With the announcement that Big Finish Productions will be creating new Torchwood stories, the question has arisen; will the series ever come back to television?
After Doctor Who went on the incredibly extended hiatus from 1989-2005 (with a brief respite in 1996), one of the things that kept the series alive was the Big Finish audio plays. They gave Paul McGann’s Doctor a whole set of adventures he would never have otherwise have got, a whole new generation learned to love him and for a while, he was The Doctor.
Soon, other Doctors from the original series were having their own audio adventures and Big Finish became even bigger. With anniversary specials, epic story arcs and constantly improving production values, it wasn’t long before people realised that apatite for Doctor Who was still very much alive.
Other classic series’ have had revivals on Big Finish’s range. Blake’s 7, for instance, has recently been selling well and talk of a revival of the television series, or possibly a reboot movie has hovered about the Internet ever since.
Torchwood now is set for its audio series. But this is not the first time it has been down this road. Back in 2008 the BBC themselves began producing audio dramas of Torchwood, creating seven in total by 2011. Initially created to tie into BBC Radio 4’s CERN themed programing in September 2008, the adventure “Lost Souls” was so popular that more stories were commissioned soon after. It wasn’t long before the show came back to television screens after that.
The new audio dramas will focus on different members of the Torchwood team as they react to a mysterious event. John Barrowman will star in The Conspiracy, by David Llewellyn, set for release in September 2015.
Torchwood creator Russell T Davies said, of the new series:
“Torchwood has been to the Moon, and America, and the Himalayas, but now I think it’s finally coming home, to the brilliance of Big Finish.”
Additional cast and details will be revealed later, but it is understood that the remaining five instalments following monthly from January 2016.
Will we see Torchwood back on our screens if the audio dramas take off? It’s possible, but not certain. Blake’s 7 has yet to reappear on television or anything else for that matter. But it did take Doctor Who many long years of waiting to return. Let’s hope Torchwood doesn’t have to wait 16 years for its return.
