I don't have BBC America and really wish the suits at SyFy would pick up both Torchwood and Dr.Who. Your fanbase would increase tenfold on those two programs alone.

Torchcrud needed to be cancelled after its first season. In fact, it never should have even been made.

SciFi had Doctor Who for the first four seasons.

Maybe the management of "SyFy" didn't value it enough to continue?

I'm glad it's going to BBC-America for first run. They have clearly shown that they want to place an emphasis on sci-fi from the UK in their programming.

I will NOT be watching children of earth. Release date for the blu ray is less than a week after the series shows on TV so I will wait and watch that. I dont have HD cable and I think the HD version will be the better experience.

I sincerely hope they run with the "three event" idea for season four. THAT would be awesome.

I'm out of my mind waiting for this!!
Yes, the first season had its ups and downs, but season 2 was amazing from start to finish. The previews for this look incredible.

Gotta love the BBC. Almost two years for 5 episodes. If it does well you can expect another five episodes in two years.

If 5 episodes is all that the BBC can afford, I'll take it for now. It's better than no shows.

Wouldn't it have been cool if Fox had ordered a 5 hour mini-series of the Sarah Connor Chronicles instead of just canceling the show? What might we have learned?

Its not that the BBC can't afford it, it's that the BBC does stupid crap like this with their shows all the time.

It's hard for SyFy to air the fifth season when it isn't even complete. Only two episodes have aired in the UK so far. I'm confident that SyFy will air the fifth season (in spite of it being only five episodes this year). But let the BBC finish the production on the other three episodes before you start complaining about it not being aired over here.

BBC America is running them as BBC releases them to BBCA. The Christmas special just aired the other night, the second episode will air shortly.

And before anyone asks, the other three episodes are supposed to air this year on the BBC, but they have announced those dates at this time. I recommend visiting the BBC Doctor Who website to find out the latest news on when that will happen.

It's my understanding DaveM, and I'm sure I'll be corrected by other posts if I'm wrong: The specials for Doctor Who this year are not conisdered a season, or series as they are called in UK. So Season 5 will not air until 2010. As for Syfy -vs- BBCA, it sounded from their press releases like BBCA outbid Syfy for the rights to show it here, so I would not hold my breath about Syfy showing the specials or Season 5.

I can't wait for this Torchwood event. I love this show, thank you very much to all the haters. Torchwood is the darker side where as Dr. Who is the lighter side of alein invasion and all that pertains to the Dr. Who world. I loved Barrowman and David Tennant. There are so hot, can't wait to see the rest of the Dr. Who specials and the Torchwood event. Love it.

BBC America is airing the 2009 Specials (there will be a total of 5 one hour specials, and remember that means 60m of material, without commercials) I believe they just aired "The Next Doctor" which was the Christmas special, and will air "Planet of the Dead", the Easter special, at the end of July. The next special, "The Waters of Mars" will not air until November in the UK, and then I believe the last two, which will be a two parter, will air Christmas Day and New Years Day, No word on when they will air in the US on BBCA

While I think SciFi had success with Doctor Who, I am not sure they ever really knew how to handle it. I only caught a few eps on SciFi, because I never liked how they edited it down for running time and such. But, and understand I am a HUGE fan of the show, it really is not a SCIFI channel program, at least not in the same way Battlestar Galactica is, It is a FAMILY SHOW - its adventure, and fun, and running down hallways... And while the modern series is a little bit more romantic (in the classical sense) It is still "Children's" tea time television, Maybe if SciFi aired it at 8 instead of 9pm -

As far as SciFi passing on Torchwood...

I am sure they were offered... The show, and the BBC would probably prefer it on SciFi - which is in more homes in the US than BBCA, (I live in NYC, have Cablevision, and BBCA is not offered!)

Season 5 - which probably wont air until fall '10 in the US at the earliest - No idea on where it will end up, I am not sure DW fits into this rebranded SyFy

Oh also - Not sure if where Season 3 of the Sarah Jane adventures will air, but David Tennant will be doing a two parter on that show, as the Doctor, I think it will air before Waters of Mars. It will be a full appearance not just a cameo either.

wow this show was really a incredible.it is filled with more actions.I really love the story .

Reference a few other comments, yes, the first episode of the new season has aired on BBCAm, and the next "planet" comes July 26th, also available in HD then.
As far as SyFy'sprogramming, and not picking up the BBC products (Dr Who, Torchwood, Sarah Jane, but yes to primevalPrimeval), that is just in line with their turning the channel into a horror channel, with very little sci-fi. Look through a weeks programming, and you will see the shows and movies that belong on the NBC-Uni channel Chiller, not on SyFy.
I only hope that there will be a continuation of the Torchwood, as it is one of the better shows going right now. Also, we can only pray that the SyFy programmers do get to putting it in the line-up. - KH

megforbrain :

I'm sorry to tell you this, but the BBC is in serious financial $#@! -- just because it is (mainly) funded by the British taxpayer doesn't mean that its any more immune to the global recession than the nets in the US. And yes, I'll take five episodes of Torchwood "stripped" over a week than what ITV did to Primeval -- which was cancelled on the mother of all cliff-hangers (and no prospect of closure), just as the writing staff were beginning to break the new series.

When the smeg is "Sci Fi Channel" going to air this series!?!?

It's sort of hard for SciFi to air Torchwood. It's got a lot more adult themes, and cutting it would be extremely painful. Then again, SciFi *did* air LEXX (which first aired on Showtime as a more *ahem* adult show), which still confuses the heck out of me.

I gave up on it halfway through the first season. Frankly, if the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of this bunch of screw ups, then we are all doomed.

So this might not be the Torchwood finale after all? Hell, yeah!

For all of its hype about being an "adult Dr Who", Torchwood was nothing more than a load of silly juvenile crap. Since the very beginning, it has shamelessly plundered every sci-fi and fantasy idea imaginable and failed to come up with even one idea that is truly its own. I am appalled that the BBC are still plying money into this rubbish. No wonder the British government are making them share the licence fee with other networks.

So...

Doctor Who is too much of a "family" show and Torchwood has too many "adult" themes for the new SyFy

The current Doctor Who specials are just that, special, one-offs. Season 5 with new Doc Matt Smith and new showrunner Steven Moffat has not even been filmed yet.

The Sarah Jane Adventures are entering Season 3 in the UK, but we've only had Season 1 in the US

Torchwood used to be on BBC3, then moved up to BBC2 and now Children of Earth is on BBC1 (it's like going from USA to NBC, from the minors to the majors)

BBC America is maybe the best cable channel out there - you should all ask your cable providers to add it!

The Sci-Fi channel is slipping... look at what they did to Flash Gordon as an early indicator of things going wrong. BUT SG Universe and Caprica may be able to reverse the slide. But seriously a sci-fi channel that doesn't show all the Treks, the new Clone Wars toon, the old Doctor Whos (I could go on).... well that's limited sci-fi!

Oh, and Darklighter, people like you are the reason shows don't get picked up or broadcast. You HAVE to watch them on TV first... afterall they're called TV programs. If we don't watch, the channel does get the ratings and hence no more shows!!!!!

dcbritboy: Torchwood's change of channels are not quite as simple as it looks. The way you see it, it makes it look as if Torchwood is being promoted to a higher channel because it deserves it. However, ratings for Torchwood have been mediocre at best. It started off with respectable ratings (for a digital channel), but then dropped quite low. The only reason the BBC are moving it from BBC2 to BBC1 is that they are desperate to try and get people watching it, and this 5-parter is really a last-ditch attempt to get an audience for this series. There is no way they can continue spending the amount of money Torchwood costs on what is essentially a small cult audience. It has to be able to perform better ratings-wise, or else the Beeb will have no option but to pull the plug. To be honest, I'm surprised they even let it run for this long.

Also, Torchwood only got its first run on BBC3 because the BBC wanted to "joint hype" the series and the channel itself. When they realised it wasn't really working, they shifted it to BBC2. Unfortunately, Torchwood hasn't really performed brilliantly on BBC2 either, so giving it a (brief) shot on BBC1 is really their only alternative.

It's been a long wait for this series, and I'm both looking forward to and dreading it. I'm sure that it will be brilliant, because the show really improved tremendously in the second season.

I've seen vastly conflicting info on the significance of the BBC ratings of the show, so I don't automatically trust those who say that they've been disappointing. Of course, I also don't trust those with a vested interest who say that its ratings were fantastic. Clearly, the show has a loyal following, and Children of Earth has garnered notice and praise from some well-placed critics.

I haven't really been following Sci Fi/SyFy's rebranding, but I have drastically reduced my viewing in the last year or so. I very much dislike both the haphazard and disrespectful way in which the shows are cut to accommodate commercials and the change of focus from science fiction to horror and absurd 'reality shows'. I also find the lack of shows featuring strong, three-dimensional women, people of color and LGBT people both boring and appalling. All of that would make Torchwood a bad fit for this channel.

I watch Torchwood precisely because it deals with things that American TV doesn't touch, in ways that American TV doesn't really understand. (And I'm American.) It's already cut up and expurgated too much on BBC America. I dread to think what SyFy or any other American network would do with it, if they got half a chance.

I think it's important to look at the whole picture when it comes to Torchwood - ratings-wise, it may only be doing so-so, but internationally it has done incredibly well. It airs on Space here in Canada and has been great for that network... and in the States on BBCA it's actually their most watched program, and a fairly high-profile series. I can barely find Doctor Who DVD's in the HMV here and they are really expensive, but I always see the Torchwood DVD's prominently displayed and on sale. So while it might not be doing that well in the UK, there's definitely money to be had from it in other ways and in other countries. I would bet that the BBC is actually profiting quite nicely from it in the end.

Much has been made about Torchwood being the highest rated show on BBC America, but that alone is small praise considering that hardly anybody watches BBC America to begin with. Torchwood's highest ratings for BBC America were only about half a million, which is nothing special regardless of what kind of a channel it is. Dr Who's ratings on Sci-Fi were higher, and even they weren't anything special (an average of about 1m). And Torchwood actually got axed by two different channels in Australia. The BBC wont be making a lot of money of this show.

I think too many people put too much emphasis on ratings when it comes to the BBC. They dont rely on advertising revenues (at least in the UK market) so are free to produce shows that may not always appeal to the mainstream market.

BBC3's main focus is on innovation. Shows just starting out or popular cult shows not suitable for mainsteam family viewing.

BBC2 is for similar purposes but focuses more on established shows, documentaries and comedy. It also has more internationally produced shows (mainly USA) and is considered a more "intelligent" channel.

BBC1 is mainstream programming, talkshows, drama, comedy, movies, news etc... and focuses almost always on UK made programming. I cant think of too many shows on BBC1 that are made overseas (except the movies obviously).

Torchwood has been a huge sucess for the BBC in UK and internationally and that is why it has been promoted to BBC1. Add to this that it is only the 3rd time in BBC history that a show is being made into an "event" by showing all 5 episodes on consecutive nights and you can see how much the show means to them.

I think if Torchwood continues to be successful during this event then we shall see a lot more coming our way.

Torchwood hasn't been a huge success for the BBC at all. Both seasons suffered from faltering ratings in the UK, and it is only shown in a handful of countries - and even then on lowly cable-type channels because no main networks are interested in buying it. In the US, the BBC had to "sell" it to their own network. And they are only making a 5-parter as their 3rd series because they can't sink any more money into it.

@ Carlina

Do you actually live in the UK? If you do, you would know the fact they have moved it to BBC1 alone proves that it has been a success for the BBC. Why would they waste prime time on a show they didnt consider successful? They have a number of other channels they could farm it out to.

Maybe your idea of success is massive ratings, a huge profile and sales to major networks around the world? Dont worry Carlina, you can say you like Torchwood. I wont judge you!

Granted, profits from the worldwide sales are driven straight back to the non-commercial BBC so maybe BBC-A want to premier the show to generate more profit - who knows? The fact they "sold it to themselves" proves nothing.

Season 1 and 2 of Torchwood had well over 10% audience share for almost every episode. That made it the highest rated show ever on BBC3 and for the most part it increased that audience share when it moved to BBC2.

Yes I live in the UK.

Torchwood's BBC3 ratings mean very little because (like BBC America in the US) not many people watch it. And it couldn't actually sustain its ratings either. Same thing when it moved to BBC2. It started off with reasonable ratings (4.2m) but then it slid down and down. At its low point it was only pulling in 2.5 million on BBC2 - which is extremely poor for a programme that costs and has been hyped so much. Bear in mind that shows like "Rome" and "Top Gear" average about 7 or 8 million on BBC2. The move to BBC1 (in the summer, please note, when they can show any old crap) is a last ditch attempt to get a solid audience for this show. Considering that the BBC axed Robin Hood for ratings slipping under 5 million, and ITV have axed Primeval for ratings of under 5 million, and you will see that Torchwood is in deep trouble. The move to BBC1 is not a promotion because it has performed particularly well, because it hasn't. It's a last dtich attempt to get a larger audience watching it. Should ratings for the 5-part special fall under 5 million, you can bet it will be axed.

Perhaps not having a regular series this year will more people tune in to watch the 5-part Torchwood. I can't imagine it won't get the ratings. I would imagine a majority of Doctor Who fans will be watching, since there has been no nuWho to watch for awhile and Torchwood is better than nothing. Actually, I think the show is brilliant and can't wait to see it... I would like to see the 13 shows back since I'd rather see more stories than just one big one and it's over...

Well it was on last night and the ratings are in and well, its the most watched episode ever.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8138514.stm

This article also mentions ratings for the previous 2 series.

Series 1 - Less than a million (but still most watched show on BBC3 ever).

Series 2 - Promoted to BBC2 and averaged 2.5 - 4.2 million viewers.

Series 3 - Promoted to BBC 1 and last nights ep got 5.9 miillion viewers.

Reason for cut in eps - to give it a more compact and dramatic feel, a sense of event and to focus the story.

I call that success tbh. Obviously, not as good as great as Dr Who. But then that show has been running for donkeys!

It's only the highest so far because its on BBC1. Also, the first episode didn't really have any solid competition from the other channels. I don't think 5.9m is anything to get excited about. We'll see how the rest of the episodes do this week, but it's likely they won't fare as well.

The link you are quoting from above is also incorrect (I hate it when journalists get lazy and don't do their work properly!). The highest episode from season 1 was 2.5m viewers (which was a record for BBC3). It dropped down to an average of about 1.1m after that. You can find the viewing figure at barb.co.uk (the Broadcasting Audience Research Board).

And the second series actually averaged 3.25m on BBC2. The figures you quoted (4.2 and 2.5) were just the highest and lowest episodes respectively (and it only peaked over 4m for that one episode).

And what the BBC state as the reason for the cut in episodes is not necessarily the truth. The actual truth is they cant afford to plough the same amount of money into what is essentially only a cult show, even though they are desperate to cultivate a successful franchise. Shoving it on nightly for a full week is an interesting way to explain the matter, but theres no way they would have done that during their peak viewing months.

The amount of time Dr Who has been running is not really anything to do with the equation. Torchwood's ratings are lower than Dr Who simply because it just doesn't appeal to as wide an audience.

I watched the first episode last night, and to be honest, I was underwhelmed - as usual. Admittedly, it wasn't quite as childish as series 1 and 2, but its still far from brilliant. The problem with Torchwood is it's just a third rate knock-off of half a dozen US sci-fi and fantasy shows from the past. Even their underground base looks like The Initiative from season 4 of Buffy.

I'll watch tonight's episode, but if it doesn't buck up then I'm not bothering with the rest of the week.

i think u all actually need to just watch the programme and stop bickering about it. it makes good tv and gives us something 2 watch whilst all the over crap is on tv, plus jack is fit as f*ck.

Oh no they killed off Lanto RTD better let us know why, or is he killing of Torchwood.

Torchwood moved from BBC3 a digital only channel to BBC2 because there was a deemand for it. Many shows on BBC2 eventualy move to BBC1 and into a primetime slot as they grow in popularity. Like Have I Got News For You, Torchwood has handled the transfer well, part of the five day idea was a way of introducing the show to a new audiance. Also the BBC are putting more effort into DR Who as it makes a huge step in changing the lead actor, which if handled wrong could destroy the show.

Shows like Primeval are being dumped by ITV because it is on it's knees with cripling costs, this has been brought to a head by the news that they are closing regional studios such as yorkshire television and moving production over the pennines to Granada in Manchester, they have even speculated that they may sell off flagship shows such as coranation street and buy them back inn to save on production costs.

After reading all the comments about Torchwood, I don't care!! Still one of my favorite shows on tv! If the series is doing as poorly as people are saying, then bring it to America!!! But for God's sakes, please don't do the script word for word from past episodes like they did for Coupling when it came over!

Wow - amazing set of opinions here. Carlina in particular - why the negativity? TW has never been considered a failure - several episodes of S1 and S2 can be described as poor, but the series has never been considered a failure, and the BBC don't have the money to promote shows up a channel if they're under performing, even before a recession. If a show performs poorly on BBC 3 it gets axed. Same for BBC 2 and BBC 1.

this show sucks. this show is nothing more than a way for Barrowman to mac on dudes. who wants to watch an action show where dudes are kissing all the time? cancel this POS already.

jack meets up with Doctor who(time lord) who turns time back no loss of children or characters...and we get to do this all over again. Sounds good to me how about you?

I like torchwood, and hope they can find a way to bring ianto back. Jack has to be back.Whatever happens it will always be a classic to me. tgwaste and carlino, if you don't have anything positive to say, I'm sure there other shows to watch. many of us on both sides of the pond like torchwood. i wonder how much tgwaste would have complained if it had been tosh and gwen who had the relationship?

I really hope torchwood comes back