Archive for Cast
John Barrowman Exposes His Torchwood On The BBC
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JOHN Barrowman exposes his Torchwood on the BBC and the BBC apologises:
During Friday’s show, presented by Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac, Grimshaw asked Barrowman, who has starred in Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood: “You’re famous, we’re told for getting your willy out in interviews.
“Is this going to happen today?”
Barrowman responded by saying he was going to “get it out”, amid shouting and laughter.
He was later heard to say: “I didn’t take the whole thing out, but I got my fruit and nuts out.”
After Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross promoted Satanic Slapper Georgina Baillie on the ad-free BBC this is an outrage. Time to hit the (FU*K) Off switch on your remote controls.
A BBC spokeswoman confirmed that one complaint had been received.
One! One! Tough luck, Barrowman. No boost in career profile for you.
Unless the Daily Mail gets hold of it – literally – and broadcasts the offending footage with disgusting pictures of Barrowman’s police box, you will remain as that American geyser from the Dr Who spin off for many years to come…
Torchwood – Russell T Davies Interview
Posted by: | CommentsRussell T. Davies discusses Torchwood’s future in the latest issue of Torchwood Magazine.
Torchwood creator Russell T Davies has the future of the hit Doctor Who spin-off all planned out, he has told the new issue of Torchwood Magazine.
“I could write you scene one of series four right now”, says Davies in a revealing interview with Torchwood Magazine. “I know exactly how to pick it up. I’ve got a shape in mind, and I’ve got stories. I know where you’d find Gwen and Rhys, and their baby, and Jack, and I know how you’d go forward with a new form of Torchwood.”
The news will come as a tonic to fans of the show, which enjoyed runaway success in the ratings when the latest series Children of Earth screened over five nights in July this year. The dramatic finale and the death of much-loved team member Ianto Jones had fans fearing the worst for the future of the show, but Davies’ positive comments will re-ignite hopes that Torchwood will once again return to television screens.
Davies is also confident of writing another compelling series of Torchwood, regardless of the format the BBC decides to choose for the show.
“If the BBC asked for another 13 one-part stories, that’s what we’d do”, Davies goes on to explain to Torchwood Magazine. “I’m ready for anything, but I think it works well as one continuous story. But if the BBC decide they want 13 one-offs, I’ll suddenly decide that¹s the best format in the world!”
The prolific writer, widely credited with sparking the recent revival of parent show Doctor Who, goes on to talk candidly about the origins of Torchwood, and why he thinks the timing was all important for the success of the show.
“It’s been a very intelligent decision to make hay while the sun shines”, he says. “Look at the recession that’s sweeping in now. If I’d tried to get Torchwood off the ground now, they would say there’s no money for it. So while we had one very successful show, we made a strategic decision to push our advantage. Julie [Gardner, then Head of Drama at BBC Wales] passionately wanted a big, strong Welsh drama department but one show is not a drama department, You¹ve got to have more, so we did it while those doors were open to us.”
After Davies’ incredible successes on British shores, where he has also penned the acclaimed drama serials Queer as Folk and The Second Coming, the writer is looking forward to his next challenge across the Atlantic.
Davies tells Torchwood Magazine he believes his trade is taken much more seriously in the USA than it is at home in the UK:
“The attitudes towards drama there are very different, and their outlook is more professional in terms of how they approach the job. I heard this brilliant quote from [acclaimed British screenwriter] Frank Cottrell Boyce recently, where he said that British writers are essentially amateur and they want to go home or go to the pub, but in America they can’t wait to go in to the office.”
Russell T Davies interview appears in Torchwood Magazine Issue #17, due out on 20th August.
Torchwood – John Barrowman Interview
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s been a long, long wait for the return of Torchwood, but star John Barrowman, who plays Capt. Jack Harkness, promises it will be worth the wait when the series returns on July 20 for consecutive nights on BBC America in a five-episode mini-season called Torchwood: Children of Earth. And if it does well, we could expect more (more on that later).
“If I were to describe the progression since series one, I’d say [season] one we were like a toddler who was learning how to crawl,” Barrowman said in an exclusive interview. “And [season] two we were walking, and now [season] three we’re running. We have totally found our feet. …
“The story, without giving any inkling of what happened, the story is incredible,” Barrowman added. “It’s darker. It’s filled with a lot more action. There’s revelations about Jack that are just going to make people, … let’s say, … crap themselves because they’re so shocking. There’s things that happen to each and every one of the team that will just blow your mind. It is a huge, big roller coaster, and there’s one thing … [producer] Russell [T. Davies] said this the other day in the panel, so I’m not saying, I think, anything that is out of line. But he said, ‘It shows you how things in our life can disposable.’ And he’s not just talking about trash. He’s talking about individuals.”
In the story, all the children on the Earth suddenly stop, and Torchwood discovers an alien threat is behind things. Harkness, Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd), Rhys (Kai Owen) and PC Andy (Tom Price) return for the third season. Torchwood: Children of Earth will be the first series on BBC America to be simulcast in HD.
Following is an edited version of our interview with Barrowman. Barrowman will also appear at Comic-Con International in San Diego next month to talk about Torchwood.
How do you feel this fits in with the whole series?
Barrowman: I’ve seen episodes one through 3, and I’m getting four and five just so I can see what the final product is, really. The series itself is a comment on—as Russell is brilliant at doing with all of this—there’s a social comment in there. How when we sit back in our lovely back gardens with our manicured lawns and see things on the news. For instance, this revolution that’s starting to build in Iran or things that happen to children in Africa, we sit back and go, “Oh, that’s awful! But it will never happen to us.” Well, this is a situation where it makes you realize you’re just one step away from that kind of thing happening and how we need to be aware and on our guard.
And it is creepy [laughs]. It is so creepy. Anytime you have children doing weird things, it is creepy. …
It must have been kind of a shock of the evolution of Jack.
Barrowman: I don’t know if it was [so much] a shock as it was a surprise, because at first when Jack was created in Doctor Who, … I didn’t want him to be liked. And then as more episodes came up, and they’re like, “You are in this episode and this episode.” The writing was so brilliant, he had this journey where he was going to change, and you had this anti-hero become a hero. It was a wonderful progression to watch, and in the media, it first happened over here in the U.K., to see that change and that thing happened.
And also there is no character like him on television. He’s so up-front about who he is. He does things for the greater good. He doesn’t care if somebody argues with him, [if] he thinks he’s right, he’ll do it, because he knows he’s right, because he’s lived it, if that makes any sense for those people read and know that he’s been in the future and the past. He’s somebody whose decision-making qualifies him, really. He’s a groundbreaking character for television on both sides of the Atlantic.
In more than one way, because of his sexuality?
Barrowman: We’ve seen it on television, but we’ve seen it in a stereotypical way. We’ve never had a gay hero. How marvelous it is that we do have a gay hero and that it’s not about a guy who’s running around wanting to dress up in women’s clothes or talks, and there’s nothing wrong with that, because that’s a specific type of gay man also. But it’s nice to have the other type represented on television. Brothers and Sisters are doing that kind of same thing, because I was asked to do a role on there, but I couldn’t fit in my schedule to play, I think, Rob Lowe’s gay brother. Things are starting to change, and I like to think that maybe Jack was a catalyst for some of that change. ….
What’s the biggest challenge about playing Captain Jack?
Barrowman: The biggest challenge about playing Captain Jack—it’s nothing kind of internal, because I’m not one of those kind of actors. I just get up and I do it. I’d say one of the biggest challenges is running in that damn coat [laughs]. I guess, if you want a deeper kind of answer, the challenge to keep him fresh [is] that he represents all people, and that’s why people have connected to him. And also the challenge is to make him honest and make him truthful rather than being a stereotype.
While running in that damn coat.
Barrowman: I call it the flick. I have to do a special flick, and [Doctor Who star] David Tennant has the same problem in his coat, and when we’re together, we look like two really flouncy men flicking our coat before we start a run. And they never show that in the edit. …
My biggest upset is that you are only going to have five episodes. I want three events.
Barrowman: That could happen. In fact, I had a discussion the other day with Russell. We were doing a panel, … showed the first episode at the National Film Theater here in London with an audience of viewers and what we call punters, and we did a panel question thing afterwards. One of the things we came up with, we said, “If this does well, we could come back for [season] four,” which I would love and hope that we do. I said—and as Russell said—it could be two events, three events, but done in what we find the stories work over this five-day period as a one-off thing, but we could do maybe two events or three. So then you would get the full amount of episodes.
