In 1965 Jack Harkness was part of a team that gave twelve children over to the 456 in order to save the species from being wiped out by an alien plague. The guilt has eaten away at him ever since. Now the aliens have demanded 10% of the world's population and, whilst the Torchwood team watch helplessly to the images transmitted by Lois, the government begin to discuss how to choose which children will be handed over. It's time for Torchwood to strike back, but that action will have consequences both personal and global.

There is an event in this episode that makes it impossible to properly review without massive spoilers, so stop reading now if you don't want to know. There will only be one warning after this.

For the longest period in this episode, the Torchwood team are sidelined to mere spectators of the plot, but that's OK because this plot is bigger than just the stories of the Torchwood team. Whilst Jack reveals what he did, how he helped with a travesty, another much larger one is being discussed. How could anyone face the choice between millions of innocent children and the whole human race? How could you choose, how could you take those children away? What sort of person could make those decisions? Apparently the most venal, self-serving and cowardly it would appear. In a time when politicians are hardly the most highly thought of individuals on the planet, this depiction of them will do no favours at all. They are all invidious, manipulative and pretty much hateful, which is a shame because it dampens slightly the power of the arguments being ranged that would have worked better had the people being forced to make them been obviously good people driven to think the unthinkable.

As these discussions are played out, Torchwood finally springs into action and the pace switches from fascinating and thought-provoking to high action. The tack that the team take is to hit the politicians where it hurts, on their own turf, and to take the fight to the aliens. It's time to make a stand, but oh what will that stand cost? This is the point to stop reading.

The slimmed-down team of TORCHWOOD following the deaths of Owen and Tosh at the end of Season 2 has been working well throughout this story and so it comes as a major shock when Ianto is killed. Yes, Ianto is killed. His death is hugely dramatic, but also very real in that it has no glory and achieves nothing, other than to make Jack the most vengeful man on the planet and he is not a man you want to make angry. The farewell scene between John Barrowman and Gareth David Lloyd is nicely underwritten and well played by the pair, but the audience is still too much under the shock to deal with that.

When it comes to the intimate story or the big picture there can be no denying that this is drama of the highest quality and science fiction as it should be - exciting, entertaining and thought-provoking on some very big issues.

With only an hour left to go the only question remaining is how can the writers possibly resolve all this? This might be the longest 24 hour wait in science fiction history.

DAY 5 - First transmitted 10th July 2009