Torchwood Miracle Day Title Card

''Torchwood'' is a British-American science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from BBC Three to BBC Two to BBC One, and acquiring American financing in its fourth series when it became a co-production of BBC One and Starz. ''Torchwood'' is aimed at adults and older teenagers, in contrast to ''Doctor Who''s target audience of both adults and children. As well as science fiction, the show explores a number of themes, including existentialism, LGBTQ+ sexuality, and human corruptibility.

''Torchwood'' follows the exploits of a small team of alien-hunters who make up the Cardiff-based, fictional Torchwood Institute, which deals mainly with investigating incidents involving extraterrestrials. Its central character is Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), an immortal con-man from the distant future; Jack originally appeared in the 2005 series of ''Doctor Who''. The initial main cast of the series consisted of Gareth David-Lloyd, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori, and Eve Myles. Their characters are specialists for the Torchwood team, often tracking down aliens and defending the planet from alien and human threats. In its first two series, the show uses a time rift in Cardiff as its primary plot generator, accounting for the unusual preponderance of alien beings in Cardiff. In the third and fourth series, Torchwood operate as fugitives. Gorman and Mori's characters were written out of the story at the end of the second series. Recurring actor Kai Owen was promoted to the main cast in series three, in which David-Lloyd was written out. Subsequently, American actors Mekhi Phifer, Alexa Havins and Bill Pullman joined the cast of the show for its fourth series.

The first series premiered on BBC Three and on BBC HD in 2006 to mixed reviews but viewing figures broke records for the digital channel. It returned in 2008 where it aired first on BBC Two, receiving a higher budget; its uneven tone, a criticism of the first series, was largely smoothed out, and the show attracted higher ratings and better reviews. The third series' episodes worked with a higher budget, and it was transferred to the network's flagship channel, BBC One, as a five-episode serial titled '' Torchwood: Children of Earth''. Although ''Children of Earth'' was broadcast over a period of five consecutive summer weeknights, the series received high ratings in the United Kingdom and overseas. A fourth series, co-produced by BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide and American premium entertainment network Starz aired in 2011 under the title '' Torchwood: Miracle Day''. Set both in Wales and the United States, ''Miracle Day'' fared less well with critics than ''Children of Earth'', although it was applauded by some for its ambition. The series entered an indefinite hiatus after ''Miracle Day'' due to Davies' personal circumstances.

All four televised series have been broadcast in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America. Owing to the early popularity of ''Torchwood'', various tie-in media were produced, including audio dramas, novels and comic strips. From its inception, the BBC invested in a heavy online presence for the series, with an alternate reality game running alongside the show's first two series, and an animated Web series running alongside its fourth. The BBC continued to approve and commission licensed spin-offs after the show's conclusion, including an audio series continuation from Big Finish Productions (2015–present).

On 21 February 2020, all 41 televised episodes returned to the BBC's online streaming service, BBC iPlayer. In the United States, the entire series was made available on HBO's new streaming service, HBO Max, upon its launch in May 2020.

Production

Development

Before the revival of ''Doctor Who'', Russell T Davies began to develop an idea for a science-fiction/crime drama in the style of American dramas, in particular those created by Joss Whedon like ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''Angel''. This idea, originally titled ''Excalibur'', was abandoned until 2005, when BBC Three Controller Stuart Murphy invited Davies to develop an after-watershed science fiction series for the channel. During the production of the 2005 series of ''Doctor Who'', the word "Torchwood", an anagram of "Doctor Who", had been used as a title ruse for the series while filming its first few episodes to ensure they were not intercepted. Davies connected the word "Torchwood" to his earlier ''Excalibur'' idea and decided to make the series a ''Doctor Who'' spin-off. Subsequently, the word "Torchwood" was seeded in ''Doctor Who'' episodes and other media that aired in 2005 and 2006.

Because ''Torchwood'' is shown after the watershed â€“ that is, after 9 pm â€“ it has more mature content than ''Doctor Who''. Davies told '' SFX'':

We can be a bit more visceral, more violent, and more sexual, if we want to. Though bear in mind that it's very teenage to indulge yourself in blood and gore, and ''Torchwood'' is going to be smarter than that. But it's the essential difference between BBC One at 7 pm, and BBC Three at, say, 9 pm. That says it all â€“ instinctively, every viewer can see the huge difference there.

According to Barrowman: "I don't do any nude scenes in series one; they're saving that for the next series! I don't have a problem with getting my kit off, as long as they pay me the right money." Davies also joked to a BBC Radio Wales interviewer that he was "not allowed" to refer to the programme as "''Doctor Who'' for grown-ups". The first series includes content rarely seen or heard in the ''Doctor Who'' franchise, including sex scenes and use of profanity in several episodes.

BBC Three described ''Torchwood'' as the centrepiece of its autumn 2006 schedule, and the successful first series led to a second series on BBC Two and a third on BBC One in 2009.

Although Torchwood was originally intended to be sci-fi aimed at adults, the character Captain Jack Harkness, who had previously been introduced in Doctor Who, proved popular with young audiences. Davies decided to create alternative edits of the second series to be "child-friendly", removing overt sexuality and swearing. These edits to the shows enabled it to be broadcast at 7 pm (pre-watershed).

The first three series of ''Torchwood'' were produced in-house by BBC Wales. The Head of Drama at the time of the first series, Julie Gardner, served as executive producer alongside Davies. The first two episodes of series 1 of ''Torchwood'' premiered on 22 October 2006 on BBC Three and BBC HD. Series 2 premiered on BBC Two and BBC HD on 16 January 2008. The third series, '' Torchwood: Children of Earth'', began shooting on 18 August 2008 and comprised a five-episode mini-series that aired over five consecutive days at 9 pm on BBC One from 6 July 2009, and 9 pm on BBC America HD and BBC America from 20 July 2009. Davies and Gardner stayed on as executive producers and Peter Bennett produced the series.

Davies expressed concern that the third series was aired in a summer evening graveyard slot. Lead actor John Barrowman felt that the show had been mistreated by BBC executives, despite what he felt was the programme's proven popularity and success.

In August 2009, Davies stated that the fourth series was "ready to go", and that he had the next series planned out, stating, "I know exactly how to pick it up. I've got a shape in mind, and I've got stories. I know where you'd find Gwen and Rhys, and their baby, and Jack, and I know how you'd go forward with a new form of Torchwood." At the time, he stated he would prefer for series four to be another mini-series, though he had no qualms about doing another thirteen-episode run. A November 2009 article posted on Eve Myles's website stated that shooting for the fourth series was to begin in January 2011.

Subsequently, Davies looked to American networks to finance future series of the programme. He was turned down by one of the United States' major television networks, Fox; some had speculated the Fox project could have been a spin-off or a reboot. Later, Davies succeeded in striking a deal with American premium cable network Starz. The production of the fourth series was not officially announced until June 2010: a ten-episode mini-series co-produced between BBC Wales, Starz and BBC Worldwide, airing summer 2011.

As with the third, the fourth series was given its own title: '' Torchwood: Miracle Day''. Shortly after the broadcast of ''Miracle Day'' in March 2012, the chief executive officer of Starz, Chris Albrecht, announced that he was remaining in touch with the BBC regarding a further series of ''Torchwood'', though it would depend on Davies being free from his other commitments. However, by 2012 the show had entered an indefinite hiatus due to Davies' return to the UK after his partner became ill.

Writing

In the first series, the main writer alongside Russell T Davies was Chris Chibnall, creator of the BBC light drama shows ''Born and Bred'' and future ''Doctor Who'' showrunner. Other writers include P.J. Hammond, Toby Whithouse, ''Doctor Who'' script editor Helen Raynor, Catherine Tregenna and ''Doctor Who'' cast member Noel Clarke. Of the first two series, Russell T Davies wrote only the première episode. Helen Raynor and Brian Minchin were the programme's script editors.

Series one of ''Torchwood'' was filmed from May 2006 until November 2006. For the second series, lead writer Chris Chibnall wrote the opening episode and the three final episodes.Doctor Who Magazine 384. Both Catherine Tregenna and Helen Raynor wrote two episodes for the second series. The other episodes were written by James Moran, Matt Jones, J. C. Wilsher, Joseph Lidster, P.J. Hammond and Phil Ford. Russell T Davies was initially announced as writing two episodes, but due to commitments to ''Doctor Who'', he no longer anticipated writing any ''Torchwood'' episodes. For series three, Davies returned and wrote the first and last episodes, co-wrote episode three with James Moran and plotted the overall story arc himself. John Fay wrote episodes two and four.

For the fourth series, ''Miracle Day'', Davies secured several popular American television writers, including ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' writer Jane Espenson; ''The X-Files'', '' Star Trek: Enterprise'' and ''Supernatural'' writer John Shiban; and ''House'' writer Doris Egan. Additionally, both Davies and John Fay returned to write episodes. In continuing the series Davies chose to keep ''Torchwood'' more focused on the human condition than its science fiction backdrop. He drew inspiration from ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', noting that "the best metaphors in Buffy came down to, 'What's it like to be in high school, as a kid?'" He felt the fourth series of ''Torchwood'' to be "about us and our decisions and our lives, and how we live with each other and how we die with each other". The depiction of human nature in the fourth series led to a sequence which many felt to be evocative of the Holocaust. Jane Espenson noted that as a series ''Torchwood'' "is willing to go to horrible places". She stated that in storylining ''Miracle Day'', the writers "didn't want to flinch away from what mankind can do."

Directing

The first block of series two, consisting of episodes by Raynor and Tregenna, was directed by Andy Goddard. Colin Teague

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