Torchwood : Children of Earth is the 3rd season and the third incarnation of Russell T Davies' Doctor Who spin-off show. With the third series, comes a new added impetous as Torchwood has moved to the BBC's main channel, BBC One. Over three seasons, Torchwood has never stayed on one channel, moving from premiering on the digital-only BBC Three for the first, and BBC Two for the second. With each series has come a slight reinvention of the product. Season One began by resembling several shows, its own parent show for one, and whilst it had its moments of quality, seemed to some like a family TV show with added adult content simply for the sake of it, leading to the Torchwood team sometimes being mocked as the "Scooby Doo Gang" on internet forums and blogs.

Season Two began by bringing more of the same, but as the season evolved the show began to find more adult themes that felt meaningful, and less like adult themes being injected into a family show. With characters being killed, brought back to life, and stories given to them that had meaning, depth and sometimes, incredible power.

Season Three's move to BBC One gave the show new pressures. No longer was it to be considered a secondary show on the BBC, but given a marquee slot on the main channel. The cost of this, and certainly a worry for the fans, was that the season was being shortened to five one-hour long episodes with a concurrent story. This worried many fans worldwide, wondering how the show would fair in a mainstream spot on the most popular channel in the UK, and whether some of the character plots and themes might sink by the wayside due to their more controversial nature, and higher exposure.

Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) are on the trail of a new mysterious occurance. The children of Earth all stopping, at precisely the same moment and chanting "We are coming... We are coming...". The mysterious behaviour catches not only the eyes of Torchwood, but the world at large, including UNIT and the UK and US Governments. The mysterious chanting leads them on a mystery involving a Government conspiracy, seemingly lead by John Frobisher (Peter Capaldi from Doctor Who's episode Fires of Pompeii, and the brilliant government satire The Thick of It), organising the arrival of a mysterious alien force known only as The 456.

Jack, Ianto and Gwen ably assisted by her husband Rhys, begin to investigate and find that there is a conspiracy afoot, that could affect every child on the Earth and lead the entire planet devastated. Who are the 456? Why are they coming to Earth? Have they been here before? And ultimately, do you sacrifice the few, in order to spare the many?

Thankfully all worries about the move to BBC One have been lifted, as Torchwood has evolved and matured into five amazing hours of television. The move to one single concurrent story has been a triumph for the show, and Torchwood's new season not only integrates even tighter with the "Whoniverse" but is now its own show in its own right, beyond its parent program. This season has been easily one of the best pieces of Sci-Fi the UK has produced for years, if not one of the best UK TV dramas in several years.

With the move of show runner and creator Russell T. Davies to work in the United States, the future of Torchwood is still in the air, but after rated an impressive 5.9 million viewers over the 5 nights on average, the BBC would be mad to cancel one of its most popular shows simply because the creator is moving onto pastures new. Torchwood is back, and is better than ever.

Torchwood : Children of Earth airs at 9pm PST (8pm Central) on BBC America and BBC America HD from the 20th July for 5 nights.
It is available in the UK on BBC iPlayer until 17th July, or for purchase on DVD and BluRay in Europe now.

Torchwood : Children of Earth Preview

It seems that John Borrowman, who plays Captain Jack on the BBC hit Torchwood, will have his first original Torchwood comic strip released in the newest issue of Torchwood magazine.  Borrowman wrote the new comic with his sister, and regular collaborator, Carole E. Barrowman.  The comic strip is titled Captain Jack and the Selkie and will be exclusively featured in the #14 issue of the bimonthly magazine, which hits newsstands tomorrow, March 17.

The tale follows Captain Jack as he faces a deadly threat as people start disappearing one by one on a remote Scottish island.  To his horror, Jack starts to suspect that he may know who, or more specifically what, is responsible.

The artwork for the comic strip is provided by Tommy Lee Edwards and Trevor Goring, whom John and Carole met last year at Comic Con 2008.  Tommy Lee Edwards is the acclaimed artist behind several stunning comic projects including Marvel’s current smash hit ‘1985’, plus the acclaimed ‘Bullet Points’, DC’s ‘The Question’, and several more.

In an interview done by Carole, John explains:

…given that we’d just hooked up with two of the best artists in the comic world, as far as I was concerned, it made sense to pitch a comic . . . and then later when you and I were brainstorming on a story, I remembered you’d written something before about the myth of the selkie, and I thought it’d be a perfect plot to adapt for what, in my head, I was already calling a ‘Captain Jack Tale.’

Speaking about the project, Torchwood comic editor Martin Eden said:

I’m so excited to be working on this story – John and Carole are an absolute pleasure to work with. And Tommy Lee Edwards is one of my favorite artists. I’ve seen the thumbnails that Tommy and Trevor have worked on – and, believe me, the readers are in for a treat!

Below is a ‘first look’ at some of the fantastic artwork in the comic, and if you continue to the second page you can read the full interview with John Borrowman, conducted by his sister Carole.

[Show as slideshow]

John Borrowman pens new "Torchwood" Comic