Some bad news arrives courtesy of Bleeding Cool. Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell's excellent hospital-set sci-fi horror, Pulse, which we reviewed a month or two back here on Den Of Geek, hasn't been commissioned for a full series by the BBC.

"The decision about which series to commission was not determined solely by audience numbers," said BBC3 controller Danny Cohen at the Edinburgh TV festival. "BBC3 looks hard at Appreciation Index responses, how good they thought a series might be. Pulse got an okay AI. There's a range of reasons. It's about which one you think creatively - instinctively - has the most mileage."

Instead, the channel has picked up the as-yet unseen Touch, a supernatural thriller from the writer of Cast Offs and Skins, Jack Thorne. About a socially awkward young man with the unusual ability to see the dead, the six-part series will begin filming next year.

"Touch started life as one of our drama pilots but quickly showed such imagination and energy that we asked the hugely talented Jack Thorne to write five more episodes, and Touch the series was born," Cohen explained.

While we undoubtedly look forward to Touch, we're sad to see the BBC3 pass up on Pulse. Freely referencing classic genre films such as David Cronenberg's Shivers and Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator, it could have provided the channel with something rarely seen on British television: a full-blooded slice of Grand Guignol horror.

Bleeding Cool