In a surprising move on October 17, the BBC announced that they will be spinning off a new series from Doctor Who. Called Torchwood, the 13 part drama/sci-fi hybrid was created by current Who show runner Russell T. Davies and executive producer Julie Gardner. Actor John Barrowman, who played the bisexual Captain Jack Harkness (and who is openly gay) -the time traveling agent on the final 6 episodes of the new Doctor Who series that aired this past spring- will reprise the role for the spin-off, set to air in the fall of 2006 in Britain.
Davies calls the new show as a "British sci-fi paranoid thriller, a cop show with a sense of humor. It's dark, wild and sexy, it's the X Files meets This Life (described {from tvtome.com} as a British thirtysomething, Friends, and Ally McBeal all rolled into one). It's a stand-alone series for adult audiences which will have its own unique identity. I have just begun working on the scripts with a team of writers and cannot wait to see the results."
The show will film in Cardiff, Wales, where the current Doctor Who show is being lensed and will carry on from the events of the up coming Doctor Who special The Christmas Invasion (which will air on BBC 3 on the holiday) and Who’s second season. Tourchwood concerns a group of renegade investigators (and is an anagram of Doctor Who, but it isn’t a plot point), as Davies calls them. And though the show will use the Christmas episode as a launching point , don’t expect the two shows to crossover, as Tourchwood -while using Who’s concepts - will be independent of its parent show. And while the updated version of Doctor Who is aimed (more or less) to children, Davies says that this spin-off is geared towards Who’s adult audience.
Says Stuart Murphy, Controller of BBC Three, "The renegades investigate human and alien crime, as well as alien technology that has fallen to Earth. Torchwood is sinister and psychological – Russell was really keen to play with your head – as well as being very British and modern and real. But at the center of the drama are warm, human relationships and the overcoming of adversity."
Barrowman was originally thought to be returning to Doctor Who for its second season (even though he "appeared" to die in the season ender), and made several comments to the press that he would be back "later" in the new season. Says Barrowman of returning to the role, "I'm absolutely thrilled about Torchwood. It's going to be a dark, wild and sexy roller-coaster ride. Working again with Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and the BBC is like hooking up with family again. I can't wait to explore Captain Jack even more."
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