Director Says ‘Torchwood’ Unchanged by Move to BBC1
Director Euros Lyn told Torchwood Magazine that the series’ move to BBC1 will not alter the content or tone of the Doctor Who spinoff.
"We certainly haven’t neutered or sanitized it in any way. We want appeal to a bigger audience than ever, but it’s not been turned into a Children’s BBC show to achieve that. The key thing for Season 3 is that, no matter how dark it gets, we still want to keep the warmth Doctor Who has in abundance," he said.
The shortened third season will be a mere five parts but run on consecutive nights, telling a single story entitled “Children of the Earth.”
"Torchwood: Children Of Earth is about how human beings behave when they’re faced with an unstoppable force, something so much bigger than they are," Lyn said. "Some of them turn out to be heroes, and some of them turn out to be shits. I think that describes at least one of the dominant themes of these episodes.
"Also, the love story between Captain Jack and Ianto continues to unfold, as does the story of married life for Gwen and Rhys, as Rhys’ character comes into play a lot more, and he becomes almost the fourth member of the team, largely by accident. It’s hard to have perspective on it when you’re right in the middle of filming, so I think I’ll just say it’s going to be brilliant.
"I think they’ve all done a great job in giving each episode a very distinct tone, and each one can stand on its own. Episode 1 is about the team becoming suddenly fragmented, and Episode 2 is much more of a spy thriller as they go their separate ways. Episode 3 introduces the alien threat in a big way, and Episode 4 is a huge political drama about the wider repercussions.
"Those are all very different story beats, and very important in their own right. Episode five, of course, has everything, and is a race to save humanity, but then, what did you expect?"
British airdate or American BBC America dates have yet to be announced although the former is expected in the spring.