Day One (Torchwood)

Day One (Torchwood)

"Day One" is the second episode of the first series of the British science fiction television series Torchwood. Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Brian Kelly, the episode was first broadcast on the digital channel BBC Three on 22 October 2006 with the series pilot, "Everything Changes", and later repeated on terrestiral channel BBC Two on 25 October.

The episode centres on Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) working her first case with Torchwood Three in Cardiff. A purple alien gas is loose in the city and takes Carys Fletcher (Sara Lloyd Gregory) host; the gas kills its victims by orgasm, leaving behind a pile of dust. Over the course of the episode, the team hunt for Carys before the gas kills her. In the end they track her down to a fertility clinic; the gas leaves Carys to take Gwen host, but is stopped by a portable prison cell and dies out.

Originally entitled "New Girl", the episode was written to interpret Gwen's "first day in hell". On the sex gas, series creator Russell T Davies stated "when we're launching a new adult science fiction drama, it's kind of inevitable you're going to do the sex monster". The episode was filmed during a three to four week period in May 2006, with much of it filmed before the first episode in the same production block. "Day One" was originally seen by 2.3 million viewers, making it one of the highest-rated BBC Three broadcasts of all time, but was met with generally mixed reviews.