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TORCHWOOD CAST JOINED BY INDEPENDENCE DAY AND ER STARS
Bill Pullman, Mekhi Phifer, Alexa Havins and Arlene Tur join John Barrowman and Eve Myles for new series as plot and character details exclusively revealed.
Los Angeles, U.S – January 7, 2011 – BBC Cymru Wales, BBC Worldwide and US premium entertainment network, Starz Entertainment, today announced new cast, plot and character details for the new series of hit BBC ONE hit drama Torchwood. This highly anticipated new series will have the title Torchwood: Miracle Day and will premiere this July.
ER and Lie To Me star Mekhi Phifer will play Rex Matheson, a C.I.A. operative who joins forces with Captain Jack and Gwen Cooper to fight a global conspiracy that reaches from Washington to Wales and the slums of Shanghai whilst Bill Pullman, best known for his big screen roles such as While You Were Sleeping and Independence Day will take on the role of Oswald Danes, a convicted child killer who survives his own execution to become the most infamous man on the planet.
Also making their Torchwood debuts are Alexa Havins as Esther Drummond, a deskbound C.I.A employee who dreams of active duty and who suddenly finds herself running alongside Jack, Gwen and Rex; and Arlene Tur as Dr Vera Juarez, a Washington D.C. surgeon, who ends up on the frontline of medical care on "Miracle Day" advising the government think-tanks on the best course of action for the world's population.
The plot of Miracle Day is the most explosive Torchwood storyline yet. One day, nobody dies. All across the world, nobody dies. And then the next day, and the next, and the next, people keep aging -- they get hurt and sick -- but they never die. The result: a population boom, overnight. With all the extra people, resources are finite. It's said that in four months' time, the human race will cease to be viable. But this can't be a natural event – someone's got to be behind it. It's a race against time as C.I.A. agent Rex Matheson investigates a global conspiracy. The answers lie within an old, secret British institute. As Rex keeps asking "What is Torchwood?", he's drawn into a world of adventure, and a threat to change what it means to be human, forever.
John Barrowman and Eve Myles will return in their roles as Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper respectively.
The 10-episode instalment has been written by a team led by Torchwood creator, Russell T Davies, and produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Davies and BBC Worldwide Productions' SVP Scripted, Julie Gardner, return as executive producers with BBC Worldwide Productions EVP Jane Tranter, and BBC Wales' Bethan Jones. The series has been commissioned by Controller BBC Drama, Ben Stephenson, and Starz President and CEO, Chris Albrecht.
BBC Worldwide, having previously distributed Torchwood to territories such as Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, Israel, Russia and across Latin America will distribute the new series to broadcasters globally.
While previous series were based on location in Cardiff, Wales, this new instalment will feature locations in Wales, the US and around the world.
The series was originally commissioned and produced in 2006 by BBC Cymru Wales, with the latest high octane series, Torchwood: Children of Earth capturing UK audiences of more than 6 million.
SERIES SYNOPSISRead more...
When C.I.A. agent Rex Matheson investigates a global conspiracy, he finds himself unearthing a threat which challenges the entire human race. The answers seem to lie within an old, secret British institute, known only as Torchwood. But Torchwood was destroyed, years ago, and the keys to the institute are held by its only two survivors -- former Police Officer Gwen Cooper, who has long since disappeared along with her husband and child, and the mysterious Captain Jack Harkness, a man whose history seems to stretch back centuries.
With Rex under attack from all sides, in both the US and the UK, he soon discovers there are forces at work within every level of society, determined to stop Torchwood's return. As a chain of events across the world links together the most disparate and unlikely individuals -- including a surgeon, a killer, senators and CEOs -- a new Torchwood team takes shape. But this time, the threat is much closer to home, as they realize that their greatest enemy is mankind itself...
CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS (John Barrowman)
Jack looks like a hero. But he's so much more than that...
He's American, handsome, with a killer smile and a classic coat. But you don't expect heroes to be this much fun. He's witty, fast, subversive and there's a reason for that glint in his eye - he'll sleep with women, he'll sleep with men; if aliens invade, he'll sleep with them too. Got a problem with that? Tough! His dashing style hides a secret. There are mysteries about Jack -- a man going under his name seems to have a history stretching back to World War 2, or even earlier, to the Nineteenth century, the Eighteenth...
Truth is, Jack Harkness is immortal. A fixed point in time and space. The only one of his kind. For thousands of years, he has never been able to die. When killed, he comes back to life -- seconds later. Though his tragedy is, he feels every death. It hurts -- and so does the passage of time. He can never love anyone for too long, because he will always lose them. As a result, he's lived many lives. He's been a conman, a thief, an adventurer - though more a rogue than a villain, because his perspective on human life makes him appreciate this world all the more.
Jack once ran the Torchwood Institute, a British organization dedicated to fighting the strange and bizarre. He was king of his own little world for a while, the happiest he'd ever been. But Torchwood fell. His friends were killed. The Institute closed down, and Jack disappeared, to start yet another of his many new lives. And yet... The only thing that could call Jack Harkness back is his unstated love for Gwen Cooper. And when a new, epic danger affects the whole planet, Jack finds himself back at the center of events, fighting not just for his own life, but for everyone on Earth. But this time, are the stakes too high?
GWEN COOPER (Eve Myles)
All Gwen wants is a quiet life. Honest.
She's Welsh, lives in seclusion, far away from the city, on a cliff top in the wilds of South Wales with her devoted husband, and baby Anwen -- it's a rural idyll. And it's a lie. Gwen is in hiding, because she once lived the most extraordinary life. She was the heart and soul of an organization called Torchwood, a freelance band of fighters who fought the strange and unexplained. She was a defender of the human race.
But no more. Torchwood was destroyed. Her colleagues died, or fled. And Gwen hid herself away, for the rest of her life, to protect her loved ones. But knowing, just knowing, that one day trouble would come calling again.
She lives the ultimate double life: the funny, salty, earthy woman who loves home and family, combined with the tough, ruthless warrior, who loves the thrill of the fight. She's both selfish and selfless. And never doubt it -- when Gwen's in a crisis, she is magnificent. Gun in both hands, baby strapped to her chest, she'll run and fight and never give up.
It's passion, in the end: Gwen's all about passion. She loves her man, she loves her child, she loves this mad old world, and maybe she loves Captain Jack Harkness just a little too much. But when the events of this story push Gwen to the limit, she'll need to call on resources she never knew she had, to take action and make the most terrible decisions, on behalf of all mankind.
REX MATHESON (Actor TBD)
He’s 28, the golden boy.
Has been, all his life. Harvard education, fast-tracker in the C.I.A., destined for success. Though he’s never taken it easy -– Rex hustles, seduces and campaigns to get where he is today. He can talk his way into anything, then charm his way out, fast. He’s made a lot of enemies, but his friends and lovers would defend him to death. His choice of career is significant. Someone like Rex could make a fortune in Wall Street, or Hollywood. But choosing the C.I.A. says a lot about him: that for all his swagger, he does believe in justice. And will fight for it.
Slowly but surely, we see him make friends. He’s thrown together a bunch of people known as Torchwood, the only people who might have the answer to a global mystery. To Rex, at first, they’re a bunch of freaks. Welsh women and World War 2 Captains, what’s that about?! But as they race from one crisis to another, dodging assassins, blackmail, corruption and conspiracy, from Washington to Wales and the slums of Shanghai, Rex forges friendships in the heat of fire. He learns to trust his new colleagues. And they realize that this dangerous, dazzling, reckless man is the best friend they could ever have, in a world going to hell.
They frighten us, men like Rex. We wish we were him; we never will be.
"It's a new model for the future, of BBC Worldwide actually becoming a production partner and making stuff for themselves. Their big thing in America is Dancing With The Stars, which is the American Strictly Come Dancing. They sell that format all over the world, but they actually make that for American television and it's hugely successful, more successful than Strictly is -- this year it overtook American Idol for the first time ever. So that's part of building up a production base here, of taking British ideas -- and new ideas -- and making them on a worldwide scale. It's a really good ambition, I think, and it's going to have to be the case more and more. If you look at things like Dickens adaptations and Cranford, they haven’t been able to afford themselves for decades -- they're all made with money from Boston and stuff like that. Co-partner funding has been the future for decades now." Continue reading...Read more...
We already know that series 4 of Torchwood is now a co-production between BBC, Starz and BBC Worldwide, but now comes firm news from Entertainment Weekly that three new characters are being added to the cast. They are: Rex Matheson, a "CIA agent born to make waves" with a "wicked" sense of humour; Oswald Jones, a convicted murderer and paedophile; and Esther Katusi, a young CIA agent "who learns what she's really made of only when she's forced to." The last two characters will be recurring, not regular. John Barrowman and Eve Myles will both return as Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper, respectively.
Update: Apparently, this casting call has just been denounced as "fake". The characters mentioned above are apparently part of the US version of Shameless that's being made. Other sources persist this news is real, but keep an ear out for more official BBC confirmation.
"I've been part of successful partnerships with Jane Tranter and the BBC previously, and I'm very much looking forward to working with them again."
"Torchwood has attracted remarkable attention and loyalty in both the UK and US, and in this new partnership with Starz, the next chapter will not only reward our current fans, but also introduce new viewers to the most impressive instalment yet. Chris Albrecht and his team are committed to delivering quality premium programming to their subscribers, also a core attribute of the BBC, and we are excited to be working with them as the Torchwood adventure continues."
"Russell, Jane and Julie came to us with a compelling vision for the evolution of the Torchwood saga that really takes the story into whole new areas. The compelling story and characters this trio created provide a strong template for driving this narrative in exciting ways."
"We have a long history of working with many US networks, but it is incredibly exciting to be working with Starz for the first time, as well as to be reunited with the best of British in Russell, Jane and Julie. Torchwood will burst back onto the screen with a shocking and moving story with global stakes and locations that will make it feel bigger and bolder than ever."
The proposed remake/spin-off to the BBC's Torchwood has been turned down by Fox. Creator Russell T. Davies was working on the pilot script for a serialized 13-episode US version, with John Barrowman potentially reprising his role as Captain Jack Harkness, but now BBC Worldwide are shopping the series to other networks.
I'm sure Torchwood's fans are relieved, but I was rather intrigued to see what a US version would have been like. It's a shame a pilot wasn't filmed, to exist as a curio at the very least. There have been reports, or wild speculation, that Russell T. Davies was finding it a struggle to translate his vision of Torchwood for an American sensibility. Put simply: the things that made Torchwood stand out from the crowd (its sexuality, its edginess, its Britishness) are the very things a US network would either excise or dillute.
The Hollywood Reporter says former-Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies is going to launch Torchwood in America for Fox, perhaps with existing stars John Barrowman and Eve Myles involved. Julie Gardner (producer of Doctor Who) and Jane Tranter (VP of BBC Worldwide) are also said to be involved getting this project off the ground, with speculation that the US version will have a more "global" scope.
How excited are you if this turns out to be true? Is RTD's "big American adventure" really going to involve "remaking" his own show? Will this effectively be a fourth series set in America with a bigger budget, or a total revamp? If the project gathers momentum, do you think Fox will insist on a new cast, or is Barrowman's role definitely safe? I can well imagine studio execs being happy to have Barrowman onboard, but less inclined to keep Eve Myles.
Considering Gwen's story appeared to reach an end in "Children Of Earth" last year, maybe it would make more sense if Captain Jack returned to Earth in the US and rebuilt Torchwood there.
What do you think? Good news? Bad news? Are you worried for the future of Torchwood, or is this a very exciting evolution of the show? Are you disappointed in RTD's next step in his career? Or will this entire story prove to be baloney?
The Children Of Earth five-part special was so successful that... they're not going to do it again. Well, for now. Instead, the BBC are bringing Torchwood back for a fourth season of 13 episodes. John Barrowman made the announcement as a guest on Steve Wright's afternoon radio show. I'm glad, really. I liked COE, but I don't think it filled five hours that brilliantly, and I much prefer the idea of 13 individual stories (with a few two-parters, say.) Maybe we'll just get five-part specials whenever the Torchwood team need a break? It's a good way of allowing busy actors like Barrowman to do other things, without being indefinitely tied into Torchwood every single year.
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