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| Written by P J Hammond When an old cinema re-opens, past horrors emerge to stalk the streets of Cardiff. And as bodies are found, somewhere between life and death, Torchwood must act fast. Who are the Night Travellers? And how can Torchwood capture these mysterious killers? Dir: Jonathan Fox Bassett |
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| old lady: your eyes look older than you face jack: and that's mean? old lady: you don't belong |
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| PJ Hammond discusses the chilling ghost story From Out of the Rain. What was your brief for the episode? I was asked to stick to the supernatural and write a ghost story. No pun intended, but I felt that I had done aggrieved ghosts and haunted buildings to death in the past. So I decided on a variation by having two long dead characters literally projecting themselves into the present day from their own photographic images. Where did the idea of people trapped in film come from? I had already written about people moving to and fro from still photographs. Then, having watched programmes such as The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon, I thought it would be good to try the same with old cinema film. What or who inspired the 'Ghost Maker'? Again, I wanted to avoid having long lost spirits popping up here and there with all their sad baggage, so I thought I'd have a couple of villains who liked to machine-tool brand new ghosts of their own. Where did the chilling line 'They came from out of the rain' come from? 'They came from out of the rain' was inspired by a short poem that I have always loved, 'Rain on the Down' written by Victorian poet Arthur Symons. It's not really chilling, but it's haunting and mysterious because it tells us very little and yet it says enough. There's an air of creepiness that comes with travelling carnivals of the time. Was that something you wanted to explore with 'The Night Travellers'? To me, all those old travelling shows seemed to have an air of creepiness, seediness and menace. That was their charm! Do you have a favourite old cinema, like the Electro? I used to sneak into flea-pit cinemas to watch early Frankenstein films when I was a kid. I would try to "age up" by wearing my Dad's wellies and overcoat and smoking one of his roll-ups. I probably fooled no-one. And the films scared the life out of me. Do you agree with Jack that cinema killed of the travelling show? Sadly, the arrival of the cinema would certainly have put paid to most of the small travelling shows, and the careers of those involved. What would have been the rest of the team's talents at the carnival, had they been there with Jack? Owen the knife thrower with Gwen as his assistant. I've always liked her long-suffering smile in the face of danger. Tosh as a snake charmer and snake dancer. Ianto as the mysterious memory man. What's your favourite moment/line from the episode? Favourite moment for me was when the Ghost Maker appeared to be a silhouette as he walked out from the rain. Favourite line has to be, "Welcome back", from Jack to the child. |
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Torchwood Declassified (BBC Two, Thursday 20th March 7.50pm*) goes behind the scenes as Captain Jack Harkness and his team go to a fright night at the movies. Talking to writer PJ Hammond and director Jonathan Fox Bassett, Declassified looks at just what it takes to shock an audience. Plus composer Ben Foster reveals his secrets into how he uses music to strike fear onto the screen. On location with Camilla Power (Pearl) cameras go backstage to reveal how the Torchwood make-up team creates that creepy look. |