd have 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?

Back to the railway station.
Controlled experiment.

We replicate the original events as far as
possible, observe and analyze the results.

- What, I have to do that again?
- Someone does.

- Any volunteers?
- Whoa.

- We don't know what it is, what it does.
- No.

- Jack, this could be dangerous.
- Yeah.

I don't mean to be picky, but I think
I can spot some flaws in this plan...

I'm sorry, I thought
you were the guys

who 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.

His door-to-door stuff
never gets us anywhere.

Guys! Come here.

- Owen! Owen!
- Wait!

Oh, he's a rotten bastard.

My mum 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?
- 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.

I don't want to hurt you. I don't.

I... I told my mum
I'd be home by 9:00.

Shh...

Please! No! Don't hurt me!

- Help me! Help me!
- Please.

- Owen. Owen, are you all right?
- She was so scared.

I couldn't... I couldn't move.

I couldn't move. I couldn't move.

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.

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
Hatford Street. Died March 29th, 1963.

Raped and murdered on Penfro Street,
under the bridge. 17 years old.

- He killed her.
- No one was brought to trial.

She told her mum she'd
be home by 9:00.

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.

And 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 déjá 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, coroner's reports?

- Owen!
- What do you want me to find exactly?

There must be something.

For the case to be reopened,
you need new evidence or a new witness.

- I saw it happen.
- No, you didn't. You weren't there!

You saw the echo of a moment
amplified by alien technology.

So just tell me how that'll play in court?

Well, since when did we care about court?

Tomorrow we go looking
for Bernie Harris,

and we 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.

I hope you never have to.

So, do I...

I'm sorry, it's just... I 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.

Straight line to the sights.

Bring up the gun.
Whoa, 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...

Don't grip it too tight.

- Hold it. Cock it back.
- You cock it, I...

Nice and slow.

Up a little. Yeah.

Breathe first, then go.

You can stick your hands like this,
but you don't have to.

- Two hands or one?
- One hand.

- Woo-hoo!
- Wow.

Nice work. Like I said,
I hope you never have to use them.

Oh, God. Look at the time.
When do you get to go home?

You seem to live here.
You don't, do you?

Got to be ready. The 21st
century is 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.

- Good night.
- Night.

Hello!

Hi, it's me here.

I'm at Dav's playing poker,
and I'm winning! Hey, hey!

Look, just so you know,

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 put the bins out,
but I didn't do the washing-up.

But there's not much of that, so... But
you haven't done it in weeks anyway.

Um, I'll see you when
I see you. Ta-ra.

Lizzie.

- Lizzie Lewis.
- You're a bad one, Ed Morgan.

Are you there?

The girls said not to go
with you and they were right.

Am I bad? Lizzie. Am I a bad boy?

- Lizzie Lewis.
- Help me! Help me!

So, I... 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.

Hmm, promises, promises.

I'm so proud of you.

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 all smart.
That's the whole point.

Yeah, but I bust my zip.

I'll be flashing my family
allowance if I'm not careful.

- What are you doing with that?
- Come on.

- Are you joking?
- I'll staple it.

You are not coming near my valuables
with that. What happens if I need a pee?

Hiya. Dav and Karen had a barney.

She's making him sleep in the spare room.
Didn't fancy the sofa.

Look, I don't mind you working
all the hours. I really don't.

Just as long as you still want to
come home at the end of it all.

I do.

I'm here and you're gorgeous.

- I bet you haven't done the washing-up.
- No.

- 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 or 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.

There's 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 lived just around the corner?
Like in Hatford 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.

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 the
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.

Here you are,
just living your life.

Free as a bird.

Lizzie told her mother she'd
be home at 9:00, didn't she?

" 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 get away
with this, didn't you?

You'll get nothing from me! I've told
you before. You'll get nothing from me!

Get out of my house!
Get out of my house!

Bernie Harris!

Oi!

- Do you mind...
- Sorry!

Go on! Kick his head in!

Dad, 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've got asthma.
- I'm not going to hurt you.

I'm going to bloody kill you.

Why do they call you Bernie?

I burned my neighbor’s
shed down when I was 12.

What for?

I was just having a fag.
Got a bit carried away like.

Well, this is cosy.
I hope he bought you flowers.

If this is all about the dodgy fags,

I don't know, I don't know what
happened to them, all right?

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.

It used to belong to this old guy.
Soft in the head, he was.

There 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.
I might take it down

- the Antiques Roadshow or something.
- Yeah.

Well, you don't know, do you?
Cash in the attic and all that.

So I takes the tin home with me and
that thing starts switching itself on.

It makes you see things.
Real things. Real people.

I was down at the old
wharf in the bay.

I seen this woman with a bundle.
Something wrapped up.

It was night-time and she was putting
it into the water, all secret like.

It was weird 'cause it was
like I was her somehow.

She was scared. 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

and she give me money not
to tell anyone else.

- You blackmailed her?
- She offered.

Look, I've seen things
you wouldn't believe.

There's the old bridge on Penfro Street.

I saw a man and 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?

Bernie, it's been fascinating meeting you.

Hang on! Where are you going?
That's mine, that is.

You can't just walk off. I got rights.

Oh, 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.
- Tosh.

So, Bernie, was this thing in
two halves when you found it?

I got it. Like
clicking Lego together.

You split this into two pieces, didn't you?

Come on, you lot.

We'll take these, too,
if you don't mind.

- Come on, you lot.
- Aren't you gonna arrest me?

No. We're not the police.

- But I robbed that.
- I know.

- And you're gonna 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 gonna 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 going to 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!

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. 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.

- Well, he might not be.
- Mmm, 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.

It took all night, but I found him.
I 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?

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.

It was a man and a girl from ages ago.

He was following her back
from a dance along the canal.

Bernie, it's Gwen.

Can I come in? Thanks.

I know it sounds mad,
but just because you saw yourself...

Dead, yeah?

- It doesn't mean it's going to 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 just better off not knowing.

- Jack.
- Ed Morgan.

Owen went freelance earlier. Decided to
pay him a visit. Wanted to frighten him.

Sounds like he succeeded.

I think our friend 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, too,

and you thought you'd
make some money out of it?

" Diagnosed severe depression,
agoraphobic..."

No. I don't believe this.

Jack? I'm on CCTV and I'm
looking at Ed Morgan.

- What? Where is he?
- Coming on to 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!

- Jack? Yeah, what the hell is going on?
- We're on our way. Are you okay?

Yeah, I would be if someone
would just... Just 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 blame me and make me the bad one.

- Edwin, put the knife down.
- I wasted my life for you.

We won't tell anyone.
No one else is gonna know.

Stay calm.

I won't breathe 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!

Drop the knife.

- Are we okay?
- I got it.

- Are we okay?
- Yeah, yeah, we're okay.

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.

You said 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!

It didn't happen.

No one died. You stopped it from happening.
You got here in time.

I knew you'd come for me...

He's arresting!

Help me.

I was so close. I couldn't stop it.

Oh, God. Oh, God.
I couldn't... I couldn't...

I couldn't...

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... But I didn't kill him.

I could have, 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.

You got to try and change things.
Make it happen differently.

It's not meant for us.
All these ghosts.

We'd be lost.

The 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 will be awake soon.

- All those people, all that energy.
- All those ghosts.

We're surrounded by them.

We can't see them,
we can't touch them...

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.

- What 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.

If she's still alive,
you execute her.