Issue 15 - April 2008

	Torchwood -- a review of a television series Reviewed by Liz Nicholson

Those of us who enjoyed Dr. Who in its new incarnation under the guidance of Russell T. Davies were a captive audience for the Torchwood spin-off.  The man who gave us the original British version of Queer as Folk had introduced a quirky bisexual character in an episode of the sci-fi series and had been given the opportunity to make an ‘adult’ programme with Captain Jack at the centre. We were not disappointed.

The basic premise of the show, for those not familiar with it, is that Queen Victoria, under the influence of Doctor Who, set up a department called Torchwood, outside the control of government, police or army, to fight alien invasion. The main branch of Torchwood failed spectacularly in its mission in twentieth century London and had to rely on ‘the doctor’ to rescue the country and indeed the world. But Captain Jack had the Torchwood base in Cardiff in his capable hands and was joined by a splendid team. Gwen is an ex-policewoman; ‘ex’ because she accidentally came across Torchwood in the course of duty and was co-opted rather than having her memory wiped. She has a lovable but unaware fiancé who is faintly jealous of the amount of time she spends at the office. Owen is a doctor (medical variety) with an unfulfilled desire for sex. Tosh is ethnically Japanese, English born (or Welsh), a computer expert with no apparent interests outside her machines. Ianto is a perfectly trained personal assistant, a sort of sci-fi Jeeves, who organises the team, their appointments, their take-aways, their clothing, their weapons and never asks questions. This group are constantly faced with the need to protect the world from aliens who invade through a rift under/over Cardiff and some strange residents of the ‘ordinary’ world too. Their characters gradually appear more complex as the first season unfolds.

Captain Jack, already played as bisexual in Doctor Who, is quite open about his desires. There is an underlying and long-running seduction of Ianto (there are results - this is not a ‘tease’), a rather poignant and wistful seduction of Gwen and a tragic affair with a WW2 Air Force Captain, from whom Jack steals his name, as well as some desperate kisses. At the beginning of the second season Jack greets a fellow ‘time agent’ with kisses and desire and then with fighting - some kind of territorial dispute.

Gwen is interested in Jack and Owen as well as her long-suffering Rhys. Tosh has an abortive affair with a female alien. Owen uses an alien chemical spray to seduce a couple. Ianto has lingering love for an android.

There is an exploration of varied attitudes towards sex; these are never actually discussed but are part of the events of the episodes. The best thing about it is that widely differing attitudes are shown as perfectly normal - there is no sense of ‘let’s see how the other half of the world live’ which was an inevitable reaction to Queer as Folk (even though that was extremely good). Suddenly, prime time television is the forum for a look at quite new and different social norms. Hopefully, this will result in changes to viewers’ everyday reactions. The fact that Jack is played by an actor (John Barrowman) who is already popular as a presenter and singer, and is openly gay, helps. His big, society ‘wedding’ or civil partnership to his long-time partner last year, helped, too.

There is, this season, an ‘edited’ version for younger viewers, shown before the 9 p.m. watershed. I’m not sure how much they leave out.

The show knows how to laugh at itself, which makes the sci-fi element fresh and funny. The conversation between the characters is full of snarky humour and joking references to other things the cast have been in. The episode on 3rd January had a potential end of the world scenario greeted by Owen with, ‘Lets all have sex,’ whereupon Ianto responded with ‘Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse’. But the same episode saw Jack look longingly at Ianto, who has half-promised him a dinner date ‘when they have time’.

Exciting, amusing, sexy, adult, well-made television which will put Cardiff on the international map, Captain Jack into hearts worldwide and gay marriage/romance into ‘ordinary’ conversation. Highly recommended.

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Liz has retired and can’t imagine how she ever found time to work as an English teacher, Trade Union Activist and Equal Ops writer/researcher/lecturer. She has now decided that the pen (or keyboard) is mightier than the daily commute and spends her time writing, reviewing and editing fiction that addresses the same issues. She also spends too much time reading Forbidden Fruit and other magical literature online. She lives in the UK in a partially restored 17th century house with a wildlife friendly garden. Other interests include travel, history, art, dance and folksong.

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