Witness 2 Resurrection

According to various news sources the upcoming Doctor Who specials (David Tennant's last as the Doctor) [LOOK AWAY NOW SPOILERPHOBES!] will feature the return of Miss Martha Jones, as played by one Freema Agyeman, last seen walking into the distance with Captain Jack Harkness and Mickey Smith during the closing act of "Journey's End".

Rumour has it that Agyeman was destined to have a starring role in the third series of Torchwood, but opted instead to switch teams and head up ITV's Law & Order: London - which left Russell T Davies and the rest of BBC Wales fuming. Whether Martha was ever suppose to return to Torchwood (or Doctor Who) is unclear, as are the reports of a rift between Agyeman and the team at Upper Boat. What *is* clear however is that if Martha is returning then relations, as they stand currently, can't be all that bad...

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In other news the Torchwood Newsroom has posted the covers and synopsis for the latest three Torchwood novels, due for release this May 21st. The books are titled "Into the Silence", "Bay of the Dead" and "The House that Jack Built".

Meanwhile a further four books will see the light of day this October. They include three fiction pieces, as well as a non-fictional look at all things Torchwood...

Torchwood Encyclopedia
Founded by Queen Victoria in 1879, the Torchwood Institute has been defending Great Britain from the alien hordes for 130 years. Though London's Torchwood One was destroyed during the Battle of Canary Wharf, the small team at Torchwood Three have continued to monitor the space-time Rift that runs through Cardiff, saving the world and battling for the future of the human race.

Now you can discover every fact and figure, explore every crack in time and encounter every creature that Torchwood have dealt with. Included here are details of: The secret of the Children of Earth Operatives from Alice Guppy to Gwen Cooper Extraterrestrial visitors from Arcateenians to Weevils The life and deaths of Captain Jack Harkness and much more.

Illustrated throughout with photos and artwork from all three series, this A-Z provides everything you need to know about Torchwood.

Torchwood: Undertakers Gift
The Hokrala Corp lawyers are back. They're suing planet Earth for mishandling the twenty-first century, and they won't tolerate any efforts to repel them. An assassin has been sent to remove Captain Jack Harkness. It's been a busy week in Cardiff. The Hub's latest guest is a translucent,amber jelly carrying a lethal electrical charge.

Record numbers of aliens have been coming through the Rift, and Torchwood could do without any more problems. But there are reports of an extraordinary funeral cortège in the night time city, with mysterious pallbearers guarding a rotting cadaver that simply doesn't want to be buried. Torchwood should be ready for anything - but with Jack the target of an invisible killer, Gwen trapped in a forgotten crypt and Ianto Jones falling desperately ill, could a world ofsuffering by the Undertaker's gift to planet Earth?

Torchwood: Risk Assessment
'Are you trying to tell me, Captain Harkness, that the entire staff of Torchwood Cardiff now consists of yourself, a woman in trousers and a tea boy?'

Agnes Haversham is awake, and Jack is worried (and not a little afraid). The Torchwood Assessor is roused from her sleep in only the worst of times - it's happened just four times in the last 100 years. Can the situation really be so bad?

Someone, somewhere, is fighting a war, and they're losing badly, the coffins of the dead are coming through the Rift. With thousands of alien bodies floating in the Bristol Channel, it's down to Torchwood to round them all up before a lethal plague breaks out. And now they'll have to do it by the book. The 1901 edition.

Torchwood: Consequences
Saving the planet, watching over the Rift, preparing the human race for the twenty-first century... Torchwood has been keeping Cardiff safe since the late 1800s. Small teams of heroes, working 24/7, encountering and containing the alien, the bizarre and the inexplicable.

But Torchwood do not always see the effects of their actions. What links the Rules and Regulations for replacing a Torchwood leader to the destruction of a shopping centre?

How does a witness to an alien's reprisals against Torchwood become caught up in a night of terror in a university library? And why should Gwen and Ianto's actions at a local publisher's have a cost for Torchwood more than half a century earlier?

For Torchwood, the past will always catch up with them. And sometimes the future will catch up with the past...

There's also a brand new audio book, "The Sin Eaters" written by script editor Brian Minchin arriving in June. The synopsis for that reads just: "Alien larvae in a baptismal font mark the beginnings of a terrifying adventure for Captain Jack, Gwen, Ianto and Rhys." That'll be out on June 4th, and there's rumblings it may even braodcast on BBC Radio 4 before hand...

All in all, 2009 is shaping up to be a grand Torchwood-themed year!

New York or Bust

Thanks to Newsarama we now have confirmation of a Torchwood panel at this year's New York ComicCon, headed up by actress Eve Myles and director Euros Lyn. They'll be there to promote the up and coming third series of the show - Children of Earth - expected to hit both sides of the Atlantic this summer.

The official line-up:

Saturday, February 7

4:15 – 5:15pm Torchwood: Actress Eve Myles (Merlin, Doctor Who) and director Euros Lyn (Doctor Who) to present a sneak peak of Torchwood: Children of Earth and discuss their creative process and experience working on BBC AMERICA’s highest rated series.

Followed by a Q&A session.

6:00 – 7:00pm, Table 1, Autograph Area: Eve Myles and Euros Lyn will participate in an official New York ComicCon signing.

As much as I'd love to be there this Brit can't weather hefty flight costs, especially at short notice! So it's up to you guys that can make it to keep the rest of us posted on what's said/shown during the event - any news can be emailed to my handy email address.

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Hey, now that my all time favourite space oddballs are returning to Earth, what better time to suggest some sort of Red Dwarf/Torchwood crossover?! I could see it now - Captain Jack meets Cat! And Ianto faints at the very sight of Dave Lister... Come on BBC chiefs, commission the damn thing already!!*

*Now obviously this is a joke. 'Obviously' applies to 99.99% of people on this Earth, meaning 0.01% will think me serious, but then they're just idiots. Obviously.

The Maybe, Maybe... Wait! No, Maybe.

Various news sites are reporting a tentative airdate for Torchwood: Children of Earth, which although unconfirmed did originate from BBC America president Garth Ancier (gotta love a guy called Garth Ancier) which does add some weight to the reports.

According to Ancier, whilst talking to AfterElton's own Michael Jensen, the special five part/five night series will air over here in the UK some point late June or early July, with a USA airdate the same day (although still 5 hours behind us Brits). This does seem to parallel reports previously posted on this site regarding a possible transmission date.

Remember however that nothing is confirmed, although schedules are planned many months in advance (for example the dates for the four Doctor Who specials, I'm well informed, was set in stone midway through 2008).

So, one question remains: when do YOU think the show will air?

In the Mean Time

Gosh, where'd the time go? It's been almost a month since the last update and since then Christmas hit, 2008 regenerated into a rather gloomy recession hit 2009 and there's been some rather exciting news about a certain Doctor. Meanwhile, there's been little Torchwood news to keep us fans afloat - save for news that post-production is now in full swing, and the episodes should see the light of day on BBC One sometime this Spring. Hopefully!

Today my Facebook page thought to update me that a very special 'event' will soon be happening within the pages of the official Torchwood magazine, as John Barrowman and his sister Carole E. Barrowman write issue 14's comic strip, titled "Captain Jack and the Selkie", which sees Captain Jack facing a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one... To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who – or perhaps more specifically what – is responsible...

This Facebook note (courtesy of Torchwood Magazine) outlines how the special comic strip came to be, with interview from John and Carole (who previously collaborated on John's autobiography Anything Goes.

Issue 14 of TWM goes on sale 19th February (my birthday, hooray!) in the UK, with the USA and Canadian market following March 14th.

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In related news, Torchwood Magazine is setting up a letter's page and wants to hear from YOU, so get writing to the magazine through this email address to (maybe) see your letter published!)