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John Barrowman on Torchwood: Children Of Earth

Simon Brew


Captain Jack Harkness slams the decision to cut the third season of Torchwood down to five episodes…

Published on Jul 1, 2009

Next week sees the unveiling of the third season of Torchwood. On the plus side, it moves to BBC One for the first time (its third channel to date). On the downside, it's down to five episodes, which are being broadcast on consecutive nights.

It's quite a bold move for the show, but the decision to reduce the episode count hasn't gone down blindingly well in all quarters. Talking to the Radio Times, the show's star has been damning over the BBC's move. In an interview with the magazine, he said, "I'm going to get a little political and I'll probably get into trouble for it." He didn't hold back, though...

"We were the most successful show on BBC3, ever. We moved to BBC2 because the ratings were so good; the ratings were great again and we were beating shows that had been on BBC2 for a long time. Other shows move from BBC3 and 2 to 1, and they don't get cut. So why are we? It felt like every time we moved we had to prove ourselves."

He concluded that "I felt like we were being punished."

Russell T Davies was more upbeat about matters, arguing, "Part of us thought: 'We could do another 13 episodes, we've learnt how to do that, and the second series was better than the first'. But why not change it?"

The proof, as usual, will be in the pudding. And Torchwood: Children Of Earth starts this Monday on BBC One, at 9pm.

 

 
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John Barrowman | Torchwood | Torchwood Children Of Earth | Simon Brew

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Users Comments

Re: John Barrowman on Torchwood: Children Of Earth
Posted By stuxmusic 1 July 1, 2009 09:01:02 AM

Let's face it, it's an experiment. Will people watch all week? Will they continue to be interested in one storyline or are we better at doing 13 standalones? etc

Re: John Barrowman on Torchwood: Children Of Earth
Posted By SeymourCat 1 July 1, 2009 09:51:44 AM

Aren't you forgetting something? As well as five TV episodes there are three radio episodes. The Afternoon Play on BBC Radio 4 is Torchwood for the next three days, and the best thing is that anyone can download them as a Podcast for free here, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/torchwood/download/

Re: John Barrowman on Torchwood: Children Of Earth
Posted By cordas 1 July 1, 2009 10:01:24 AM

Maybe he is miffed that he only got payed for 5 episodes work rather than 13... Can't say i blame him for being a bit peeved by that. The other thing is this is a DANGEROUS play for the series, because if it sucks (or fails to meet some magic numbers pulled out the rear end of some tv exec) I would imagine the show will die a rather rapid death. Where as if it had 13 stand alone episodes it could carry a couple of dummies..... Fingers crossed its good, and i am off to listen to the radio plays, cheers for the link SC I hadn't even heard about them till now.

Re: John Barrowman on Torchwood: Children Of Earth
Posted By RandyTheFool 1 July 1, 2009 02:42:52 PM

I'm thinking they're just trying not to under-cut Doctor Who. A lot of fans would be a little mad if the semi-decent Torchwood got 13 episodes in a season where as the excellent Doctor Who only got 5 "specials". I know that a majority of fans of Torchwood are fans of Doctor Who (and vice versa). They just have to remember that Torchwood is the spin-off, Doctor Who is the big daddy. You can't give special treatment to one and not the other.

Re: John Barrowman on Torchwood: Children Of Earth
Posted By cordas 1 July 1, 2009 04:28:57 PM

Sorry but that doesn't cut much water... Whilst TW maybe a spin off it is still its own show.. Are people going to complain that TW is getting a whole weeks billing where as DW has had its (longer) specials scattered over the year.

Re: John Barrowman on Torchwood: Children Of Earth
Posted By BeccaDG 1 July 2, 2009 08:19:45 AM

I'd say Russell T. Davies having said -- "I know if this was America, they'd try to keep it going for seven years, doing the same thing every week. And BBC America, who show Torchwood, are furious that we've changed the format. But they're not our paymasters. It's the British audience we make these for," shows he knows damn well it is a DANGEROUS experiment. He's apparently heard clearly from BBC America how stupid they think it is. As one of those, "they're not our paymasters" Americans I'm pleased to know he's gotten an earful from BBCA. I think it is stupid. I just hope it, and RTD's ego aren't the death of Torchwood.

Re: John Barrowman on Torchwood: Children Of Earth
Posted By RandyTheFool 1 July 2, 2009 02:48:17 PM

@Cordas, I still think Torchwood is getting off better than Doctor Who at the moment. I'm actually looking forward to this Torchwood mini-series thing simply because I get more of it at one time and get a cohesive story in the process. These alleged Doctor Who "Specials" they have going are driving me up a wall. They're just regular episodes. If you're going to call them "specials", then make them an hour and a half or something.

Re: John Barrowman on Torchwood: Children Of Earth
Posted By absinthefairy 1 July 3, 2009 07:51:41 PM

I'm hoping happy Jack will be back as the brooding Jack can be a bit tedious. I like the show and really hope it works well over 5 nights. It's almost as if they are trying to kill off the show before it gets a chance to attract more fans on BBC1. I hope Torchwood gets another series but I doubt it!
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Torchwood: Children Of Earth

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