Doctor Who pal hits small screen
- Publication: CanWest News Service
- Date: 2007-10-04
- Author: Alex Strachan
- Page:
- Language: English
Torchwood starring Captain Jack comes to televisions Friday
Who is Captain Jack Harkness?
- Enquiring minds — and fans of Doctor Who — have been asking eve!
since it was first revealed that Captain Jack, a recurring hero in Doctor Who, would inherit his very own spin-off series, Torchwood.
Torchwood makes its Canadian debut Friday after taking U.K. critics by storm.
Captain Jack, as he's better known, is the series' dashing, bisexual hero, as played by Glasgow-born, Illinois-raised John Barrowman.
Torchwood isn't your average TV crime drama, and Captain Jack isn't your average TV hero.
He's petulant, impulsive, charismatic, ever-cheerful and dashing. A hit with the ladies — and the fellas. A man's man, and a ladies' man to boot. Oh, and did we mention he's dashing?
Torchwood, as originally envisioned by Doctor Who and Queer as Folk writer Russell T. Davies, is darker and grimmer than its Who antecedent. The series focuses on a team of crisis investigators who use scavenged alien technology to solve crimes.
That's alien as in outer space: The villains in Torchwood aren't your average murderers and serial killers. That would be — dull.
The villains in Torchwood are apt to have fangs rather than teeth, and plenty of body hair. Torchwood is a series with bite, and it's up to Captain Jack to fight the good fight and save the world on a weekly basis.
U.K. People described Torchwood as being like Doctor Who, "but with swearing, lesbian kisses and a bit more gore." The Sunday Mirror called it "exciting, spooky stuff," with monsters aplenty, resurrections of murder victims and an alien addicted to sex. The Observer called it one of the best programs on TV.
Torchwood's team of investigators is young — under 35 for the most part. There's a goodly deal of hooking up and disengaging, as a result.
"It'll be pretty interesting to see how the North American audiences react to it, because it's pretty out there, so to speak," Barrowman said at the summer meeting of the TV Critics Association. "In the U.K., Doctor Who is a family show, but I know it's promoted a little differently over here. Torchwood is entirely different again."
The character of Captain Jack first appeared in Doctor Who's debut season, in 2005. Back then, Captain Jack was saving entire galaxies. Now, he's trapped on Earth, dealing with more temporal concerns.
"In Doctor Who, Captain Jack's just part of the team," Barrowman explained. "He's number three in the team. The Doctor is the boss, and Jack follows him. In Torchwood, Jack is the leader. So I play that very differently. It's a little darker. He has to remain a little more aloof, because he's the boss."
Captain Jack makes fewer showy speeches in Torchwood than he did in Doctor Who.
No talk of, "I'm from the 51st century, and I've battled aliens, I've seen things, I've travelled to Saturn.' Torchwood is more grounded in reality. It's set in cities in 2008, as opposed to Doctor Who's milieu of star systems and space rockets. Torchwood is more about hot bods than celestial bodies.
Barrowman grew fond of TV while growing up in Illinois. His family moved to the U.S. when he was nine.
"I love television for what it is, he said. "Whatever the style, whatever the genre, I love it. That's why I am part of it.
Barrowman honed his acting skills on the stage, in London's West End, but TV was never far away from his heart.
"Over here they treat you like (Laurence) Olivier if you've done West End theatre," Barrowman said. "Which is kind of cool, but it's really not that big a deal. I always wanted to do TV. British television, the dramas, are slightly edgier. I'm not putting down American television in any way but over here so many are made to fit a specific time. Sometimes the quality suffers. Whereas, with the BBC, they can afford to be a little more particular."
Caption: While 'Doctor Who' is a family show, 'Torchwood' is much darker.
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- APA 6th ed.: Strachan, Alex (2007-10-04). Doctor Who pal hits small screen. CanWest News Service .
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- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctor Who pal hits small screen | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_pal_hits_small_screen | work=CanWest News Service | pages= | date=2007-10-04 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 April 2025 }}</ref>
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- Title: Doctor Who pal hits small screen
- Publication: Nanaimo Daily News
- Date: 2007-10-04
