Tim Macavoy's "Brit Bits:" Torchwood Goes Fourth, but Fry thinks it’s a Chicken Nugget!

The big news is that Torchwood will return for a fourth series! Cue the angry shouts about Ianto being killed and how you’ll never watch again. Then get over it, because it’s still made by Russell T Davies, one of the best gay writers around.

You’ve got to feel for the makers of Torchwoo as they never seem to know whether the series will return, and when it finally does it’s in a different format! The series began in October 2006 as a Doctor Who spin off broadcast on BBC 3. It returned on BBC 2 in January 2008, then moved to BBC 1 for a five night special in July 2009.

Russell T Davies

Now it has been confirmed that John Barrowman and Eve Myles will return for a ten episode fourth series, which will be co-produced by BBC Cymru Wales, BBC Worldwide and Starz Entertainment. So, a British/American co-production AND the first ever drama produced by BBC Worldwide – will it be innovative, or just a mess?

Well, I know that Russell T Davies has the series already planned in his head, and I for one think the last series was a really gripping drama, so I think if anyone can make a go of it, he will.

That said, I remember what happened in 1996 ... step into my TARDIS children.

The Eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann, made his one and only appearance in a TV movie. It did very well in the UK ratings, and garnered some decent reviews (even though we tend to discredit it now), but it was also designed to be a backdoor pilot to a continuing series for Fox in the U.S. Unfortunately the marketing and scheduling was dire, and next to nobody watched it. So that was the Doctor Who revival that never happened (until 2005 anyway).

What I’m saying is – producers/TV execs – please leave the writers to get on with it, but give them a decent chance at getting an audience!

Meanwhile, in another part of the space/time continuum, the fifth series of Doctor Who (or 31st if you’re like that) draws to a close with a bang or several thousand. It’s been much more “un-gay” than previous series, but I think everyone involved has done a fantastic job, especially Matt Smith. Rumors are already flying about the next series, but what matters most is that NEIL GAIMAN is writing an episode – legendary.

Stephen Fry has not been quite so happy as I with all this sci-fi nonsense. He was this year’s guest speaker at the annual BAFTA Television Lecture. The press were quick to jump on the fact that he seemed to criticize some popular BBC programs, but of course, they sensationalize. I read the whole transcript, and funnily enough, he starts out the lecture by predicting this very backlash.

What he was really trying to suggest is that broadcasters could take more risks in the type of show they commission, and not always play to ratings. Here are some of the highlights:

I'm not saying TV should be pompous and academic, but it should surprise and astonish.

The only drama the BBC will boast about are Merlin and Doctor Who, which are fine but they're children's programs. They're not for adults.

And they're very good children's programs, don't get me wrong, they're wonderfully written ... but they are not for adults. They are like a chicken nugget. Every now and again we all like it. Every now and again.

If you are an adult you want something surprising, savory, sharp, unusual, cosmopolitan, alien, challenging, complex, ambiguous, possibly even slightly disturbing and wrong.

You want to try those things, because that's what being adult means. It's children's television, it's entirely infantilized. It's not grown up.

In fact, Fry did congratulate U.S. TV for having those very qualities: "surprise and shock and adulthood."