@David Sanders

T.S Eliot's, shall we say, more poetic version of 'I'm shit scared and I'm running away from all this death'

"It was striking to open with Gwen narrating the end of the world in similar fashion to Rose's eulogy in Doomsday"

I too noticed the comparison, but saw it as the same shallow attempt to get people to care instantly about the conclusion despite being no more true than Rose dying (or even actually being trapped in the other dimension). If it had commented on Ianto dying, or Frobisher, or something that actually happened in the episode, it wouldn't have been so annoying.

However, given that it was basically the only thing I disliked in the episode, I think I can let it slide. Jack's sacrifice reflected the "coward" decision Doctor Nine made in Parting of the Ways, and showed how ugly a hero truly has to be.

I'm wondering where the reference to Snakedance comes in? I'd have gone for 'It's Stopped Being Fun, Doctor' myself.

Jack is definitely a coward, fleeing at the end.

And what a believable, understandable and beautifully done cowardice it was too. Holding hands and kumbaya ain't gonna cut it.

'All that evil needs to flourish is that good men do nowt', as whatsisname from '42' said in 'Red Riding' (which I'm just re-watching to cheer myself up).

watching this was like staring into the dark heart of pure evil - human and otherwise. impressive stuff but not always pleasant.

I found Bridget's speech to Lois quite fascinating. is RTD saying that just doing one's job isn't enough? and good hard work and a decent work ethic and self-sacrifice and loyalty - aren't enough either? if you don't stand up and question things and fight for what is right.

I think we've seen this theme before.

That's it! And it certainly does... at least in his Face of Boe stage.

Stu, the titles from last week's radio plays are anagrams of the title of the audio play and Torchwood.

ie.

Torchwood: Asylum = Clamorous Dot Why
Torchwood: Golden Age = Latched Wooed Gorgon
Torchwood: The Dead Line = Cathode Worded Hotline

If you should review the week's story in full, might I suggest "The Rich, Fat, Worn Old Cod Hero"? Not sure what it means, but I suspect it sums up Jack pretty accurately.

I never thought I'd say this, but this season of Torchwood has been totally amazing. I found season 1 almost unwatchable, the second showed hints of greatness but still felt like it was missing something. This time they've made a quantum leap in quality and created something that really caught my attention and held it. Roll on the next season...

I try. What about last week? The titles of the radio play reviews?

That's it - she's not credited for Torchwood on IMDB, and I didn't recognise the name. Ta.
And nice one, Stuart!

Spooky. And I wouldn't have spotted it if you hadn't asked.

Anglo Saxon Attitudes is Deborah Findlay (Denise "what are league tables for" Riley and Greer in State of Play).

Despite poring over IMDB, I'm drawing a blank on 'Anglo Saxon Attitudes' - it appears to have been Kate Winslet's first job after 'Dark Season', but other than that I can't spot a connection...

Sadly no. But it was eerie how well some of them matched up to the content ...

I'm pretty sure I'm heard five bangs now. The fifth came later when Neil exploded Out Of Time stylee when Jack played Scanners with his own grandson.

If it's the works of the guest cast, do I win a prize?

Incidentally did anyone see what my title themes were this week and last?

If Capt. Jack is in the end of year specials , maybe that puts him on the path back to Torchwood .

Gwen has past form of stepping up and heading the team between s1+S2 , and knowing whats out there , she'd want someone out there defending the Earth , but would split it with raising her child . Odds are the Goverment or the Crown will be wanting a Torchwood just in case after this buisness .

Johnson should be on it : She'd have the military knowledge Jack brought in and possibly be eager to attone for questionable service choices in the past .

Lois would bring in the administrative skills that Ianto had , Gwen signposting her possible inclusion with the job offer before . And shes had a taste of this and would prob find it difficult to go back to something else .

Dekker as the science guy - an older team member brings a nice change to the dynamic and also how scrupulous is he really ? Kind of the edge Owen had in a way . He's bound to know a few things form years of the service as well .

Dr Martha Jones would be the obvious choice to fill their vacant medical position , but depends on Freemas availability . Maybe she'll send her husband ?

Micky Smith looked for all the world like he was TW bound but Noel is also a busy chap , so its unlikely , yet .

So maybe one of 2 new bods then .

That was the whole point. If not for the use of the camera contacts at the end, it would probably never have been revealed outside Thames House who and what drove Frobisher to do it. Look at that gun; that's not a standard-issue firearm, it's a fuck-off high calibre weapon designed for absolute officially-sanctioned termination. The clip shouldn't need more than one bullet. He asked for and got a full one anyway. If that scene doesn't leave a very nasty taste in someone's mouth then they clearly aren't looking at it the right way.

If you did want to end Torchwood with no series 4, this would be the way to do it.

The kind of bleak ending they couldn't do these days (normally) in the mother show because of all the history the Doctor has. Here, it was a brilliant moment to have Jack basically leg it terrified and not be willing to debate doing so.

Best Torchwood by far, it's not even close. Stripping it down to a 3-man crew helped out, as did the '24' style of rolling catastrophe building up.

The Frobisher thing kinda bugged me though, as excellently as they (and Capaldi) played it. Because it ends up as completely unnecessary. The 456 didn't have time to take a single child before Jack's plan stopped them so these four deaths were moving, but actually made Frobisher look worse for giving up. I was kinda hoping he'd go "Okay kids, time to leave this planet" and they'd all change into penguins.

I'm just putting my review up now.

Wow this season of TW has been AMAZING.

I think I need therapy.

Sad and unexpected as it was, I still watched the end of Day Four with the kind of detachment that left me thinking about how well it had been written and realised, and whether Day Five could deliver the kind of ending worthy of the four hours preceding it.

25 minutes in, as Frobisher put his hand behind his back to hide the gun from his family, I was bawling like a toddler.

It didn't get any happier. You can use the word sacrifice, but ultimately what we saw on prime time BBC1 was the show's hero murdering an innocent child. The last piece of drama I found this harrowing to watch was an Alan Bleasedale serial on Channel 4 fourteen years ago.

Never mind the Doctor Who universe; besides being one of the bleakest, most brilliant political thrillers I've seen this was exceptionally good by any standard of television drama.

I am, however, suspicious that RTD's talk of a season 4 being ready to make was just another feint by the well oiled Who secrecy machine that kept Matt Smith under wraps for so long, just to shock us all the more when the end came. Whether it returns or not, this past week of Torchwood stands alone.

The family murder/suicide scene took my breath and sold the whole programme as a realistic enterprise. Throughout the scene I was think "no they wouldn't" then when it happened I wondered why I felt so light headed and stopped holding my breath.

I just wish somebody had killed that smug fucker of a PM

BANG. BANG. BANG. (pause) BANG.

And the worst part? They ALL DIED NEEDLESSLY, because even with nothing left to lose from it, Frobisher couldn't bring himself to grow a pair. Cowardly? Oh sweet Jesus, yes.

I've just had a mammoth viewing session and caught up with Days 1-4. Just in time to watch day 5 as it broadcasts in, ooh, about 20 mins.

Good, isn't it? I don't think I can or really need to elaborate because everyone else is doing such a good job. The improvement from the very mixed series 2 and frankly almost unwatchable series 1 is stunning, perhaps a definitive case of quality over quantity or something. Anyone up for watching Cyberwoman immediately after this finishes? You'd get whiplash.

It works because the central mystery is a good one and we STILL don't quite know how it'll end up. The drip-feeding of information is excellently done. And they finally seem to have got the tone right...it's adult in its violence and language when it NEEDS to be adult, not just chucking in swearing and sex and so on for the hell of it which Torchwood previously was guilty of.

Let's see how the finale goes...

Well that's it then.

When sports men and women achieve this sort of thing they get a parade through a city centre and thousands of people cheering them on. If RTD and the rest aren't touring city centre Cardiff in an open top bus by the end of next week, there's no justice in the world.

"Whatever happens, I can't wait"

You, me and 6 million other Brits Damon!

That's a lot of people tuning into this DW spin-off!

Frank, I just realised the full extent of the pun of the Tory-philosophy satirising title of your review.

Nice one!

Frank you said:
"It's this structure that has helped shift the tone of Children Of Earth, away from a sort of Buffy alien threat of the week comic book to something resembling a 21st Century Quatermass where the fantastic supports a harder edged social commentary within an epic canvas."

That sounds about right! Torchwood season 3 has been amazing so far.

The political satire was extraordinary, even knowing RTD's previous DW Westminster stories.

As well as the great satire and social commentary though, it's been a gripping thriller, a rollercoaster of awesome.

Click here for last night's planetzogblog review of Day Four.

Stu you said:
'This time I was shouting at the injustice of it all, as in “How dare they…” (‘they’ being the writers and production team rather than the 456)'

As a modern barometer of world reaction (yes world reaction as this was the whole of Twitter) "Ianto" was a top ten trending topic in Twitter, rising above "Torchwood" as the night went on, the news about the fictional Ianto rising above the real world "MJ's" eventually.

The DW spin-off miniseries that shook the world!