TORCHWOOD: Julie Gardner On Serialized Format & Series Future

Torchwood‘s Julie Gardner talks about the serialized approach to ‘Miracle Day‘ and whether there will be another series.

Speaking to Assignment X, Gardner explained the serialized format behind Miracle Day:

We felt that a serialized story feels more epic and it plays better than doing individual stories of the week. We had loved that format on BBC 3 and 2 but we had gotten to the point of how many times can we save the world every week? What is the level of threat here? This isn’t Doctor Who where we are doing that every week. The serialized nature of the story felt like we could be more epic and go deeper into the characters.

As for whether there will be another Torchwood series, Gardner admits that only “time will tell”:

The thing about there being more or not – you look at Torchwood, and it’s always had such a labyrinthine history. For this new season, Torchwood has been off the air for two years in the UK. The weird thing is there are some series where that would really matter. It would be a real problem. I think Torchwood is so elastic in some ways and has had such a strange peculiar life.

That said, Gardner believes that “all options are possible”:

[Torchwood] has been across so many different channels and so many international audiences, across so many different story structures, and so many numbers of episodes. There’s no single way forward for the show. All options are possible.

Source: Assignment X

I think it’s safe to say that Miracle Day was a bit of a mixed bag. The positives: I thought the premise was very interesting and worthy of being explored over the course of a slow-burning chapter. I also thought ‘Miracle Day’ ended on a strong note, tending to the mythology while leaving a few questions dangling. There were also consequences for the team.

If they have more of that story to tell, or one that branches off from it, I’d certainly be in support of more Torchwood. The BIG IF stems from suggestions that series creator Russell T. Davies might not be interested in making more. Earlier this year he said:

“[I'm] coming to the end [of my time in the science fiction world]. I’ve saved the world and blown up the world too many times”.

Starz CEO Chris Albrecht seemed to put the ball in Davies’ court when he said:

“Torchwood is not one of the show we went into thinking about a yearly return. It’s about Russell T Davies … he has a lot of things on his plate. If Torchwood is at the top of his list, that will effect the future ofTorchwood.”

If that’s the case then it’s probably best to end it here as serialized stories need as much commitment from the people making them as those intrepid souls who explore. But if it’s a choice between more creatively-focused Torchwood or not, I’d take more creatively-focused Torchwood — a show that embraces epic overarching stories.

We’ll keep you updated on any developments concerning another Torchwood series.

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Tagged as: interviews, julie gardner, torchwood, torchwood miracle day