Countrycide

2006 Torchwood episode

2006 Doctor Who episode

06 – "Countrycide"

Torchwood episode

Ianto and Tosh discover the human meat.

Cast

Starring

* John Barrowman – Captain Jack Harkness
* Eve Myles – Gwen Cooper
* Burn Gorman – Owen Harper
* Naoko Mori – Toshiko Sato
* Gareth David-Lloyd – Ianto Jones

Others

* Kai Owen – Rhys Williams
* Owen Teale – Evan Sherman
* Maxine Evans – Helen Sherman
* Calum Callaghan – Kieran
* Rhys ap Trefor – Huw
* Emily Bowker – Ellie
* Robert Barton – Martin

Production
Directed by| Andy Goddard
Written by| Chris Chibnall
Script editor| Brian Minchin
Produced by| Richard Stokes
Chris Chibnall (co-producer)
Executive producer(s)| Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Music by| Murray Gold
Ben Foster
Production code| 1.6
Series| Series 1
Running time| 50 mins
First broadcast| 19 November 2006 (2006-11-19)
Chronology
| ← Preceded by
"Small Worlds"  | Followed by →
"Greeks Bearing Gifts"

|

List of episodes

"Countrycide" is the sixth episode of the first series of the British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was originally broadcast on the digital television channel BBC Three on 19 November 2006.

Set in a small Welsh village, the episode involves a village full of cannibals harvesting and butchering passing travellers every ten years.

It was viewed by 1.22 million people.[1]

## Plot

[edit]

Torchwood responds to reports of 17 people missing within a 20-mile radius in the Brecon Beacons, using the mobile phone signal from the last disappearance as their starting point. While getting some firewood for the camp, Gwen and Owen encounter two hooded figures. They chase the figures but instead find a corpse. As the team investigates it, their SUV is stolen. Ianto tracks the vehicle to a nearby village; Jack believes the corpse was a lure to make them come to the village.

Jack, Gwen, and Owen search the pub and nearby homes, finding two more corpses. They also find a young man, Kieran, who accidentally shoots Gwen with a shotgun, believing "they" came back for him. They learn about the victims from Kieran, still unsure whether they are dealing with aliens. Suddenly the lights go out and movement comes from both the cellar and outside the pub. Kieran is dragged away, and Gwen and Owen try to follow him, against Jack's orders. Jack interrogates Martin, the man he shot from the cellar.

Toshiko and Ianto attempt to find the SUV, but are captured and awaken in a cellar full of old clothes and shoes, and a refrigerator full of human body parts; Toshiko realises they are to be food. A scared woman named Helen enters the room holding a shotgun, and learns from them of the other Torchwood members, then tells them that she cannot help them; she is collecting them for the "Harvest" that happens every ten years. They are taken into a kitchen filled with body parts and corpses. Helen is revealed to be one of the cannibals as a man named Evan handcuffs them to be butchered. Ianto headbutts Evan, allowing Toshiko to escape into the woods. Evan catches up to Toshiko and strangles her, but Owen and Gwen arrive with a policeman named Huw. Huw reveals himself to be Evan's nephew, and the two lead the Torchwood members back to the village.

Just before Ianto is cut open and bled, Jack bursts through the building on a tractor and wounds the assembled cannibals with a shotgun. They spare Evan's life to try to learn the truth: every ten years, the village targets travellers and butchers them. When Gwen demands to know why, Evan claims it makes him happy. The villagers are taken into custody by the police.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Multichannel top 10 programmes". UK: Barb. Retrieved 4 October 2017. (select BBC3, 2006, November, 13 – 19 Nov)

1. Williams, Rebecca (2011). "Cannibals in the Brecon Beacons: Torchwood, place and television horror". Critical Studies in Television. 6 (2): 61–73\. doi:10.7227/CST.6.2.8. S2CID 192963826. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
2. Porter, Lynette (2011). "Torchwood's 'Spooky Do's'". In Becker, Audrey; Noone, Kristin; Palumbo, Donald (eds.). Welsh Mythology and Folklore in Popular Culture: Essays on Adaptations in Literature, Film, Television and Digital Media. McFarland. p. 140.
3. Patten, Ruth (2007). "Torchwood". The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies (3): 135.

## External links

[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Torchwood.

* Countrycide on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki
* "Countrycide" episode guide entry on the BBC website

* v
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Torchwood

Television series

| Episodes|

| Series 1|

* "Everything Changes"
* "Day One"
* "Ghost Machine"
* "Cyberwoman"
* "Small Worlds"
* "Countrycide"
* "Greeks Bearing Gifts"
* "Random Shoes"
* "Out of Time"
* "Captain Jack Harkness"
* "End of Days"

|

Series 2|

* "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"
* "Sleeper"
* "To the Last Man"
* "Meat"
* "Adam"
* "Reset"
* "Dead Man Walking"
* "A Day in the Death"
* "Something Borrowed"
* "From Out of the Rain"
* "Adrift"
* "Fragments"
* "Exit Wounds"

Series 3|

* Children of Earth

Series 4|

* Miracle Day
* "The New World"
* "Rendition"
* "Dead of Night"
* "The Categories of Life"
* "The Middle Men"
* "Immortal Sins"
* "End of the Road"
* "The Gathering"
* "The Blood Line"

Characters|

| Main|

* Jack Harkness
* Gwen Cooper
* Owen Harper
* Toshiko Sato
* Ianto Jones
* Rhys Williams
* Rex Matheson
* Esther Drummond
* Oswald Danes

|

Supporting|

* Andy Davidson
* John Hart
* Martha Jones
* Vera Juarez
* Jilly Kitzinger

See also|

* Cybermen

Concepts|

* Torchwood Institute
* Cardiff Rift

Related|

| Whoniverse|

* Doctor Who
* "Army of Ghosts" / "Doomsday"
* "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End"
* Torchwood Declassified

|

Other|

* UNIT
* Ianto's Shrine

Other media

| Radio plays|

* "Lost Souls"
* " Asylum"
* "Golden Age"
* "The Dead Line"
* The Lost Files

|

Audio drama|

* "The Conspiracy"
* "Fall to Earth"

Soundtracks|

* Original Television Soundtrack
* Children of Earth

Publications|

* Books and audiobooks
* Comics
* Torchwood Magazine

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