John Barrowman
Jack Harkness
Search results
Cast
Episode Guide
- 1. Everything Changes Oct 22, 2006
- Investigating hostile extraterrestrial and supernatural threats.
- 2. Day One Oct 22, 2006
- An alien addicted to sex is let loose on Cardiff's nightlife.
- 3. Ghost Machine Oct 29, 2006
- An alien object shows visions of the past to the Torchwood team.
Torchwood is a British 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 ...
Torchwood: Created by Russell T. Davies. With John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Kai Owen, Gareth David-Lloyd. The members of the Torchwood Institute, a secret organization founded by the British Crown, fight to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats.
- (43K)
- 2006-10-22
- Action, Drama, Mystery
- 50
- Overview
- History
- Cast
- Main series
- Other media
- Continuity
- Future
- Aborted ideas
- Merchandising
was a multi-media Doctor Who spin-off series about the adventures of Jack Harkness and the Torchwood Institute.
Originally created as a television show by Russell T Davies in 2005, Torchwood was the first TV spin-off of Doctor Who to be commissioned for a full 13-part series. The first four series, produced by BBC Wales, were supplemented by BBC Books novels, BBC Audio audio stories, and Titan Publishing Group comics and short stories. The fourth series, released in 2011, was co-produced with the American cable network Starz and was accompanied by an animated online serial.
In 2002, 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 fantasy drama series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel.[source needed]
This idea, originally titled Excalibur, was abandoned until 2005, when BBC Three Controller Stuart Murphy invited Davies to develop a post-watershed science fiction series for the channel. The word "Torchwood" (an anagram of "Doctor Who") originated during production of the new Doctor Who series, when television pirates were eager to get their hands on the tapes. Someone in the production office suggested that the tapes be labelled "Torchwood" instead of "Doctor Who" to disguise their contents as they were being sent to London. Davies thought that this was a clever idea and remembered the name.
Davies connected the word Torchwood to his earlier Excalibur idea and decided to make the series a Doctor Who spin-off.[source needed] Subsequently, the word Torchwood was seeded in several Doctor Who episodes and other media which aired in 2005 and 2006.
The series was set in contemporary Cardiff and followed the Welsh branch of a covert agency called the Torchwood Institute, which investigates extraterrestrial incidents on Earth and scavenges alien technology for its own use. As established in the Doctor Who episodes Tooth and Claw and Army of Ghosts, the Institute had been formed by Queen Victoria following an incident involving the Tenth Doctor and a werewolf, ostensibly to protect the British Empire from aliens and other creatures — as well as from the Doctor himself.
To paraphrase Torchwood Three's commander-in-chief, Jack Harkness, the organisation was separate from the government, outside the police, and beyond the United Nations (the last reference thereby placing Torchwood in a different realm than UNIT).
Although a secret organisation, the existence of Torchwood was known by the public, and Torchwood operatives made no secret of their identity when on duty. Their public perception was as merely a "special ops" group, with their true responsibilities kept secret to all but a select few. Regular characters included Gwen Cooper, Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond. Martha Jones, Suzie Costello, and Vera Juarez have also been portrayed as part of the Torchwood team led by Harkness. Semi-regulars Rhys Williams and Sgt Andy Davidson are the only non-Torchwood members who recurred across all televised series.
Main cast
•Jack Harkness - John Barrowman •Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles •Rhys Williams - Kai Owen •Owen Harper - Burn Gorman (series 1-2) •Toshiko Sato - Naoko Mori (series 1-2) •Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd (series 1-3) •Rex Matheson - Mekhi Phifer (series 4) •Esther Drummond - Alexa Havins (series 4) •Oswald Danes - Bill Pullman (series 4)
Secondary cast
•Andy Davidson - Tom Price •Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman (series 2) •Lois Habiba - Cush Jumbo (series 3) •John Frobisher - Peter Capaldi (series 3) •Vera Juarez - Arlene Tur (series 4) •Jillian Kitzinger - Lauren Ambrose (series 4)
Series 1 - 2006-2007Series 2 - 2008Series 3 - 2009Series 4 - 2011Series 5 - 2017-2018Series 6 - 2018-2019ProseVideo gamesComicsReference booksAudioWeb series•In Torchwood Series 1, the episodes TV: Everything Changes and TV: Cyberwoman make direct reference to the Cybermen in TV: Army of Ghosts and TV: Doomsday as well as the Battle of Canary Wharf.
•The presence of the Doctor's hand in the Hub alludes to his losing it in TV: The Christmas Invasion.
•Graffiti seen in the Ritz in TV: Captain Jack Harkness continues the presence of the Bad Wolf meme and Harold Saxon posters are seen on the walls.
•Utopia continues directly from the closing moments of the "Torchwood" Series 1 finale TV: End of Days, in which both Jack Harkness and the audience hear the sound of the TARDIS.
•Abaddon from TV: End of Days is referred to as the son of the great Beast from TV: The Impossible Planet and TV: The Satan Pit.
•In "Torchwood" Series 2, Freema Agyeman reprised her role of Martha Jones in the episode TV: Reset. Her alias Sam Jones references a companion of the Eighth Doctor.
Video game
In an interview with Robert Nashak of BBC Worldwide, it was revealed that the BBC were looking into creating a game for Torchwood. Whether these would be in the form of The Adventure Games, or for retail on platforms, is unknown.
Musical
According to Russell T Davies in The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter, two former members of the pop group ABBA issued a proposal for a stage musical based upon Torchwood. The proposal was rejected, and in his book Davies strongly indicates that the idea was never taken seriously.
American series
In January 2010 US media reported that Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter were planning a US version of Torchwood for the Fox network, which had previously aired the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie. According to the reports, Barrowman and other original cast members may have appeared. The media coverage did not indicate whether or not the series was expected to be a remake/standalone, or if it would tie in with existing Whoniverse continuity. On the 20th January 2010 it was announced that Fox had ordered a pilot script for a US version of Torchwood from BBC Worldwide. On 21st April 2010, however, BBC Worldwide announced that Fox had chosen not to proceed with the series, which according to the BBC was to have been a 13-episode, serialised programme, similar to the UK original. The show was later picked up by the American network Starz, which co-produced the fourth series.
-themed product ranges included:
•calendars
•a soundtrack release for series 1 and 2
•an action figure line
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Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off from the 2005 revival of long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who , Torchwood aired four series between 2006 and 2011.
No. OverallNo. In SeriesTitleDirected By1122Brian Kelly3344This series is set inside a branch of a covert agency called the Torchwood Institute, where dashing commander in chief Capt. Jack Harkness leads Torchwood Three, an ace team of experts, as it...
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- John Barrowman
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Season 1. Torchwood follows the adventures of a team of investigators led by the enigmatic Captain Jack Harkness. Set in the UK in the present day, the team uses scavenged alien technology to solve crime both alien and human. 2,978 IMDb 7.7 2006 13 episodes. X-Ray TV-MA.
BBC iPlayer - Torchwood. Sci-Fi. Torchwood investigates the unusual, the strange and the extraterrestrial - with a mission to protect the Earth. Starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles. Series 1:...
