Up until now, throughout its first two years, Torchwood has met with a generaly positive response from the viewers, gaining enough momentum to make the move from BBC3 to BBC2 after a successfull first series and shortly to make another upgrade to BBC1. It seems to be especially successfull in the international markets like America and Australia who even seem to be a lot more upbeat about it than they are about the better known parent show. However, a vocal few from the fan communities have been quite dismissive of its merits (perhaps jaded by the ubiquity of John Barrowman), and I can sort of see their point of view. Swicth off your brain and squint a bit and the “Cyberwoman” story is fairly good yarn but as soon as you start to analyse (as all of us fans tend to do) it begins to reveal itself as a huge great dollop of nonsense.

I must point out though that when I see John Barrowman in character he remains solely as Captain Jack to me, never straying in to his Mr Saturday Night persona from those interminable talent shows and quizzes, which I guess is some kind of testament to his acting ability. As an aside, I saw him on stage once in “A Few Good Men” at the Haymarket with Rob Lowe, and he was brilliant in that too. The rest of the cast also deliver, especially new mum-to-be Eve Myles whose wide-eyed but steadfastly honourable Gwen Cooper acts as the heart and soul of the programme.

The next series will be something of a departure. One story in five, one-hour chunks… Children of Earth will arrive in the next couple of weeks and I think, purely judging from the trailers, it’s going to be amazing. I am not usually one to judge in advance of seeing the show but I am willing to make an exception this time. In turns moody, dramatic, creepy and spectacular, the various virals doing the rounds on the web are incredibly satisfying and appetite whetting for what’s to come. BBC Press Release yesterday announced that Torchwood: Children of Earth will be shown over five consecutive nights in the week commencing Saturday 4th July but no indication so far, of whether that will be a Mon to Fri, Sun to Thu or even Sat to Wed. Whatever happens I will be tuned to BBC HD for the whole event. At the official launch, it was discovered that a 13-part “full” series 4 was ready to go if CoE gets the necessary bums on seats and it would seem that RTD is happy to continue to operate in this corner of the Whoniverse. So tell all your friends to tune in.

What are your expectations for Children of Earth? Looking forward to it or dreading it?

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Tags: BBC, Captain-Jack, Children of Earth, Cyberwoman, Eve-Myles, Jon Barrowman, Rob Lowe, Torchwood