Day One, broadcast the
same night as Everything Changes on BBC 3 told of Gwen’s first night on the
case. While out with Rhys, celebrating her new job on secondment, (because
let’s face it, was she really going to tell Rhys what she really did?) a
fireball streaks across the night sky, crash landing a distance from the city
of Cardiff. Torchwood are on the scene moments after the Army, and take over,
as usual.
It’s a gas alien, a gas
alien predator, who needs a fix of sexual energy to survive. Of course, this
doesn’t bode well for the blokes in Cardiff, especially the poor bloke who has
been cheating on Carys Fletcher, who as the host for the creature, begins
sucking the sexual energy out of every bloke she comes into contact with. Well
every bloke but her Dad, thankfully! And Gwen and Owen who fall foul of her,
but are either not her type, or just a ruse to escape from.
Day One, saw a lot of
action, and many more cast than in the previous episode. Some we’ve met before
in interviews but it’s always nice to catch up again for a bit of a blether and
we hope to post interviews on our other Page at some point in the near future.
But for now. Here’s what
everyone’s been up to so far. Again, if we’ve been unsuccessful with up to date
photographs of the cast, it will be purely because there were none available at
the time of posting.
Cast
Kai Owen
‘Rhys Williams’
‘Aliens.
In Cardiff?!’
Kai Owen plays Rhys
Williams, the long-suffering husband of Gwen Cooper. In the early days, his
character knew little of the job his girlfriend had, until after a heated
argument Gwen blurts it out. (Meat). As expected, he doesn’t take it very well,
and demands to be shown where she works and who she works with, just to stretch
his protective/jealous streak to the max.
In real life, Kai Owen
comes over on social media as a bit of a pussycat, yet his roles since
Torchwood have been anything but. His role as ‘paedo’ Pete Buchanan in
Hollyoaks for the total of 66 episodes has been one of his best performances to
date, and yes, it took a while to shake off that Rhys Williams image I had in
my head for a while.
He was a manipulative
character was Pete, who convinced the entire McQueen family that he was a nice
man, but the cracks began to show, when one abused daughter began to open up
about her experiences, and then another, and finally the court case brought it
all to light.
Since Torchwood, Kai has
raised money for CLIC Sargent, the children’s cancer charity, by running the
London Marathon and later the Virgin London Marathon. He’s also the patron for
the Llandudno Youth Musical Theatre.
Since 2011 – 2015 Kai has
played bit characters. One off’s. Those who appear in one episode and no more.
From Da Vinci’s Demons, Waterloo Road and Doc Martin, but after Pete Buchanan,
Kai’s roles have soared.
With his role as Matthew
Waterhouse in Doctors in 2016, and his stage show performance in The Full
Monty, where could we see Kai perform next?
The answer: Canaries Movie
written and directed by Peter Stray also starring Steven Meo (Random Shoes and
Robert Pugh - Adrift). His role as McDonald, the alien sceptic sounds not too
different to Rhys Williams before he saw the Torchwood Hub.
Kai has also been
involved, like so many of the Torchwood television cast, in the Big Finish
audios, and we look forward as ever, to more audios with him.
(Credits: HollyOaks, BBC)
Sara Lloyd Gregory
‘Carys Fletcher’
‘Eddie,
is this all I get now, your voicemail? You're out with her, aren't you? You
bastard, you could've had the decency to text. I've been standing in there all
on my own. I'm sick of this, hanging around all of the time waiting for you to
show up. I wish I'd never met you. I wish I was dead. No, I wish you were dead.
Call me back.’
Sara Lloyd Gregory has
mostly played characters who are often unbalanced due to things that happened
in their past. In her most popular role as Alys in the long running series of
the same name, she played a young mum bringing up a child, by any means
possible, so that Daniel, her son, could reach for the stars.
In 2013 Sara played Catrin
John in the Welsh series Hinterland. It was a hauntingly good episode and
lifted the lid on life in a notoriously cruel children’s home next to
Pontarfynach or ‘Devil’s Bridge Falls’. It was the first episode of the first
series of Hinterland. You really felt for her character towards the end of the
episode, and the reasons behind her actions, and the gruesome discovery in the
garden of the children’s home many years later, by Mathias, broke your heart.
In 2014, Sara played a
young woman who had suffered a near death experience and was convinced that her
home was haunted by an evil entity, determined to hurt her. The Devil’s Vice
was broadcast on BBC1 and also starred Gareth Jewell and Sharon Morgan. It was produced by Peter
Watkins-Hughes of Tred Films. http://www.thedevilsvice.org.uk/ you can view the trailer here. It’s no
longer available on iPlayer.
In Byw Celwydd, a
political fictional drama set in Cardiff Bay http://www.s4c.cymru/en/drama/byw-celwydd/ Sara plays Lowri Ogwen Jones for 16
episodes to date. Her character is the Special Adviser of Watcyn Davies, Leader
of the Democrats and is wife to Tom Ogwen Jones, who is Principal Presenter of
‘News Cymru’. It’s a Welsh language programme with English subtitles. It also
stars Mark Lewis Jones, Matthew Gravelle and Rhys ap Trefor. The series was
originally broadcast on 3rd January 2016 and filmed on location in
Cardiff. You can watch it on S4C.
Sara has also played three
different characters in the long running series Doctors on BBC1 since 2009. Her
current character is Rachel Lambert in the two parter Wise Up. She was credited
as Sara Gregory for that.
(Credits: Sara Lloyd Gregory, BBC)
Ceri Mears
‘Banksy’
‘Where
do you think you're going?
There's
no re-admission.’
Banksy was the bouncer
outside the night club, who at first was prepared to leave Carys Fletcher out
in the cold, denying her re-admission. However, a hard snog from the now sex
starved alien host, soon changed his mind, and once inside the nightclub, she checked
out her prey. Banksy was to get a bit of a shock while he watched the CCTV of
the sex alien and her beau in the Ladies loos later on that night.
Ceri Mears has played a
selection of small roles since his appearance as the bouncer in Day One. His roles
have varied from Security Guard (4 O’Clock Club), a Custody Sergeant (Being
Human), a Blacksmith (Ironclad - a screenplay about the Knights Templar
defending Rochester Castle against King John, which has a star studded cast, I
might add), and a Farmer in Hurt’s Rescue, about a man who saves another but
doesn’t think he’s worthy.
In 2015, he played Danny’s
Dad in Bridgend, a film directed by Jeppe Rønde, about a village haunted by
suicides amongst the young inhabitants. He’s currently (2017) playing Flowers
in Big Girl, written by Adam Llewellyn and Thomas Rees.
(Credits BBC and Ceri Mears)
Adrian Christopher
'Private Moriarty'
‘Who
the hell are you?’
Since Torchwood, as
Private Moriarty in Day One, Adrian Christopher has been busy with roles in
Judge John Deed (2007), The Bill (2007) and Law & Order: UK (2013).
Adrian's latest role is as
Rory in Stan Lee's Lucky Man television series - Season 2, episode 9 - Lamb to
the Slaughter. It also stars James Nesbitt.
Lucky Man is a new action
crime series about a flawed police officer with powers to control luck. The
creator, as if you didn't know, from the title, is of course, the brilliant
Stan Lee.
(Credits Adrian Christopher, BBC)
Justin McDonald
'Matt'
Justin's character Matt,
'came and went' before the end of the episode, much to the shock of the
character, and for Banksy who was pleasuring himself in the security cupboard.
Since Torchwood, Justin
has been extremely busy, from playing Young Heelis in Miss Potter in the same
year, to Robin Hartnall in Doctors episode - Hopelessly Devoted in 2008. He
played Jed Jimpson, in Inspector George Gently, in the episode Gently Through
the Mill, in 2009, which told of an investigation into a mill manager found
hanged in what appeared to be a suicide case.
Justin played Trevor
Cunningham in Emmerdale for 15 episodes back in 2012, played Rory Timpson and
Lewis Cork in 3 episodes of Casualty (love that series - always makes me
queasy) from 2008 - 2014
Did you see Justin in the
Rag 'n' Bone Man music video - Hard Came the Rain in 2015?
Justin played Dr Jones in
one of CBBC's best drama serials, Wolfblood, in the episode Captivity last year
(2016)
Next year (2018) Justin
plays Tom Harris in Winter Ridge - about a detective torn apart with emotions, while
hunting a serial killer, and also dealing with his wife in a coma. It's written
by Matt Hookings who also stars in the thriller. It's released on 15th February
in the UK.
Check out our interview
with Justin, that we had a few years ago, here:
(Credits: Justin McDonald)
Brendan Charleson
'Ivan Fletcher'
He rode his motorbike into
the popular children's television series 'Tracy Beaker' three years before
playing Ivan Fletcher in Torchwood: Day One, and it's from this, that I
remember him so well. He acted alongside another Torchwood star - Claire Cage
in the CBBC drama.
Since Torchwood, Brendan
has played a variety of characters from a police constable to a police
sergeant, from taxi driver to bank clerk.
Coming from South
Manchester perhaps it was only a matter of time before he was walking the
cobbles of Coronation Street (2011), playing the landlord, although not sure of
what, but pretty sure it wasn't the Rovers Return. Although I've not really
watched Corrie since my once favourite school teacher from Grange Hill, ran his
car into the drink with the Platt family. So, he could well have been!
The roles he's played
since the late 90s to 2014 haven't been characters that have stood out from the
crowd, apart from his role as Colin in Tracy Beaker.
As well as his roles on
television, Brendan has performed on stage, and has been a 'stalwart player' at
Theatr Clwyd, in Mold. Playing roles in Under Milk Wood, The Aristocrats,
Roots, The Taming of the Shrew and To Kill a Mockingbird to name but a few from
the long list.
He has also been a
lecturer in Film at the University of South Wales.
(Credits: Brendan Charleson)
Robert Störr
The Postie/Delivery Guy
'All
right, that's enough. Joke over. Barry's put you up to this, has he?'
When the postie delivered
the parcel to Carys Fletcher's house that morning, I don't think in his wildest
dreams that he'd find Carys in a lustful mood, desperately craving sex with the
mailman. Lucky for him, that Torchwood weren't far behind and put an end to her
shenanigans.
There's little to add to
Robert's credits, being that there's only two entries, Torchwood being the
latter of the two.
We’ve also been
unsuccessful in finding anything about him online since his stint in Torchwood
– but we’ll keep trying.
(Credits BBC)
Lloyd Everitt
‘Mikey’
Neither Lloyd nor I can
figure out who Mikey was in Day One and it will require another watch of the
episode to locate him. He might well have been in a deleted scene. Lloyd also
played a Youth in the episode ‘Adam’. Again, so long ago, he’s hard to place. When
we find it, we will add it in.
Lloyd has appeared on
stage as well as in television dramas, and is probably better known for his
role in Casualty as Jez Andrews which he’s played since 2016 for 59 episodes.
He also appeared in Holby City playing the same role, as well as Noah Farnum in
2014. He was also a semi regular character in Emmerdale back in 2012 for 16
episodes, playing Ed Roberts.
Lloyd was the youngest
actor to play Othello at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. After graduating at the
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and since his Debut at the Donmar
Warehouse, where he worked with Michael Grandage, Lloyd has worked with some
exceptionally well known faces, including James Earl Jones, Tim Piggot-Smith,
Vanessa Redgrave, Mark Rylance and Felicity Jones.
Lloyd was nominated for
Best Newcomer at the National TV Awards recently. He’s currently directing his
first short film which he wrote and will also star in. He’s also written a
feature, which he’s currently putting funding in place, so when we hear more
news on this, we’ll let you know.
(Credits BBC Casualty)
Alex Parry
‘Eddie Gwynne’
Alex Parry has only
appeared in a few short roles since playing Eddie Gwynne, the two-timing
boyfriend of Carys Fletcher, who really shouldn’t have admitted his true feelings
to Carys on the day she was playing host to the sex alien.
Playing a barman in the
pilot episode of ‘Dirk Gently’ in 2010 and an unknown character in 7.2, an
action drama short, written by Nida Manzoor, (about a schoolgirl called Cleo
who wakes up to find herself lying on the ground with no memory of who she is),
are the only two other credits after his role in Torchwood.
(Credits: Alex Parry, BBC)
Felicity Rhys
‘Bethan’
One thing I’ve noticed
about writing up these articles is that, never just go with the most popular
websites out there for information, as it’s only when you really start digging,
do you reveal a wealth of information, in some surprising areas.
On a popular credit
listing website, full of some useful information, little was posted about
Felicity’s acting credits. In fact, aside from Torchwood and Pobl Y Cwm, there
was absolutely nothing. However, searching deeper, I found a much better site,
that of her management team, and it would explain why a lot of detail had been
missing. Much of Felicity Rhys’ acting credits come from her stage roles, and
there have been many, including voiceovers for popular BBC Radio Stations and
MTV.
Since 2007, Felicity has
trodden the boards at the Sevenoaks Playhouse for Pinters The Lover, Chekhov’s The Bear,
Ionesco’s The Bald Prima Donna, and The Misanthrope. In 2008 she was the
Voiceover for the BBC Radio 4/Fiction Factory as Maureen in the play A Dance to
the Music of Time. Played Connie Morris in Pobyl y Cwm and regular Babs in 2 Dŷ
a Ni, for series 1 & 2, before returning to theatre, at TNT on the World
Tour of Oliver Twist as the Artful Dodger from 2008 – 2009.
Another voiceover for
Gethin Jones on Radio 5 Live – Promos, it’s back to theatre, this time at Royal
Bath Productions as understudy Linda Craven for the Alan Bennett play Enjoy in 2010. Followed by Sita and
multiple roles in The Ramayana at the Redbridge Drama Centre.
In 2010 – 2011, Felicity
played Lance Corporal Sully for The Garnett Foundation. Played Cheryl in the
Bayer Healthcare Promo in the same year, and back on stage at the Redbridge
Drama Centre again for the Theatre tour of The Street, playing All Female Roles.
At the same Drama Centre
in 2011, Felicity played three characters for A Merrily Grimm Christmas,
ranging from Rapunzel, a Witch and a Grandmother. I’m sure not as scary as the
Grimm characters on Netflix.
In 2013, Felicity played
Miss Julie for the National Theatre tour in the play of the same name, and in
2014, played Nora, in the National Tour of A Doll’s House, bringing her credits
as up to date as possible and much further than the popular credit listing
site.
(Credits Felicity Rhys)
Naomi Martell
‘Receptionist at the Conway Clinic’
Alas, aside from her
Torchwood role, Naomi’s only other role is on Y Pris as a Clerk in 2007.
(credits Naomi Martell)
David Longden
‘Mr Weston’
‘I
don’t think so, love, I’m gay!’
Swapping his acting shoes
for his singing ones, David Longden’s role as Mr Weston in Torchwood: Day One,
was his one and only acting role.
Now if you want to find David, look up his
singing performances at Private Functions, Clubs, Weddings and Corporate
Functions. He’s gained recognition as being one of the best male vocalists in
Wales, according to his website, with a diverse range of musical genres ranging
from the classics of Josh Groban, Musical Theatre and Songs from the Screen to
Pop, Easy Listening and Swing.
(Credits: ReverbNation, BBC)
Ross O’Hennessy
‘Sgt Johnson’
‘Don't mess with me, little girl. You're
not with Torchwood. And even if you were…’
Since his very brief
appearance in Torchwood: Day One as Sgt Johnson, Ross as ever has been
extremely busy. Since 2006, he’s played a mixture of roles, from a Roman
Soldier in The Passion (2008), a Construction manager in Colonial Gods (2009),
Bruce Maverick in Hollyoaks Later, who we learned more about in our interview
with Ross, a year or so ago. Brush up on that here:
He played Barry McKenzie
in Holby City in 2014, was Commander Quattrone, sometimes spelt Quattone in Da
Vinci’s Demons for 8 episodes, and was Jeff in Ben Loyd-Holmes Dino adventure
Extinction in the same year.
Was the Lord of Bones in
Game of Thrones series in 2015. Played blood thirsty Sir Locke in The Bastard
Executioner in the same year for 9 episodes. A year later he played Barbier in
The Musketeers television series.
This year, (2017) Ross is
waiting on a few films being released that he shot in 2016. Sir Richard in Knights of the Damned, which if I’m
correct, also stars Ben Loyd-Holmes, and is due out from October. The second
film Order of Kings – The Dark Kingdom is in post-production. Carnage Cliff in Accident Man, Wyman in The Lost Viking and The Suspicious in The Apostle.
Also, this year (2017), if
you’re a regular viewer of British television adverts, you may have recognised
Ross in the new Dairylea Dunkers advert.
Credits: (Kraft Dairylea, Game of Thrones)
Naoko Mori
‘Toshiko Sato’
'Okay.
So, if you're seeing this I guess it means I'm well, dead. I hope it was
impressive, not crossing the road or an incident with a toaster. I just wanted
to say, it's okay. It really is. Jack, you saved me. You showed me all the
wonders of the universe and all those possibilities and I wouldn't have missed
it for the world. Thank you. And Owen, you never knew, I love you, all of you.
And I hope I did good.'
Since Toshiko’s demise at
the end of Series 2, Naoko has found herself not too far away from science, or science
fiction, in at least two dramas since Torchwood. Along with comedy roles back
in Ab Fab, reprising the role of Julia Sawalha’s friend, Sarah; life for Naoko
Mori has been anything but quiet.
Since leaving Torchwood,
Naoko returned to the West End and took over the role of Christmas Eve from Ann
Harada, for the London production of Avenue Q, playing the role until April
2007.
She portrayed Yoko Ono in
Lennon Naked in 2010, alongside Christopher Eccleston, who played John Lennon.
It would be the second time the pair had worked together since Doctor Who. The
film was broadcast on BBC4 on 23rd June, 2010.
In 2011, Naoko played
Patricia Ramsey in Private Practice, which was a spin off for Grey’s Anatomy.
She appeared in the episode ‘It You Don’t Know Me By Now. Reprising her role in
2011, she returned to Ab Fab to play Sarah, Sawalha’s best friend, for 12
episodes.
In Three Inches, an
American action sci fi made for TV film, broadcast on the Syfy channel on 29th
December, 2011, Naoko played Annika, a person who could mimic the sounds she
hears, perfectly mimicking the people she meets.
The show followed people
with supernatural abilities, focusing mostly around the central character,
Walter Spackman, who although an under achiever, developed telekinetic
abilities after being struck by lightning. I wonder what Toshiko would have
thought of him!!!
Moving away from sci fi
for perhaps a year or two, in 2012, Naoko played Liz in the CBBC drama Rocket’s
Island for 2 episodes. In the Revolting World of Stanley Brown, another
children’s drama, she played Sarah Stripe in the episode Hiccupalypse.
In the English thriller,
written and directed by Mike Figgis, Naoko appeared in Suspension of Disbelief
as Floy. Interestingly enough, this film also stars Lachlan Nieboer, who
played…Gray! I’ve not seen the film, so cannot say if the pair were together in
any scenes. If anyone has seen it – do let us know if they do.
I can’t believe it was two
years ago since I saw Naoko in Midsomer Murders, playing Nadia Simons.
Also in this year, Naoko
played Fiona in episode 4 of the first series of Humans, a Channel 4 sci fi
drama. The series was created by Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley and
interestingly stars a handful of Doctor Who cast and quite possibly, crew.
Naoko returned to sci fi
to play Nocturnapram Professor in the You, Me and the Apocalypse episode Home
Sweet Home in 2015. If you’ve not seen the programme, broadcast on the Sky
network, it’s about a group of people, mostly sharing an underground bunker,
awaiting the end of the world.
Naoko played Yasuko Namba,
an ill-fated experienced amateur mountaineer in the film Everest, starring
alongside, Keira Knightley, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emily Watson and Josh Brolin. The
film is based on the true events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, focusing
on the survival attempts of two expedition groups, led by Scott Fischer and Rob
Hall.
Adding another string to
her bow, Naoko has also done voiceovers for video games, including Hitman as
the voice of KAI, Yuki Yoshida in The Amazing World of Gumball, in the episode
The Fury, in 2016, and the voice of Yotsuyu in Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
video game released in 2017.
In the film Life, about a
team of scientists aboard the International Space Station who discover a
rapidly evolving life form that not only brought about the extinction of all
life on Mars but looks set to wipe out all life on Earth, sees Naoko once again,
working alongside Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s a film I most want to see, and brings
Naoko back to sci fi.
Not only that, but
returning to Torchwood after such a long break, saw her play out her role of
Toshiko, in the frozen wasteland of Russia, in Zone 10, which is another wrap
up warm story, full of snow and secrets, and a signal sent from 40 years ago.
Currently, Naoko is
playing Dr. Pagazzi, in episode five of the new mini series, Patrick Melrose,
which also stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Patrick Melrose, and will air in 2018.
Credits (Blast films, Everest, BBC)
And
that’s it for this month, see you back here in October for Cyberwoman!
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