New 10-part series of Torchwood confirmed!
The BBC have today announced the exciting news that a brand new series of Torchwood has been commissioned!
The long-awaited fourth series, developed in a three-way co-production partnership made up of BBC Cymru Wales, BBC Worldwide and US network, Starz Entertainment, will include 10 episodes, with its original creator Russell T Davies leading the writing team. John Barrowman and Eve Myles will be back as Jack and Gwen, with the promise of ”new faces” joining the ensemble.
As previous rumours suggested, the episodes, to be distributed to broadcasters globally, will be set in locations such as the UK, the US and across the world, as the team embark on the spin-off’s “most impressive instalment yet”.
Vice president of BBC Worldwide Productions, Jane Tranter, will be serving as executive producer for the new series, alongside Julie Gardner and Russell T Davies. Starz, LLC, President and CEO Chris Albrecht said: “We’re committed to programming exceptional television, and by any measure the new concept for Torchwood fits that mandate.”
Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning, Ben Stephenson, added: “We have a long history of working with US networks but it is incredibly exciting to be working with Starz for the first time, as well as to be reunited with the best of British in Russell, Jane and Julie. Torchwood will burst back onto the screen with a shocking and moving story with global stakes and locations that will make it feel bigger and bolder than ever.”
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter have spoken to creator Russell T Davies about Torchwood’s highly-anticipated return:
“It’s very much the next step. It’s not a new version, it’s not a reboot. We’re simply moving countries. The show was previously a format show – monster of the week. The breakthrough was Children of Earth and that it became one long story. It’s not going to be ‘Lost’ and take 20 years to find out what’s going on. It’s going to have a most remarkable conclusion after 10 episodes.”
Are you happy the Torchwood team will live to fight another day? Let us know below!
YAY! can’t wait :O
It will be on Starz
Yey, yey and thrice yey! This is a good news day
This is fantastic news!!! Wonder when it will air…
Brilliant! That third run was exceptional; truely outstanding TV. Can they keep it up over a full run this time, or will it be more like old Torchwood??
Another joint production from the BBC. It makes me laugh, If the BBC invested the licence money into what the licence money is actually for, Torchwood would remain a British program, but the BBC are still being allowed to Empire build! No doubt Starz will “help” guide the program!!!
Gotta love Torchwood coming back, and I hope this fourth series continues on the trend that the last three have set, aka improving every time. No pressure! It’ll be interesting to get some new faces in, something Torchwood hasn’t done since the very beginning, really.
woooooo! i MUST buy the torchwood dvds…. my parents wouldn’t let me watch them…. stll wouldn’t, but im FIFTEEN so they can’t stop me *muah! huh huh huh!!!!*
WHOOOOOO!! It’s about time!
I’m relieved that the silence of whether we’d ever see Torchwood on our screens again has begun to crack (no Season 5 pun intended), as it’s been a long time without any kind of word on the future of Torchwood.
I’m cautious though. Obviously, the Torchwood Hub was destroyed and there was only two members of Torchwood left, but what Davies and the American Network are proposing does sound like quite a departure from what we know.
I’m also concerned about the amount of money an American company are putting into this series of Torchwood. Yes, a bigger budget means you can do more, but as has been stated by other writers in the UK, you usually get better quality out of a smaller budget because it forces you to economise while pushing the quality.
I obviously have nothing against Americans themselves, I have many American friends on the team I work with, but expanding the concept of Torchwood worldwide with an American benefactor pumping money and a lot of opinion into it, doesn’t immediately feel right to me.
But conjecture-based negativity aside, I am glad that Torchwood is coming back and that the silence is breaking and we’ll be able to hear more about this, hopefully, from now.
Who fandom is an odd lot – the complain if the budgets are too low and they complain if the budgets are too high!
Anyway, the key thing here is never mind whether it’s being co-produced by an American network. What’s important is Barrowman and Miles will still be starring in it. That means it’s a true Season 4, not an Americanized remake a la Red Dwarf USA with Barrowman in a reimagined role. Not a reboot. Not a de-Who-ified version. Considering some of the possibilities we were hearing about the show being recast, restarted, etc etc, this is the best possible scenario. Only issue might be for people in the US who can’t get Starz, but that’s why they invented Blu-Ray releases, and if they stick to the pattern the Blu-Ray will be on sale/rental before the closing credits of Episode 10 finish.
@Alex
It’s not just about how much or how little the budget is, though extremes of both are bad, it’s who is doing the funding.
My concern is that Torchwood was, in terms of the show, a Cardiff based team of alien hunters created initially by Queen Victoria before being reformed. Season 4 seems to suggest turning the Torchwood team into globetrotters and I aint sure about that, that’s all.
@JC
Well they’ve done their share of globetrotting, apparently. Remember the Master allegedly sent them on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas in the Sound of Drums.
I knew watching old DW episodes more times than is healthy would come in handy at some point
In all seriousness though, we have to hope for the best and wait. I’m super excited about it. And look how brilliant Children of Earth was; that was unprecedented as well!
@dani
The first season is to me rated R but the the other seasons isnt bad.
I’m worried.
Obviously I am excited to see Torchwood back on TV, but I am really wary of it being partially set in the US. How much is it going to have to be tweaked for a US audience? I liked that it always had a sort of Welsh small-town feel to it. We won’t get that if we’re jetting all over the world.
This is likely to go horribly wrong and I do not want to watch one of my favourite TV shows go down the drain.
@Nathan
I’m surprised that no one ever sees Series One for the emotional storylines, but just for the sex and swearing.
As for this announcement, while it should be brilliant because Torchwood is returning, the fact that it’s being co-produced by Starz makes me want to vomit. Spartacus: Blood and Sand is absolute rubbish and not worth time watching, so why would the BBC (Wales and Worldwide) even consider working alongside them. Now I wish the future of Torchwood had remained in doubt…
Argh! “shocking and moving story” made me remember Ianto’s dead!
Absolutely Fabulous. Cannot wait. Looking forward not only to Tourchwood and Jack and Gwen but also to the punchy writing of Russell T. Doctor 2010 is OKay but not as good as it could have been with Russell and Julia and writer/directors/producers etc. Love the delicate twists and turns of Russells writing, the slightly darker side of the fairytale sf story line. I find the currednt Doctor a little too mild, although that is not going to stop me watching. However, I do hope that the BBC might have Russell T as a guest writer and then lets see Matt live up to Doctor Who image created by Christopher Ecclestone and David Tennant.
@TE
Perhaps, BBC Wales has the controlling interest and will keep everything on line to what the viewer is used too and wants to see. Lets not count our chickens before they have hatched – after all they might turn into a beautifull omlette.
Congrats and Hoorah, can’t wait