Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Torchwood series two - pre and post watershed

As a not-so-closet Doctor Who fan, it’s good to hear a few more details about the Torchwood spin-off that’s starts screening its second series on BBC Two in mid-January.

Amongst the thirteen episodes, expect more shenanigans from Captain Jack, Gwen (now engaged), Owen, Toshiko and the understated tea boy Ianto in and around the murky world of Cardiff Bay. Martha Jones pops in to help out in three episodes, slightly older and wiser since we last saw her in the Tardis, having now completed her medical studies. (Spoilers ahoy!)

(c) BBC 2007 - Torchwood Series 2 cast

The first series originally aired post-watershed on BBC Three, repeated on BBC Two.

This time around, the main show goes out on BBC Two. Satellite viewers with access to the BBC HD channel will again get to see Torchwood in its full high-definition g(l)ory. And a special family-friendly repeat will be shown - unsure whether on BBC2 or CBBC - eliminating the worst excesses of language, sexuality and violence in a slightly shorter show.

It’ll be interesting to see the variation in the edits, and whether major plotlines are eliminated from younger-pitched version. At Monday’s press launch, creator Russel T Davies was reported as saying:

“We’ll cut the swearing and cut the violence, but no we will not be cutting the kissing, so no story there.”

Linnea Dobson over in Firefox News wonders about the US version too. To make room for ad breaks, the first series was severely hacked to shorten each episode, removing a lot of the depth of the narrative. And will the US audiences see the child-friendly version? Or a third edit?

Update: Check out other posts that mention Torchwood ...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

But will it be any good?
The first season had a lot of ups and downs, and didn't end terribly well. But good news that it's coming back - lots of things need a little time to bed down.
And in the meantime, we'll have the Doctor Who Christmas special!

Coke_Shy_Hero said...

Never seen it - but it certainly does generate discussion. Two mates of mine can never agree about which of the episodes were any good!

Perhaps they can have a CBeebies edit too - where the lead characters talk in gibberish. Or does this already happen? :-)