Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)

British actor Robert Carlyle says that while he’d be open to the role as the Doctor, no one from the BBC has contacted him about taking the role. Carlyle officially denied the rumored reports.

Just as we have had some misgivings about our reporting on these unsubstantiated rumors, the website Dark Horizons has also chimed in and calls into question the SciFi Pulse originated rumors that next year’s specials have begun filming as production on the final episode of series four concluded just a few weeks ago, or that major shifts in “Torchwood” casting is in the making.

The other actor linked to the role should Tennant be exiting (which we must strongly re-iterate has not been confirmed by any offiical sources) would be James Nesbitt, who is best-known for his work on the BBC’s mini-series “Jeckyl.”

In other news, the BBC is upset with British tabloid “The Sun” for a leak of story details on the upcoming series four two-part story by Hugo-winning writer Stephen Moffatt. Moffatt wrote “Blink” and “The Girl in the Fireplace” as well as the first series two-parter “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dance.”

The fued between the BBC and the Sun is nothing new. The tabloid has routinely published SPOILERS and stories about the new series, whether they’re confirmed or not.

Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)

Are major changes in store for “Doctor Who” and its spin-off series “Torchwood”?

If rumors are correct, both shows could see a major face-lift in their next several seasons.

Rumors persist that David Tennant will step aside from the role as the 10th Doctor as early as next year. In 2009, the series will only produce four special episodes instead of a full season according to previous, confirmed reports. This was seen as a move to help keep Tennant in the role, due to other demands on his schedule. However, rumors are cropping up that Tennant may leave the role during one of the special episodes early next year.

Speculation has it that British actor Robert Carlyle, best known for his work in “The Fully Monty,” is in negotiations for the role as the 11th Doctor. Filming of next year’s specials is currently under way, though little is known about them beyond that.

This rumor goes contrary to reports from those close to Tennant, who say the actor is enjoying the role and planned to stay until the end of the fifth full series of the show in 2010 before re-generating. However, the rumor does support statements made earlier by upcoming companion Catherine Tate, who said that Tennant was leaving the role at the end of the fourth series.

Meanwhile, it appears that the good Doctor may not be the only show getting a face-lift. The hit BBC-series “Torchwood” could get a dramatic cast overhaul as well. The BBC has been airing a more family-friendly version of the show on BBC-2 during season two and some see this as a tryout to see how the series would fare as a more family-friendly venue. So far, the ratings have been solid for the family-friendly repeats of the adult-oriented sci-fi drama.

While “Torchwood” hasn’t been renewed for a third series yet, five episodes have been commissioned and according to unconfirmed reports, there is a push to make it oriented for family viewing. Most of the regular cast including John Barrowman, Burn Gorman and Naoko Mori have been written out of the show, though Barrowman would still be around to make guest-appearances in the third series. Eve Myles remains as Gwen and Freyma Angeman would join the cast full-time as Martha Jones. The move could be one to court the “Doctor Who” audience while the series produces only specials for a year.

It should be stated that all of this is speculation and rumor at this point. Beyond the fact that the BBC has commissioned “Doctor Who” into 2010 with the specials in 2009 and the fifth series is 2010, none of this can be confirmed. Also, rumors of Tennant’s departure have cropped up in each of the past several season of the hit show, so it could just be more of the same. Until we can confirm these stories as fact, we strongly suggest you take all of this with a grain of a salt.

Just want to remind all our “Torchwood” fans that beginning with the new Season Two American audiences will no longer have to wait a full season before watching Captain Jack and his crew fight the evil aliens slipping through the rift.

Beginning Saturday, January 26th, BBC America will begin airing Season Two of Torchwood at 9:00PM EST.

“Torchwood,” is a bonafide hit. The “Doctor Who” spinoff has seen its worldwide audience explode in size over the last year and in America, season one of the show can be seen on BBC America and in high definition on the HD tier of most cable and satellite providers.

Season Two promises to be even better, with Captain Jack’s return to the Hub after his short jaunt back with the good Doctor last season and with Martha, Who’s most recent companion, joining the Torchwood team of regulars.

Here is a link to Torchwood’s Season (series) Two trailer at Freema Agyeman.com.

Submitted by: Darcy Low (SoSF Fan Contributor)

In an effort to capture a wider audience, yet without alienating his staunch adult fanbase, “Torchwood” creator Russell T. Davies will provide a specially edited episode for the show’s second season. This edited version will be suitable for all family members, including the kiddies.

“Torchwood,” was a series created out of the more family friendly “Doctor Who” series but was designed for a strictly adult audience, taking on topics as diverse as alternate sexual relationships, extra-marital promiscuity, inter-species copulation, violence, alien abuse and more with scripts that were extremely well written and acted.

In an interview Davies said the decision to do this was about the young fans.

“We were aware that an awful lot of our audience love Captain Jack, but wouldn’t able to see it,” he said. “So the answer was - let’s make a version for a younger audience.”

The family-friendly edited version will be shown a few days after the adult version.

Both versions of Torchwood will be shown on BBC2 starting in mid January 2008. Season Two will also be coming to BBC America and on the cable HD Tier shortly after it’s aired in the U.K.

“Torchwood” stars John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, the leader of a group that investigates alien intrusions in Cardiff, England. Barrowman’s co-stars include Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd. Joining the group of investigators for part of Season Two will be former “Doctor Who” companion Freema Agyeman.

Everyone who works for Torchwood is young, all are under 35. Some say that’s because what they’re doing is a new science, others say it’s because they die young…but why?

The team, led by the enigmatic, ever-watchful Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman, “Doctor Who,” “De-Lovely”), uses scavenged alien technology to solve present day crime - both alien and human. They’re separate from the government, working outside the police and beyond the United Nations.

From an underground base built on a rift in time and space, Torchwood sets its own rules, delving into the unknown and fighting the impossible whether it is responding to an alien threat, sightings of extra-terrestrial technology, an unusual autopsy report, or the spread of a deadly alien virus.

Part “The X-Files,” part “Angel,” Torchwood is the team we’d all love to be part of, where excitement comes before morality and the rules are made as you go along.

Season One of the series will also make its debut in high definition this fall on HD-Net.

In a story at SCI FI Wire, actor John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack on the BBC Two’s “Doctor Who” spinoff “Torchwood,” said that Series Two of the show will reveal more about his character’s complicated backstory.

“Every day I come in, or every new script I get, I learn something new about my character, which keeps it fresh,” Barrowman said in an interview at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., on July 13. “And it means that when I play things, I play them differently, because I know different things about him now.”

This new season of “Torchwood” will also further develop the character of Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman, who joined the Doctor has his companion in Series Three of that show. Agyeman will be making an appearance in three episodes of “Torchwood” before rejoining “Doctor Who” in the middle of its Series Four.

For full details go to SCI FI Wire.

Hello Mike and Slicers,

Like me you all like “Torchwood” — of course we know it aired late last year (around December in the U.K.) and I remember this quote from your December show:

” Eric in Sydney highly recommends “Torchwood”… too bad it’ll never air on US television”

Well I just found out that BBC America is airing Torchwood in September 2007. Imagine that, it will still probably be cut up a bit, but who knows.

Anyway, have a good weekend.

– David Bates

Submitted by: Sharon Snyder (SoSF Fan Contributor)

James Marsters (”Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel”) will be playing a one-off concert in Cardiff on Saturday, July 21. He will be appearing at The Point in Mount Stuart Square in Cardiff. Tickets cost £20 (subject to booking fee) and are now on sale from The Point. Full details of the concert are available here.

James is in town filming for the second series of UK scifi television favorite “Torchwood.”

He will be appearing as a guest star alongside leading actor John Barrowman in the BBC’s adult spin-off of long-running television series “Doctor Who.”

“Torchwood” - an anagram of “Doctor Who” - is a secret task force that deals with alien encounters. John Barrowman plays mysterious multi-sexual time agent Captain Jack Harkness, who leads the Cardiff-based team. Series creator Russell T Davies, winner of the 2006 BAFTA Dennis Potter Award for Outstanding Writing for Television, has also written “Casanova,” “Doctor Who” and “Queer As Folk.”

The episode will be broadcast in the UK by the BBC early next year.

Submitted by: Kyle Nin (SoSF Staff Reporter)

“Torchwood,” the “Doctor Who” spinoff starring John Barrowman has scored with fans and has been given the greenlight for a second series, according to the BBC.

The show takes place from the anagram organization formed by Queen Victoria. In the 21st Century Torchwood, a highly secretive branch of the British government, is led by the immortal time traveling American called Captain Jack Harkness. The purpose of Torchwood, as established by the old Victorian queen is to investigate and curtail human crimes, alien visitations to Earth and extraterrestrial meddling in human affairs. What makes this group unique is its willingness to use alien technology to accomplish the task at hand.

Series Two of “Torchwood” begins shooting around March of 2007 for UK viewing later in the year. As was discussed in a recent Slice of SciFi Show and a SyfyPortal interview with Barrowman, Captain Jack will be making a few re-visits to the good Doctor’s turf in future “Doctor Who” episodes.

Source: Outpost Gallifrey

For you lucky buggers living in the UK (US does get a livestream on some programming on Satellite Radio) the BBC has released detailed schedule information for the period from December 23, 2006 through January 5, 2007, indicating when episodes of Torchwood, the Doctor Who Christmas special, and the Sarah Jane Adventures episode will air. For fans in the UK, here is the schedule (assuming nothing else gets added):

• Christmas Eve 9:30PM and 3:10AM BBC Three - Torchwood episode 11 - Combat (repeats 26 December 10:30PM and 1:50AM, 29 December 9PM and 1:30AM, 30 December 10:35PM and 1:45AM on BBC Three) (repeats 27 December 10PM on BBC Two)
• Early Christmas Day 4AM BBC Three - Torchwood Declassified episode 11
• Christmas Day 1PM BBC One - Doctor Who Confidential - Music and Monsters
• Christmas Day 4PM to 7PM GMT BBC Radio 1 - Jo Whiley Meets Doctor Who (Radio 1 is streamed live on the internet and the programme can be heard for 7 days afterwards. Radio 1 can also be heard on Satellite Radio in the US on a 5 hour time delay - 4 to 7PM EST, 1 to 4PM PST.)
• Christmas Day 7PM BBC One - Doctor Who - The Runaway Bride - 1 hour Christmas episode, first episode of the 3rd Series production schedule. 13 more 45 minute episodes will air in 2007.
  (repeats 27 December 8PM and 2 January 7PM on BBC Three)
• New Years Eve 6PM & Midnight GMT BBC 7 - Doctor Who - Blood Of The Daleks, pt 1 of 2 - first of 8 new 50 minute radio plays produced by Big Finish, starring Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor. The plays are premiering on the radio before getting CD releases. As with BBC Radio 1, BBC 7 can be heard live on the internet and shows can be heard for 7 days afterwards.
• New Years Day 4:50PM BBC One - The Sarah Jane Adventures - Invasion Of The Bane - one hour special previewing a 2nd spinoff series from Doctor Who. Torchwood was adult oriented, Sarah Jane Adventures is childrens oriented. 10 more 30 minute episodes will air in 2007.
• New Years Day 9:30PM and 1:05AM BBC Three - Torchwood episodes 12+13 combined - Captain Jack Harkness/Apocalypse. The last 2 episodes of Series 1 air together as a special.
  (repeats 2 January 10:30PM and 1:35AM on BBC Three.) (repeats 3 January 9PM on BBC Two)
  (Captain Jack Harkness airs as a standalone episode on 4 January at 9PM and 1AM on BBC Three.) (Apocalypse airs as a standalone episode on 5 January at 9PM and 12:30AM on
  BBC Three.)
• Late New Years Day 2:40AM BBC Three - Torchwood Declassified episodes 12+13
  combined (episode 12 airs by itself on 4 January at 9:50PM on BBC Three.) (episode 13 airs by itself on 5 January at 9:50PM on BBC Three.)

Source: SFX

It’s nearly here! It’s nearly here! In case you’ve been locked in a cupboard for the last year, Torchwood is a new spin-off series from Doctor Who, in which Captain Jack (John Barrowman) heads up a team of investigators who look into crimes both human and alien. We’re so excited about it we have to change our pants three times a day.

The series starts airing on Sunday 22 October. Both episodes one and two will air on BBC Three that night, starting at 9.00pm. Both episodes will then be repeated BBC Two on 25 October. From then on there’ll be a new episode every Sunday on BBC Three, repeated on BBC Two on the Wednesday.

To get you geared up for the launch, here’s an exclusive: a guide to all the characters, in the words of Torchwood producer Richard Stokes. You all know Captain Jack, but here’s the rest of the team, from left to right…

Gwen Cooper
(Eve Myles)
“Russell wrote the part for her. He saw her in [BBC Wales drama] Belonging first of all and was knocked out by her acting ability. He and Julie were really pleased when they got her a part in series one of Doctor Who [Eve played Gwyneth in “The Unquiet Dead”]. Having seen that, he realised this is someone who could carry a series. She’s kind of the heart of the show and the human side of Torchwood and the first episode follows her journey into Torchwood, thereby taking the audience into Torchwood. She has a bit more human empathy than the rest of the team, who have all been stuck hunting aliens for a bit too long…”

Suzie Costello
(Indira Varma)
“She’s second in command to Jack and she’s played by the extraordinary Indira Varma, who we were very lucky to get. She’s the workaholic of the group and the one who takes everything the most seriously. That may have an effect on her character in the series. But I’ll leave that hanging…”

Ianto Jones
(Gareth David-Lloyd)
“He’s kind of a butler. I’ve always described him as Alfred, Batman’s butler, but 50 years younger. He basically looks after everyone. He makes the coffee, he makes the tea, he drives the truck around, but he’s probably more like Radar from M*A*S*H. Just as Captain Jack is saying, ‘You know what we need right now?’ he’s out getting it. He’s got one or two really big episodes during the series and I must say he’s a real find. He plays fear and upset in his eyes like no other actor I know.”

Dr Owen Harper
(Burn Gorman)
“He’s very acerbic, very sarcastic, very, very intelligent. He’s brilliant at what he does and doesn’t really give a shit about anybody else. He’s also very sexy. He’s one of those people that appears incredibly aloof but actually you just get turned on by how good they are at what they do. Writers love writing for him.

We were very lucky to get Burn Gorman. There were a lot of names flying on email between me, Julie, Russell and [main writer] Chris Chibnall when we first talking about casting this character. We were talking about someone Welsh to start with, and we were talking about other names and then Andy Pryor, our casting director, mentioned Burn and all of us had completely fallen in love with him during Bleak House.”

Toshiko Sato
(Naoko Mori)
“Russell and Julie had cast her in Doctor Who [”Aliens of London”] and really loved her. All the cast are stunningly beautiful, but Naoko also has a real vulnerability that you completely believe. An easy way to describe her is she’s the computer geek, she’s the techy nerd, but emotionally she’s a much deeper character. But she plays that repressed, ‘I know what I feel about you, but I don’t know how to express it’ thing. She’s almost emotionally the opposite to Owen, but there are some episodes where we get to explore what that repression is…”

Check out the official Torchwood site HERE

Source: TorchwoodTV

TorchwoodTV is denying that there has been a delay in the production of the anticipated spinoff of “Doctor Who” which takes its name from an anagram of the famous Doctor’s show.

Here is what TorchwoodTV had to say:

“Don’t be alarmed by reports today saying there is a major crisis and consequential delay on the production of Torchwood because what has come out of the BBC HD cameras hasn’t looked right. It sounds like Sci-Fi Pulse is trying to grab a bit of attention on a slow news week with a very old non-story.”

“Yes, it’s true the original plans were to shoot in HD and yes it’s true they had to scrap that. But this all happened months ago, very early in production. Torchwood.TV is happy to report our team in Cardiff is still right on schedule for a late October premiere.”

Time will tell which of these conflicting reports is correct. I personally hope this report is the right one because the sooner it is released in the UK, the quicker the rest of the world will eventually get to see it as well.

There is a new official page on Torchwood at BBC Wales Southeast.

Submitted by: Lora Friedenthal (Dark Magees)

All is not going well on the set of “Torchwood,” the “Doctor Who” spinoff series that was due to premiere this winter in the UK…at least, that’s the word from SciFi Pulse.

Due to certain camera technical difficulties the BBC has been forced to re-shoot much of the series. According to a source that contacted SciFi Pulse who is supposedly, “deep within Torchwood HQ,” the studio can’t get their flashy Panasonic HD cameras to work in low light causing the final product to look all shiney (not Firefly shiney) and glossy and the tapes had to be “junked.”

All those ruined scenes will now have to be reshot causing a delay in the show’s debut.