 SPOILER: The Torrey Canyon disaster which makes big headlines  towards the end of this episode was one of the first major  environmental disasters. It happened on 18 March 1967 when the  supertanker the Torrey Canyon struck Pollards Rock in the English  Channel. The tanker broke in two and its cargo of oil leaked from  the wreck and polluted the British and French Channel shores. To  foretell the bad things to come small mishaps always happen in the  background whenever the name "Torrey Canyon" is mentioned in the  dialog prior to the disaster.