'Day One' by Chris Chibnall

Gwen and Rhys’ evening out at dinner is rudely interrupted when a comet crashes to Earth, landing just outside the city. Starting her first day in her new job somewhat earlier than anticipated, Gwen joins the Torchwood team, and it isn’t long before they arrive at the crash site. Jack dismisses the recently-arrived military presence, while Tosh and Owen begin examining the large rock-like object now sitting in a crater; however, while passing a tool to Owen, Gwen inadvertently pierces the meteor, releasing a cloudy, gaseous alien creature that vanishes into the night and takes over the body of a young girl named Carys. The entity then enters a club called the ‘Night Spot’, pulls a young man, and shags him in the toilets; as the boy climaxes, the possessed Carys absorbs his orgasmic energy, reducing him to dust. Learning of the incident, the Torchwood team arrive at the night club, where one of the bouncers shows them the CCTV footage of the murder. Instructing his colleagues to cover up the death with a corpse taken from their stash of bodies back at the Hub, Jack uses a device to follow the alien’s energy trail to the alleyway outside, and soon finds the external CCTV that recorded Carys’ possession. Meanwhile, a dazed Carys has returned home, only to begin experiencing violent spasms. Gwen is wracked with guilt over the death caused by her actions, and she resolves to locate the alien before it can kill again. Having identified the image of the girl using facial recognition software and Torchwood’s extensive database access, the team arrive at Carys’ house just in time to stop the girl from raping the postman to death. With Carys safely locked in a holding cell back at the Hub, the team start looking for a way to save the girl before the alien’s presence can destroy her body. Affected by Cery’s pain, Gwen finds herself entering the girl’s cell; but as the two girls begin kissing, the alien entity pushes Gwen away, stating that only a male orgasm will satisfy its craving. Regaining her composure, Gwen rejoins her colleagues for lunch, and over a Chinese Takeaway they all gossip about what little they know about Captain Jack. Realising that they are enjoying themselves while Carys is suffering, Gwen comments that her team-mates have become dehumanised; she immediately begins profiling their prisoner in an attempt to make the others realise the girl’s importance. When Tosh discovers that the alien is secreting aphrodisiac pheromones, she and the others realise that Owen is most likely to be at risk; racing for the cells, they find Cerys gone – with an embarrassed, naked Owen standing in her place. Jack corners Cerys in the main area of the Hub, but the girl threatens to destroy a priceless artefact [the Doctor’s severed hand - see ‘Doctor Who’ – ‘The Christmas Invasion’], forcing him to let her go free. Cerys visits her boyfriend, a manipulative, two-timer named Eddie, and kills him during sex. Determining that the alien entity deliberately chose Carys because she worked as a receptionist at a sperm clinic, the Torchwood team speeds to the ‘Conway Clinic’; however, the entity has beaten them to it, and has already killed most of the donors. Finding that Carys’ body is now dying from the alien’s presence, Jack gives her some of his life-energy [possibly vortex energy, see the events of ‘Doctor Who’ – ‘The Parting of the Ways’]; Gwen offers to allow the creature to take over her body instead, but as the entity vacates Carys, Jack traps it in inside a holding field; exposed to Earth’s atmosphere for too long, the creature dies and dissipates into nothingness. Now freed of alien influence, Carys returns home to her father, and begins her recovery. Elsewhere, Gwen turns to Rhys for comfort, and together the have an early night...

John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Adrian Christopher (Private Moriaty), Ross O’Hennessey (Sergeant Johnson), Sara Llyod Gregory (Carys Fletcher), Ceri Mears (Banksy), Justin McDonald (Matt), Tom Price (P.C. Andy), Brendan Charleson (Ivan Fletcher), Rob Starr (Gavin), Llyod Everitt (Mikey), Alex Parry (Eddie Gwynne), Felicity Rhys (Bethan), Naomi Mantell (Receptionist), David Longden (Mr Weston)

Directed by Brian Kelly
Produced by Richard Stokes
Executive Producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC3):
Sunday 22nd October 2006 @ 9.55 pm
(BBC2 TX: Wednesday 25th October @ 9.55 pm)

Notes:
*Featuring Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones

*This episode premiered on BBC 3, in a double bill with episode 1, 'Everything Changes'; the two episodes were subsequently transmitted together on BBC 2 on Wednesday 25th October

*Only one cast list was used, at the end of 'Day One', which combined the details for both episodes

*Working title: 'New Girl'