"Meat" is the fourth episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was first broadcast on BBC Two on 6 February 2008. It was written by Catherine Tregenna, who had previously written episodes for the first series of the show, directed by Colin Teague and produced by Richard Stokes. The episode featured the five initial series regulars John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori and Gareth David Lloyd plus recurring actor Kai Owen in a central role.
Torchwood initially depicts a small team of alien-hunters known as Torchwood, based in Cardiff. In the premiere episode of the first series Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) is introduced as a newcomer to the organisation who keeps her job secret from boyfriend Rhys Williams (Kai Owen). The episode "Meat" depicts the two aspects of Gwen's double life coming into conflict as Rhys finds himself caught up in Torchwood's investigation into a corrupt meat trade stemming from human exploitation of a stranded benevolent alien. Rhys helps Torchwood in their attempts to apprehend the human villains of the episode and his bravery makes Gwen realise that she should no longer keep secrets from him.
The episode was filmed in and around Cardiff between June and July 2007 as part of the second production block of the series. The production team used the episode to expand Rhys' role in the series, due to their appreciation of actor Kai Owen's performances in the first series and the contention of executive producer Russell T Davies that the character should be seen as less of a "sap" in the second series. The alien "space whale" seen in the episode was created using computer-generated imagery, with the exception of a cut section wound where the humans had been carving meat from. Tregenna characterised the monster as resembling "a giant kebab". A more elaborate design was previously considered, but both Tregenna and Davies felt that this would detract from the alien's suitability to the plot.
According to consolidated figures the episode was watched by 3.28 million viewers on its BBC Two debut, aggregated to 4.74 million viewers after taking into consideration two repeat broadcasts the same week. Most commentators praised the larger role of Rhys in the episode, the performance of actor Kai Owen and the realism of the acting and dialogue overall. However, a large proportion of reviewers criticised the special effects used to create the alien, with some comparing its realisation to a sock puppet or hand puppet. Whilst some reviewers identified with the plight of the alien, others felt that its poor realisation meant that it was hard to feel any sympathy for it.
Plot Rhys is out driving when he is telephoned by his secretary Ruth, who informs him that one of their transportation firm's lorry drivers has crashed. At the crash Rhys discovers that Leighton, one of his employees and friends, has died whilst transporting meat to an abattoir. As he contemplates moving the lorry, a police officer tells him that there is something suspicious in the back and that Torchwood want to investigate. Torchwood confiscate the meat that the lorry was transporting, due to suspicions that it originates from an alien, which they later confirm. Rhys spots his fiancée Gwen amongst them. Gwen recognises the lorry as one from Rhys' firm. Rhys and Torchwood both suspect each other's involvement with the alien meat.
Rhys follows Gwen and her boss Jack to the Merthyr abattoir. While there he is captured by a group of men and subsequently taken inside the warehouse. Jack and Gwen see this and mistake his actions for collaboration. When questioned by his captors Rhys offers to assume Leighton's job in trafficking the alien meat. The men subsequently show Rhys that they have captured a live sea creature which is the source of the meat and which continues to grow despite them cutting chunks of its flesh away while it is still alive. Back at their flat, Rhys and Gwen argue over his presence at the warehouse and her presence at the lorry crash. Gwen is forced to confess her secret she has been keeping from Rhys that she catches aliens for a living, and her "special ops" role was a cover story. To prove it she takes Rhys to the Hub. After recounting his findings and discussing the situation, Rhys agrees to help Torchwood investigate the warehouse.
As Rhys is expected by the alien's captors, Torchwood hide in his van as he drives them to the abattoir where Torchwood sneak in. They locate the creature and plan to sedate it so they can send it back through the Cardiff Rift. Torchwood stun the men and feed them amnesia pills, as no court of law would believe what had happened. The creature becomes distressed and Owen can see no other option but to euthanise it. Back at the Hub, Jack orders Gwen to give Rhys a pill too. After realising that Rhys is willing to support her life with Torchwood and that she enjoys being honest with him, Gwen refuses.
Production "Meat" was made alongside "Sleeper", the second episode of the series which was also directed by Teague, as part of block two of production which ran from 3 June to 5 July 2007.Walker, "Part Six: Episode Guide-2.04: Meat" p. 146Torchwood Magazine Yearbook, p. 50 It originally had the working title "Another Working Day". In discussing the origins of the central alien writer Catherine Tregenna states that "we were just throwing ideas around and true to form Russell [T Davies] said "why isn't it just a great big whale in a warehouse?"" Davies states the alien was designed to be "one of Torchwood and Doctor Whos biggest monsters" not in terms of concept but its "literal size". He felt this provided insight into "the strangeness of life". Producer Richard Stokes states that the concept design team created an idea of what they envisaged the whale to look like. Tregenna felt that the original design for the creature was "a little fanciful" in that it was a bit too "beautiful and exotic" before deciding "if it looked like that they [the villains] would exhibit it, it would be a freak show." She characterises the final design as resembling "a giant kebab". Contrary to observations from commentators, Tregenna did not intend the story to promote vegetarianism as she is not a vegetarian — she simply wanted to write an episode that was more action based than her series one episodes ("Out of Time" and "Captain Jack Harkness"). The hypothetical size of the space whale resulted in Teague having to find this "huge great warehouse" and hire a fifty-foot crane for camera angles. Whilst the main body of the alien was created using computer-generated imagery a prosthetic version of the cut wound in the side of the alien was available for the actors to interact with on set. Actor Eve Myles describes it as being like filming within a "blood soaked, soppy big sponge". The opening of the creature's eye was created using green screen. Owen felt having to react to this to be the most unusual acting experience he'd had whilst filming Torchwood.
In regards to the relationship between Gwen and Rhys, Davies felt that the episode provided a "rite of passage for the couple". Director Colin Teague remarked that the character of Rhys "puts up with a lot from his wife to be." The production team had previously planned to kill the character off at the end of the previous series but retained the character, partly because they liked Owen as an actor. In storylining the second series Davies states that "one of the first decisions we made was that we can't make this guy look like a sap any longer. He's got to be made aware of what's going on." Tregenna identified one of the central themes of the episode as the "love triangle between Gwen, Rhys and Jack". The argument in which Gwen ultimately reveals to Rhys that she catches aliens for a living was partly improvised by Owen and Myles. The denouement of the episode sees the character of Rhys take a bullet to protect Gwen. To create this scene Owen's clothing was fitted with a minor explosive, the gunshot effect "[nipped] a bit" which both Teague and Owen felt helped with the timing of the actor's reaction. Location filming for the episode took place around Roald Dahl Plass on 3 July for several scenes, including the final scene with Gwen and Rhys on Mermaid Quay, and the earlier scene where Rhys observes Jack and Gwen by the water fountain. A warehouse near Roath Dock, Cardiff Bay was used as the location for the abandoned warehouse-meat processing plant, whilst the Imperial Park Bypass was used for some of the road scenes. During the episode Gwen asks "What is this, Scooby-Doo?" in regards to Rhys' suggestion the team hide in his van in order to carry out a sting operation. Torchwood Magazine suggest that this was a knowing reference from Tregenna to the critic and satirist Charlie Brooker's reaction to the first series of the show.
Broadcast On overnight returns, The Guardian reported that the episode had an 11% audience share and 2.9 million viewers for its first BBC Two broadcast at 9pm on 6 February. According to consolidated figures released by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board the episode's first broadcast had an estimated total audience of 3.28 million viewers. The episode had an audience appreciation index of 85, regarded as excellent.Walker, "Appendix D: Ratings and Rankings" p. 270 A late night repeat of the episode aired on BBC sister channel BBC Three the same night at 11pm and a further pre-watershed repeat, edited to be child friendly, of the episode aired the next day, 7 February, at 7pm.Walker, "Part Six: Episode Guide-2.04: Meat" p. 144 Stephen James Walker, a writer of reference works on Doctor Who and its spin-offs, noted that "Meat" "was one of the more heavily edited episodes of the series for its pre-watershed repeat". Cut scenes included "some of the particularly gory scenes" and an exchange between Gwen and Jack which implied the latter performing oral sex on an alien. The dialogue in Gwen and Rhys' big argument was also censored with two instances of the phrase "piss off!" being removed, whilst Rhys' line "you fucking him (Jack), or what?" was redubbed to the less profane "you seeing him, or what?". The edited repeat had an air time of 49m 33s, as opposed to the original episode's air time of 50m 15s. Overnight ratings suggested that the pre-watershed version of the episode was viewed by 1.00 million viewers and had a 4.9% audience share. Final figures released by BARB indicated that the total viewing figures for the BBC3 repeat and the pre-watershed BBC2 repeat were 0.37 million viewers and 1.09 million viewers respectively,Walker, "Appendix D: Ratings and Rankings" p. 271 giving the episode an aggregated total of 4.74 million viewers across its three initial broadcasts.
A corresponding 10-minute episode of Torchwood Declassified, a behind the scenes documentary on the production of the show, entitled "Save the Whale" was broadcast on BBC Two following the episode between 9.50pm and 10pm and featured contributions from Tregenna, Davies, Teague, Myles and Owen.
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