In Spring 2005, popular television writer Russell T Davies (Queer as Folk, The Second Coming) did the impossible, and brought Doctor Who (1963-1989) back. Over 13 weeks, at least 6.81 million viewers tuned in (usually more than 8 million, almost unheard of in the multi-channel digital age) to follow the adventures of a new Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper).
A number of recurring regulars were also introduced, such as Rose’s boyfriend Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) and failed companion Adam (Bruno Langley). In the ninth episode, the first of a two-parter by Steven Moffat, intergalactic rogue Captain Jack Harkness was introduced, who would follow them through to the season finale, The Parting of the Ways, where he would be left on a space station in the far future…
…but he was not forgotten. On October 17th 2005, BBC Wales announced it would be producing the first spinoff series (1980’s one-off K9 & Company notwithstanding) from Doctor Who: Torchwood.
Torchwood had already been referenced off-handedly in the episode Bad Wolf, and further appearances were promised in the following season of Doctor Who. The show would revolve around Captain Harkness’ adventures in present-day Cardiff, with a renegade team of alien and paranormal experts, and was due to begin recording in the new year to be broadcast mid-2006 on BBC Three (with a possible move to BBC One later).
Although the producer was initially announced as James Hawes (who had directed The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances for Doctor Who’s 2005 season and The Christmas Invasion for later that year), he chose to focus on directing and as such was replaced in January 2006 by Richard Stokes. Around this time, production designers Edward Thomas (also of Doctor Who) and Matt Savage joined the team, as did Script Editor Helen Raynor (of the first two seasons of Doctor Who) and writers PJ Hammond and Chris Chibnall (the latter of whom would be joining Davies as lead writer).
In March 2006, Eve Myles (who had played Gwyneth in 2005’s The Unquiet Dead) was revealed as Jack’s partner Gwen Cooper, and the opening episode was named as Flotsam and Jetsam. Helen Raynor, Toby Whithouse (School Reunion), Si Spencer and Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith) were revealed to be writing an episode each and Brian Kelly would direct the first block, due to go into production after some delays in May.
As production finally began on May 1st (after a read-through on April 26th) in the new Upper Boat complex in Cardiff (which, after two years of being located in Newport, would also house the 2007 Doctor Who production), the other regular cast members started to be announced: Burn Gorman would be joining the team, and Naoko Mori would be rejoining as Toshiko Sato, previously seen in 2005’s Aliens of London. Block two was announced as consisting of two episodes to be directed by Colin Teague – those by Helen Raynor (Ghost in the Machine) and Toby Whithouse.
By June, the production team was able to confirm that Ghost in the Machine would be episode three, and Whithouse’s episode would be titled Greeks Bearing Gifts and air eighth. The third block, preparing for production, would be directed by James Strong (The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit).
The following month, the second episode was named as New Girl, and block three was confirmed as episodes by Chris Chibnall and newcomers Dan McCulloch & Paul Tomalin. Block four would form Small Worlds by PJ Hammond and a new script by Cath Treganna, and be directed by Alice Troughton.
In August Treganna’s episode was named as Out of Time, and future scripts were announced as Virus by Andrew Rattenbury and an unnamed one by Jacquette May. Meanwhile regulars Indira Varma and Gareth David-Lloyd were announced as Suzie Costello and Ianti Jones respectively, with the promise of guest spots for Gareth Thomas, John Normington, Yasmin Bannerman (lately of The End of the World from 2005) and Adrienne O’Sullivan (of the final online TARDISode of 2006).
September saw the last of the pre-launch news, with Noel Clarke’s script finally named as Combat and the finale as Chris Chibnall’s End of Days.
With the show aiming for a late-October start, promotion began in earnest on October 1st as an animated ‘T’ logo was sandwiched in the schedules between various programmes on both BBC One and BBC Three.
Three days later, on October 4th, bus adverts began appearing, confirming the start date as Sunday 22nd October, and by this point popular video download site YouTube was broadcasting a clip supposedly from the first episode – shaky handheld camera footage of a crime scene.
On Saturday 7th, the first full trailer premiered, lasting 29 seconds, featuring clips of all the cast, and oddly avoiding confirmation of the start date, which by now was well known.
In the fortnight that followed, further trailers were broadcast and the website launched on October 12th, containing character descriptions, a tour of The Hub, an interview with Russell T Davies and (hidden in the coding) episode titles and plot descriptions for all thirteen episodes. Confusion surrounded the actual start-time, which adverts on the weekend of the 14th suggested would be 9pm the following Sunday, while other reputable sources suggested 9:10 (with a simultaneous BBC One transmission of the first episode) or 10pm. In the event, the first two episodes would be broadcast back-to-back at 9pm (with a repeat at 1am the following morning, followed by Torchwood Declassified, a behind-the-scenes show) and again on Wednesday on BBC Two.
Final news came via DWM on Thursday 12th, which renamed the first episode as Everything Changes, and on BBC HD which transmitted a trailer on the 16th putting an end to months of rumours and speculation: Torchwood, shot in high-definition, would form part of the BBC’s test service on BBC-HD, which was at this point broadcasting just a few hours a day. The Radio Times released on the 18th, covering the week of Torchwood’s launch, contained a five-page feature on the new series, and dedicated a cover to the show – a first for a digital-only broadcast.
Following the broadcast of the first two episodes on October 22nd, www.torchwood.org.uk finally launched, giving further information on the characters backgrounds.
On Monday 23rd, as news began to break that the premier episode had acheived ratings of 2.4 million (a new record for non-terrestrial non-sport broadcasts) the main BBC Torchwood site also went fully live – the first two Declassifieds were added, as were interviews with Will Cohen on the “sex gas”, Neill Gorton on The Weevil, general interviews with Barrowman, Gardner, Brian Kelly, Myles and Edward Thomas, brief descriptions (and 3 minute “highlight” videos) of the first two episodes, a preview trailer of the third episode and a number of “props” added to Jack’s safe: the Resurrection Glove, the alien knife, the alien scanner, the perfume, the portable prison cell and the meteorite core.
The following week, the BBCi site further updated. Not only with the addition of the third Declassified, an episode four trailer (and the removal of episode three) and episode three highlights, more interviews with Burn Gorman, Colin Teague, Richard Stokes, an “autopsy” on the Ghost Machine, and both the Ghost Machine and mini CAT scanner added to Jack’s safe. The next week, another collection of minor updates to the “org” website appeared (including background on Tanizaki’s interactions with the Cybermen), and additions to the main site of Declassified four, the usual highlights and trailer, Gorton talking about the Cyberwoman, and interviews with David-Lloyd, Strong and editor Mike Jones.
The week commencing the 13th, following the broadcast of Small Worlds, saw yet more updates to the .org.uk site, and on the official site the regular Declassified/trailer/highlights updates, an interview with Jean Claude Deguara about the demonic faeries, and further interviews with Barrowman, Davies and director Alice Troughton. The updating tieing in with Countrycide an interview was added with Gorton on corpse-creation, one with Mori on the blood and gore and one with Chibnall on the script.
For Greeks Bearing Gifts, a quick update to the Flash version of the site meant Toshiko appearing over the top of an image of Owen, fact files were added on the pendant and the transporter, a chat with Adam Burnett on creating the Mary CGI, a discussion with Barney Curnow about filming Mary, one with Mori on the script and finally one with Colin Teague about his approach to the show. The following week’s They Keep Killing Suzie was accompanied with yet more .org.uk updates, and on the official site tweaks to the Resurrection Glove and Alien Knife write-ups, a short interview with Davies on the Glove, more interviews with Davies, Gardner and Strong on the episode overall and the usual media updates to Declassified and the previews. Another brief glitch hit the website this week as it became possible to accidentally mislayer the images on the homepage, bringing back Tosh from the previous week.
On December 11th, the Random Shoes updates consisted of an interview with Sarah Payne about the alien eye and chats with Richard Stokes about the script, Myles about her character and James Erskine about camera trickery. The day after, following days of rumours, the second series of Torchwood was at last confirmed, with a Spring production and an Autumn 2007 premiere on BBC2.
After the broadcast of Out of Time, an interview was added to the official site with Barrowman and David-Lloyd talking about the rift along with further chats with Stokes about the tone, Alice Troughton about the script’s quality and Myles about Gwen’s relationship with Rhys. Tie-ins with Combat were an interview with Kasey and Pete Hawkins on the Weevils, and one with Goddard on the episode as a whole.
On Christmas Day, immediately after the broadcast of Runaway Bride, trailers for Doctor Who series 3, the Sarah Jane Adventures pilot and the Torchwood finale were all shown back to back, and on Boxing Day the first five episodes finally appeared on DVD.
Torchwood is here…
(Bus image courtesy ‘The Silver Shade’ of Outpost Gallifrey.)
