Torchwood Season Three

Geekyfanboy · June 04, 2008, 01:56:46 PM

It's Confirmed: 'Torchwood' Only Five Hours In 2009

By MICHAEL HINMAN
Source: TV Guide
Jun-03-2008

Not only will there be a smaller dose of "Doctor Who" next season, but it seems that there will now be less of its spinoff "Torchwood" as well.

Executive Producer Julie Gardner confirmed to TV Guide that the series' third season will consist of just five episodes, corroborating earlier reports from Sci-Fi Pulse at the beginning of this year that talked about major cutbacks on the show.

The five episodes will not be shown over five weeks, however. Instead, Gardner said they would be showed in a single week, with a new episode every night.

Scripts for the third season are now being written, and shooting is expected to begin in the middle of August. At the same time, "Torchwood" will not appear on BBC Three or BBC Two. In fact, it appears that the show is moving to BBC One, the home of its parent program, "Doctor Who."

John Barrowman, who plays the omni-sexual time agent in the series will return as Capt. Jack Harkness. But while Gardner said fans would be "pleased with the casting," it's still not clear who else is returning, or if rumors of Freema Agyeman and Noel Clarke joining the cast are true.

With the move to BBC One, there is a better chance that the show will be watered down from its more "adult" nature, one thing fans said they want to see continue on the show. If Agyeman and Clarke were to move over, however, there is a chance that BBC is expecting more crossover from the more family-friendly "Doctor Who" audience, thus will have to clean up some of the language and subject matter.

There is still no word on why BBC chose to make such drastic changes to the show that was a ratings winner for BBC Three in its first season, and continued to demand strong ratings after its move to BBC Two for its second season. It also is the top-rated scripted show on BBC America, although it's not clear if and when the third season would appear there.

TV Guide is reporting a possible bright side: There is a chance that more episodes will be commissioned for Season 3.

Meds · June 04, 2008, 01:59:54 PM

Oh this is bad. This is very bad. Now i'm not the greatest fan of Torchwood but putting a episode everynight in one week is overkill, especially here in England. We are limited to sci fi in fact really we are limited to decent tv.

X · June 04, 2008, 02:06:33 PM

I can see it happening and it seems to flow like a 5 hour mini. I like my miniseries given to me over the course of a few night, not a few weeks.

Meds · June 04, 2008, 02:33:47 PM

I could be happy with say two episodes like a Tuesday and a Thursday but not every night. Its a ratings disaster and i have to be honest thats what happened to Doctor Who back in 1989.

Geekyfanboy · August 22, 2008, 12:37:45 PM

I know this is from The Sun (a British tabloid) but the reason behind it might not be true.. but the fact is true that Martha Jones will not be in Torchwood season three... :(

Freema tortures Torchwood

By COLIN ROBERTSON
and SARA NATHAN

Published: 25 Jul 2008

FUMING Torchwood bosses have been forced to tear up scripts for the show after star Freema Agyeman defected to ITV.

Scriptwriters spent months writing gripping storylines for Freema, 29 — who was a central character in the spin-off show.

But now the former Doctor Who star has been ditched from the five-part BBC mini-series — after agreeing to do ITV's new British version of US crime series Law and Order.

The move is believed to have annoyed Torchwood creator and executive producer Russell T Davies.

It was him who gave Freema her big break in Doctor Who, playing scientist Martha Jones.

An insider said: "This has really mucked things about. We've had to go back and re-edit loads of scripts because she's not going to be in it."

The source added that the fact she signed for ITV added insult to injury.

They added: "They're the Beeb's bitter rival, so the fact she's going over there to star in a big new project has not gone down well at all."

The BBC said in an official statement: "As with any drama in the early stages of production, scripts evolve and change on a daily basis before being finalised."

Freema — who was plucked from obscurity to be Doctor Who's assistant in series three — is expected to play a prosecutor in Law and Order: London.

ITV bosses have high hopes for the adaptation of the Five hit — breaking with tradition to order a long run of about a dozen episodes.

They will start filming the show in the autumn with an "enormous cast".

Meds · August 22, 2008, 01:02:30 PM

Typical Sun writing. I find it hard to believe that Freema just dumped Torchwood to go to ITV. The fat that she is currently working for the BBC filming Little Dorrit just goes to show that relationships can't be that bad.

Geekyfanboy · August 22, 2008, 02:28:48 PM

yeah I don't buy the reasoning.. but it's still sad that she isn't going to be in Torchwood this coming season.

Feathers · August 23, 2008, 01:28:33 PM

Torchwood's not great but I still watch it. A five-episodes-in-a-week series could kill it off completely though. I'm going to run out of things to watch at this rate - oh well, more time to listen to podcasts I guess!

Trekkygeek · August 23, 2008, 01:33:52 PM

I think the whole idea of showing an episode a night is going to spell the end of this show. I also think It's a mistake to move it to BBC1. It was doing perfectly well where it was and this last season was so much better than the first.

It smells almost like the third season of TOS. I just hope this next season is not as poor as the third season of TOS

Feathers · August 23, 2008, 01:42:20 PM

I hope it's not as poo as the second season of Torchwood! It was watchable, but it was in no way great (IMO).

Trekkygeek · August 23, 2008, 01:45:24 PM

Feathers mate, feathers. I'm sorry you thought the second series was poo. Do you think though that it was an improvement on the first? I loved this recent season and thought it much better than "poo". Not quite as good as Doctor Who though.

Feathers · August 23, 2008, 02:05:47 PM

Firstly, appologies - that was meant to say 'poor', not poo!

It was better than the first, but not by much. There's just something about the series that I don't really engage with in the same way as I do with Who (for example). Perhaps it's that in its attempt to be more 'adult' than its roots it looses some of its fundamental appeal?

Trekkygeek · August 23, 2008, 02:14:52 PM

My thoughts exactly Feathers. It's funny how something supposedly aimed at the younger audience is better written than something for the more "adult" audience.

I think the second season improved because they just didn't swear for the sake of it which seemed to happen in the first season.

Oh, and I enjoyed your Freudian slip there. ;)

Feathers · August 23, 2008, 02:22:46 PM

Yes, Freudian or what!

You're right on the sweaing, I'd forgotten that. It wasn't unwatchable, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't have been terribly upset if the DVR had thrown a wobbly and erased the lot.

Maybe they can pull something out of the hat with a 5-nighter on BBC1 but I'm not optimistic.

Geekyfanboy · August 25, 2008, 11:49:27 AM

Well I enjoyed the first season of Torchwood.. I thought some of the episodes were just AWESOME and the second season was even better. The first season I barely cared about the characters but the second season the did a 180 and I was totally involved in the stories.

I'm hoping the third season isn't the nail in the coffin, I don't understand why they are running them back to back to back like a mini series rather then five weeks in a row... but I guess will have to wait and see.