InnerSPACE | Blog

(WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW) Torchwood: Children of Earth ripped through our television screens a few months ago, leaving a trail of controversy, destruction, and satisfied viewers in its wake. While CoE raised interesting questions about love, sacrifice and just how crazy Jack/Ianto fans could get when faced with their ultimate nightmare, it also painted what was left of the Torchwood team in a very, very small corner.

But according to TV Guide series creator Russell T Davies is now saying Series Four will hopefully start pre-production in January. RTD is notoriously tight-lipped and even deceptive about future plans for the shows under his care, but let’s take a leap of faith and assume he’s right.

At the end of Children of Earth, the Torchwood team was in tatters. The Hub was destroyed, Ianto was dead, and Captain Jack rode a teleport beam to...well, somewhere. About the only glimpse of good news was Gwen’s pregnancy.

But this is television, where the most outlandish endings can be waved away in a puff of illogic. Let’s start with Captain Jack. It’s known that he’ll be showing up in the Doctor Who Christmas special, though whether he’ll actually be there or a figment of the Doctor’s fevered pre-regeneration imaginings is up for debate. But assuming he does come back to Earth, it makes sense that he won’t get romantically involved with anyone again. The scars from Ianto’s death are simply too fresh, both for Jack and for the many fans of the couple who went ballistic when RTD’s deadly pen scratched out Ianto’s name from future Torchwood adventures. Without love or a team to return to, Jack doesn’t have much reason to be on Earth, so it’s likely his reason to return will be a threat or threats just as dastardly as the 456.

Gwen is pregnant, and it’s safe to assume if Series Four appears on TV screens anytime soon she’ll either give birth to her baby or will already be a mother. That presents a new set of challenges for her character, but it doesn’t rule out more gun-toting adventures for both her and Rhys, who performed admirably in Children of Earth. How they’ll juggle alien-busting and the new responsibilities of parenthood is anyone’s guess, but from such conflicts is the potential for some interesting human drama amongst the ray guns and tentacles.

Clearly the team will need some fresh blood, and Lois Habiba, who helped battle the 456, is a very good candidate to join the new Torchwood. Not only can she rock a pair of spycam-contact lenses, but she has the youthful enthusiasm to counterpoint Gwen and Jack’s battle-weary attitudes.

Other likely candidates could include Martha Jones, who has already fought beside the team, and Mickey Smith, who was given a free pass to adventure at the end of “Journey’s End.”

And while the Hub has been destroyed, the team already proved in CoE that a couple of laptops and a penchant for shoplifting is all they need to set up shop. If Series 4 happens, expect the team to be a lot more mobile than previous series. Let’s hope they also replace the ridiculous, overly adorned Torchwood SUV with something a little more low-key.

As listeners of Radio Free Skaro are acutely aware, almost every time I speculate on the nature of upcoming characters and stories in the Whoniverse, my intricately reasoned conjecture turns out to be completely and utterly wrong. So just as you should take RTD’s claims and indeed, the likelihood of Torchwood Series 4 with a massive bale of salt, realize all the ideas above are just that, at least until some Torchwood scripts are written at the last minute on the back of a napkin at a posh London restaurant.

Via: Den of Geek | TV Guide



Warren Frey blogs about Doctor Who and is one of the hosts of Radio Free Skaro, Canada's most popular Doctor Who podcast.