Channel Hopping » An International Torchwood
The last few weeks has seen the first details begin to emerge about this summer’s long-overdue season of Torchwood, and it’s understandable that the reactions have been more ambivalent than anything else. Aside from anything, it’s been a long time since Torchwood graced our screens – two years, in fact. Also, we’re seeing another format change.
The BBC seems to like trying new things when it comes to their sci-fi property. This is the first year in the entire 48-year history of Doctor Who that they’re splitting the season into two parts (the current season will break after Episode Seven and return in the autumn), and they’ve been known to use the genre to do other weird stuff before. Back in 2005, shortly before starting the role that would get countless teenage girls shaking with uncontrollable joy, David Tennant appeared in a live remake of The Quatermass Experiment for BBC Four. No-one watched it, because they were all too busy watching the Pope’s funeral, but it was pretty revolutionary considering the subject matter.
And now this – Torchwood, a show already known for undergoing a massive format change with its last season, is doing it again. We last saw it on our screens when the five-part story Children of Earth aired, which was its chance to shine (the show went on to win a few awards, and elevated it to new heights). As to whether or not it will this time is debatable. The big change is that it’s now a US co-production, something the Beeb doesn’t do often – a large share of the financing is coming from Starz, the company behind Spartacus: Blood and Sand. There are also a lot of American cast members. In the trailer attached to this post you can see the girl who played Sierra in Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, but there are few other familiar faces too – Dr. Greg Pratt off ER, and the guy who played the President in Independence Day are in it (huge stars, I know).
This, to an extent, makes sense – for those who follow the show, most of the British cast are deceased – but you can’t help but hope that at least some of the cast might be Brits. It also looks like the primary filming location is Los Angeles, which is bound to give the show a new flavour – it’s hard to tell whether it’ll be good or bad, but certainly new.
As to how it’s going to run, that part’s still murky. It sounds like it’ll be one large story arc again. The current press releases state that the premise of the show (subtitled Miracle Day) involves an event where no-one on Earth dies, and the ramifications of such an event occurring, good and bad. It’s also going to run for ten episodes, and that’s what makes this interesting – for those that remember, Children of Earth was a five-part serial, and ran over the course of a week. Whether they’ll try and integrate a monster-of-the-week element to the show or not remains to be seen, but you can’t help but hope that they won’t; doubling the length of the series while keeping it focused and energised is a tough job to take, but it could make for brilliant television. Either way, we don’t have long to wait – Torchwood: Miracle Day graces our screens this July, giving Whovians at the very least something to tide them over before the autumn season.
The BBC Summer drama trailer: with a Torchwood teaser
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