WRITER: Peter J. Hammond DIRECTOR: Alice Troughton
CAST: John Barrowman (Capt Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoka Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Eve Pearce (Estelle), Lara Phillipart (Jasmine), Adrienne O'Sullivan (Lynn), William Travis (Roy), Rodger Barclay (Goodson), Heledd Baskerville (Kate), Ffion Wilkins (WPC) & Nathan Sussex (Custody Sergeant)
A shy but intelligent girl has her suppressed anger taken advantage of by fairies at the bottom of her garden...Writer Peter J. Hammond is a notable name in British fantasy television, as he's the creator of Sapphire & Steel. Hammond's presence immediately brings a sense of expectation to this episode, as the hope of classic telefantasy replacing the awkward tripe we've had so far, is quite strong.
And, for occassional stretches, Small Worlds is a charming and effective story with a pleasant sense of whimsy. Hammond's script is a throwback to 70s-era fantasy drama, using an established myth (fairies), giving them a sinister twist, with an innocent young victim caught in the middle.
Fans of Sapphire & Steel will notice several similarities to that iconic show and the storyline to Small Worlds, most notably when showing a main character in the past (Jack, 1909), the existence of supernatural beings living alongside humans, and Jack's decision at the climax of the show is the same one made by Steel in The Man Without A Face.
Hammond's script may recycle concepts from his Sapphire & Steel series, with the unique aspects of Torchwood twisted to fall into line (Jack and Gwen essentially become David McCallum and Joanna Lumley!), but it's still an entertaining take on the fairy myth, if never very original.
The first half of the episode works the best, with an enchanting opening sequence where an old lady called Estelle (Eve Pearce; excellent) discovers the fairies, and the subsequent relationship between Estelle and Jack is nicely handled. However, it doesn't take a genius to work out the "twist" to Jack and Estelle's relationship, given Jack's similarity to his father and apparent immortality. The use of real-life elements, such as the Cottingley Fairies hoax and W.B Yeat's poem The Stolen Child, are also little flourishes of quality Torchwood is desperately in need of.
There's a nice sense of creepiness and enchantment throughout Small Worlds; particularly when the weather changes in the fairies' presence, and through the performance of child actress Lara Phillipart as Jasmine, a "Chosen One" protected by the fairies. In one scene, Torchwood even touches upon paedophilia for the first time, although it's short-lived and the script soon re-focuses on a more palatable school bully.
There's a strange clash between Hammond's old-fashioned tale and the brash swagger of the show at large, particularly when the Torchwood-mobile rolls into town (TORCHWOOD emblazoned around its chassis and a blue flashing strip along its rear window). It's disappointing to see Hammond try his best to bring old-school fantasy to the airwaves, and be let down by such juvenile excesses of the production's design.
The special effects are worthy of mention, with the CGI fairies being quite impressive. They don't always integrate into scenes or interact with people convincingly, but they have a genuinely unnerving look and their design is to be applauded.
Overall, Small Worlds is an interesting throwback to the classic age of British fantasy television. There are some memorable sequences (a paedophile coughing up flower petals is bizarrely brilliant) and the story generally unspools agreeably. The plot is too predictable to offer many surprises, and potentially interesting avenues go unexplored (the 1909 flashback) or not explained (the significance of the petals). However, for all its faults, Small Worlds is certainly the most entertaining episode of Torchwood so far, and of curiosity for fans of Sapphire & Steel...
