Doctor Who -> Torchwood

Doctor Who came back. No-one would have believed it would happen three years ago, but it did happen. Now, something else is happening: Torchwood, the first Doctor Who spin-off*, which will be an adult sci-fi drama, written and produced by Russell T Davies, about a crack team of investigators and their exploits in modern-day Cardiff. Oh yeah, and the team will be led by ex-companion and all-round awesome future guy Captain Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman. (Source: "BBC to screen 'Dr Who for adults' as new spin-off show", The Independant Online; thanks to jblum for the tip-off.)

Torchwood is, if you missed it, an anagram of "Doctor Who", and we've already heard that this is a word which will crop up in the new series. We've also already heard that the BBC have registered a Torchwood domain name, so all indications are that this is very real. But - and this is the exciting Doctor Who bit - we've also been told that there will be some kind of through line or "arc plot" for the second series, in the way that we had Bad Wolf in series one, and I'm guessing Torchwood isn't it - meaning it's a whole new mystery just waiting to be discovered. Awesome.

Now, the only real worry is that Davies will do a Joss and, when working on two shows at once, allow the quality of both to suffer a bit. Then again, most of his his scripts were the weaker ones on the first series (with a couple of exceptions), so perhaps we'll get lucky and he'll do less writing for Doctor Who, allowing him to get back to what he's really good at - writing complex, sexy, funny character drama for adults. (It's the family friendly adventure pacing and tone he has some trouble with on Who.) Like Queer As Folk, only with aliens and explosions and stuff. (I really really gotta watch the original Queer As Folk; the ten minutes I've seen plus the billion rave reviews mean I know what I'm missing.)

You can keep your US television schedule, I need it not. Doctor Who, Torchwood, Eleventh Hour, Casanova, The Green Ward... I need a satellite feed from the UK so I can get BBC3, damn it. Now, I'm going to go find myself a job for the next four months.

*All right, the first Doctor Who television spin-off, if you don't count K-9 And Company, which I don't, largely for the theme song. Sorry Liz.

Connection.

I've ben listening to Dr Karl every week for a few months now, sounding out the competition as it were (though realisitically we'd never be in competition), and it's been driving me nuts that his voice and speech patterns reminded me of someone I couldn't name. Yesterday, I worked it out: he sounds like Bill Steamshovel, only not so deep. (Note for overseas readers and the similarly disadvantaged: I'm talking Mister Squiggle.)