‘Bloody Torchwood’: A Hell of a Spin-Off (An Introduction)
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| Elspeth Morgan |
Torchwood as a property has a lot of baggage. Thank you all for reading goodnight… That should not be surprising though. Torchwood is a Spin-Off programme from the 2005 revival of Doctor Who and my goodness Spin-Off media requires a lot of insider knowledge and context to function properly.
To be clear, that is an issue inherent in the spin-off model simply because they usually feature characters who were originally on a parent programme. A lot of the character development undergone by the characters takes place on another programme which your target audience may not be interested in. Technically you do not need to understand the backstory and character development which resulted in the characters of a spin-off getting their own programme but it definitely helps.
God knows how many times in my teenage years I had to explain to parents and siblings who were not fans, that yes Angels Angel was the same as Buffy The Vampire Slayers Angel but he has his programme now which is dark and mysterious with a hint of danger. Since I always tended to watch the episodes where he lost his soul, that required a dangerous trek into the mythology of Angel which would lead to incredulous looks but we’re digressing.
Now imagine the task of trying to explain Torchwood and its protagonist Captain Jack Harkness (played by John Barrowman) to a non-fan. That’s less like delivering a bitter pill and more a fist sized suppository (appropriate given Torchwood’s proclivities). Alright, let’s get you to bend over and do this thing…
In-universe the reason for the events of Torchwood is that the titular character from Doctor Who had been a very naughty boy. Basically, the Doctor and his then companion Rose (played by Billie Piper) picked up Captain Jack Harkness, a 51st century time traveling conman as a companion.
During their last adventure Jack is killed by Daleks, but the day is saved when Rose, using TARDIS magic, resurrects him. Undercutting this happy ending, is the decision made by the Doctor and Rose to abandon Jack who is forced to time travel back to the 19th century and wait for the Doctor to turn up again.
A few episodes later the Doctor and Rose piss off Queen Victoria by being pricks. Queen Victoria responds by creating something called the Torchwood Institute to hunt down their sorry asses (Bottomley, Sellwood and Myers). Speaking of sorry asses while you recover we will quickly discuss the conception of Torchwood, the design theory behind the themes and lastly the themes of the programme.
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| Torchwood Believe |
It's not controversial to state that Torchwood grew out of the successful revival of Doctor Who in 2005 by Russell- The “T” in Middle Of My Name Means Nothing- Davis (or RTD for short). In a press release from 17 October 2005, the then controller of BBC Stuart Murphy rightfully stated that RTD was an “absolute genius – you look at what he has done with Doctor Who – we said to him, “What would you do with a post-watershed sci-fi?” (Walker 180).
Three guesses what that post-watershed science-fiction programme was. Personally what I find an interesting part of the press release is how heavily the mature/adult nature of the programme was emphasised to promote it. Torchwood was going to be a “sci-fi paranoid thriller” a “dark, wild and sexy roller-coaster ride” it would be “sinister and psychological”.
It would, in the words of RTD himself, be “The X-Files meets This Life. It’s a stand-alone series for adult audiences, which will have its own unique identity” all the while being set in contemporary Cardiff “ (Walker, 149 & 166).
Ok, Torchwood I will play, you do not want to be our father’s Doctor Who, you are going to be sexy, edgy, real and Welsh. Happily, the production team pulls that all off, imperfectly. Look, the best way to show what I mean is to talk about themes and how they shaped the show.
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| The Hub |
Not by long to be fair when Torchwood first aired it had only been seven years after the handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China, but there is definitely a sense that the Institute is adrift and trying to rediscover its purpose.
A brilliant visual representation of this is the design of Torchwood’s base: The Hub. Set designer Ed Thomas created the Hub to reflect: “all sorts of different architectural styles within it. So you’ve got the Victorian railway tunnel, and you’ve got more modern elements like … the interrogation room which is cast concrete. From early conversations with Russell, we decided that we wanted different architectural styles and that we wanted it to have a real history to it, as Torchwood has” (Walker, 1450- 1463). Ultimately, the Victorian style of the base was meant to “…..to fade away and the modern tech and computers to stand out” (Walker, 1450- 1463)
Basically, Torchwood has been going to the gym, building on a strong thematic core, and trading on its looks, the programme also has a brain… or at least the ambition to attempt to say something. Backpeddling a bit I should confess that I fucked up while researching this blog. I had been looking at the Torchwood Wikipedia page to see if I could find reliable sources in the bibliography section. It was there that I committed an unforgivable sin against Librarianship by taking a citation underneath the themes section at face value.
There I found a link to an interview of John Barrowman with the Metro newspaper which claimed that Torchwood would explore themes of “existentialism, the nature of human life and the absence of a traditional afterlife, and the corrupting nature of power.” What the article actually talks about is how queer Torchwood is, and Barrowman’s wedding. (Williams). Whoops… Luckily I got something very interesting to discuss: Existentialism! Serendipitously, the philosophy of Existentialism is the protein shake which bulks Torchwood up.
In broad strokes, a very interesting man named Flynn argued that the term Existentialism is an umbrella term for a group of both religious and secular philosophers in the 19th and 20th centuries who arguably possessed the following five basic ideas:
“Existence precedes essence. Your nature does not determine who you are, your choices do.”
Time is of the essence, make every moment count as “lived time is qualitative.
Humanism: which is “Focused on the human individual pursuit of identity and meaning amidst the social and economic pressures of mass society for superficiality and conformism.”
Freedom and Responsibility are equally serious.
The utmost paramountcy of ethics (Flynn, 06.43-17.58).
This is important because the five main characters of Torchwood: Jack, Gwen, Toshiko, Owen and Ianto are miserable wankers (and I mean that literally and figuratively). Every single one of them are characterised as desperately lonely, haunted individuals with no real lives outside of their work (Walker 6614-6627). Sounds like a fucking party, sign us up.
Unfortunately, because they are the sort of people who spend their few hours off listening to Evanescence before returning to work at a horrible Victorian Institute, they make piss-poor choices in an attempt to make connections and be happy. Torchwood is very much about these sad sacks learning that:
They are unhappy due to their bad choice, but can change.
They can fill their lives by making the most of the time available to them.
The nature of their work leads the team to become disconnected from other people.
The team are all deeply irresponsible.
Fortunately, part of their character arcs is rediscovering their moral compasses.
I had a lovely surprise discovering an argument through my research that Existentialism was a “child of the liberation” of France in 1943, with the high water mark for the philosophy being the May 1968 period of social unrest in France before dwindling away and being replaced by the ideas of Structuralism and Post-Structuralism (Flynn 00.33-1.13).
This adds another layer to the viewing experience of Torchwood. I may be completely wrong but I find the idea of a programme about a largely defunct Victorian era institution which is out of place and out of time, populated by lonely alienated souls who are discovering themselves through a philosophy which itself is out of place and out of time, truly delicious.
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| Tone Armour |
“The feel of the dialogue, the emotional range of the characters, the density of the jokes, the musical score, the ambient lighting and colour grading, the statements it makes on human nature, the character choices it rewards or punishes”…. (“Tone Armour”). Indeed, the production team took pains to emphasise that the guiding principles of the programme were going to be: “dark, gritty, sexy, urban, glamorous and ‘real’” (Walker 1450).
Walker further illustrates how these principles were built into what was seen on screen. Palette wise the look of the programme is by monochromatic dark colours (“blacks, greys, browns and dark blues”) as evidenced by everything from the design of the sets, how the characters dress themselves, to the decision to shoot the onsite materials in urban and rural spaces at night (Walker 1463-1474). All of these elements taken together really do bind Torchwood together as a programme.
Rewatching Torchwood has been an experience! I would be lying if I did not admit that I was expecting the worst going in, I would also be lying if I did not admit that I actually really enjoyed the first six episodes, despite their flaws.
As a teenager, I adored Torchwood but fell out of love with it as I got older and ultimately came to believe that it was edgy and lacking in substance. There is certainly a lot to discuss and explore along the way. You will never be bored watching Torchwood.
Bibliography
“Army of Ghosts,” Doctor Who created by Russell T. David, series 2, episode 12, British Broadcasting Company One, 2006.
Bottomley, Nathan, Sellwood, James and Myers Lizbeth, hosts. “Having a Laugh about Werewolves.” Flight Through Entirety, episode 149, Flight Through Entirety, 24 March 2019, https://flightthroughentirety.com/149/ .
Doctorpenguin, “Torchwood Believe” Tardis Wiki The Doctor Who Wiki, No Date https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Torchwood_Three?file=Torchwood_Believe_Textless.jpg
“Everything Changes”, Torchwood created by Russell T. Davies, series 1 episode 1, British Broadcasting Company Three, 2006.
Flynn, Thomas. Existentialism A Very Short Introduction. Tantor, 2021. Audible, https://www.audible.com/pd/Existentialism-Audiobook/1666114308?asin=1666114308&source_code=TANP0005WS071408&overrideBaseCountry=true&ipRedirectOverride=true&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=3b01d5da-1bf0-4646-924a-440835f79703&pf_rd_r=S8Z8YMBJEPE0T9J7SKP2&pageLoadId=AYJiCHJriPdktjr9&creativeId=7e5ef24f-29c2-42b4-9ad7-cdff92184a00 . Accessed 26 January. 2024.
Jack "BtR" Saxon. “Elspeth morgan.” Tardis Wiki The Doctor Who Wiki, No Date, https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Elspeth_Morgan?file=Elspeth_morgan.jpg
Joker1138. “The Hub.” Tardis Wiki The Doctor Who Wiki, No Date, https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hub?file=The_Hub.jpg
Red. “Tone Armour.” YouTube, uploaded by Overly Sarcastic Productions, 16 December 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCIvrzCV6xI
“Tooth and Claw.” Doctor Who, created by Russell T. David, series 2, episode 2, British Broadcasting Company One, 2006.
Williams, Andrew. “60 Seconds: John Barrowman.” Metro, 2 November. 2006, https://metro.co.uk/2006/11/02/60-seconds-john-barrowman-319334/ Accessed 28 January 2024.
