Torchwood: Children of Earth

TV season

Children of Earth is the banner title of the third and penultimate series of the British television science fiction programme Torchwood, which broadcast for five episodes on BBC One from 6 to 10 July 2009. The series had new producer Peter Bennett and was directed by Euros Lyn, who had considerable experience on the revived Doctor Who, Torchwood's parent show. Torchwood is a series about an organization known as Torchwood which defends the Earth against alien threats. The plot of Children of Earth deals with aliens demanding the Earth's children, and a related earlier conspiracy 40 years ago; as such, Torchwood is pitted against the British government when the government attempts to conceal its past actions and concede to the present-day aliens' demands. The first, third, and fifth episodes of the serial were written by executive producer Russell T Davies, who also conceived its overall storyline. The third episode was co-written by James Moran whilst the second and fourth were penned by newcomer John Fay. Torchwood was shown on the network's premiere channel, BBC One, every weeknight for one week in July 2009. Despite the move to BBC One, the show was cut from a standard thirteen-episode run to just five, something that lead actor John Barrowman felt was almost like a "punishment" from the BBC. Production on the mini-series began in August 2008, and Barrowman along with actors Eve Myles, Gareth David Lloyd and Kai Owen all returned. The serial significantly features new actors to the series over the course of its five episodes, including Peter Capaldi. Davies had to substantially rewrite parts of the serial to accommodate the unavailability of actors Freema Agyeman and Noel Clarke, whose presence in the serial had been set up in the 2008 Doctor Who finale. When the series defied expectations by achieving good ratings (peaking at 6.76 million), Davies stated that a surprised BBC Controller rang to congratulate him. Mid-summer evenings are typically considered a graveyard slot for television series. The serial also received acclaim, particularly in comparison to the programme's previous two series, as well as a BAFTA Cymru Award, a Saturn Award and Celtic Media Festival Award, all for best serial. The success of the series led to a fourth series, Torchwood: Miracle Day, which was commissioned in conjunction with the US premium cable network Starz.