TW #23: From Out of the Rain

Christina: Your eyes are older than your face.

Jack: Is that a bad thing?

Christina: Yes. It means you don't belong. It means you're from nowhere.

Episode 23 :            From Out of the Rain.
Companions:           Jack Harkness, Qwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, and Ianto Jones.
Air Date:                 12th March 2008.

When an old cinema re-opens, past horrors emerge to stalk the streets of Cardiff. As bodies are found with heartbeats but no breath, Torchwood must act fast. Who are the Night Travellers?  How can Torchwood catch these mysterious breath takers?

Members of an old travelling circus from the early 20th century manage to escape from an old black and white film. They then begin to harvest breath from anyone they meet and seek to free the rest of their troupe from the film. Jack reveals that he was once tasked to investigate them during the 1920's.

This is a really great horror story with just the right touch of freakishness to make it work. Old style circuses seem bizarre and surreal to me anyway. Taking characters out of that time and giving them a "something wicked this way comes" vibe in the modern world is played nicely here. It makes me wonder how this would have worked as a Doctor Who adventure.

What I also like about this story is that unlike most monsters in the Whoniverse, you get a sense of pity for the Ghostmaker and Pearl . They may be insane and twisted creatures but they aren't being evil for the sake of it. They want to survive away from the film strips and exist in the real world before everything becomes digital and they will never escape again.

Julian Bleach, who plays the lead villain - the Ghostmaker, would again appear in the Sarah Jane Adventures and would also go on to play Davros in the upcoming Doctor Who season.

From Out of the Rain is one of my favourite Torchwood episodes and I recommend this as one to watch.