The Rumour Mill

A forum member on Outpost Gallifrey claims to have some important news on Torchwood. The person has no specific source, or no real proof of what he's saying, so I suggest that readers take his 'news' with a pince of salt:

BEWARE POTENTIAL SPOILERS!!!

SARAH-JANE SMITH - FRIEND OF TORCHWOOD?

+ The episode Flotsam and Jetsam (dreadful title!) contains two gangland leaders who are infact aliens from the 51st Century. Jack has had previous dealings with the pair during his days as a time agent.

+ Episode two is apparently titled "Dark Revelations" and features Gwen's boyfriend, who is seemingly taken over by a great evil.

+ Sarah-Jane Smith stars in a number of episodes, as a reaccuring character. This story at least has a little truth in it. In a recent interview, Elisabeth Sladen revealled that plans are afoot for Sarah's return...but then she went on to comment that it wouldn't be a return to Doctor Who. Go Sarah-Jane!

I doubt any of these rumours will come to fruitition, but if they do, remember where you heard the news first! Until next time guys...

The Final Four

Everybody has noted that Jack and Gwen will make a good pair on the WHO spinoff. However, so far we only have half of the picture. If we are to take RTD at his word, there will be four leads in Torchwood. He mentioned it in an interview with SFX a few months back and in an article about Barrowman published today at EclipseMagazine.com a quartet is referred to again. It's a great article, with JB hinting that right from episode one of Torchwood there will be some fascinating revelations about his character and the missing two years.

Source:http://www.stakesandstones.co.uk

With full production (hopefully) less than a month off now, we should be getting some more casting news sooner rather than later. The preliminary publicity photo shoot featured only JB and Eve which means the remaining two "leads" will probably be minor players at the Institute.

My guess is we will soon get the announcement that a geeky scientist type and a saucy transvestite will be filling out the staff. Either that or the other spinoff rumour floating around might actually be referring to Torchwood. Yep, the last two missing members of the team are Sarah Jane and K9!

One Woman And Her Dog?

The British newspaper The Sun today leads with a story about how, due to its popularity with BBC bosses, the episode School Reunion from series two 'Who will land its own spin-off series starring Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah-Jane Smith, with John Leeson voicing robotic dog K9. Here's the story in full:

A BIT OF RUST NEVER HURT ANYBODY...

DOCTOR Who’s robot dog K9 and ex-sidekick Sarah Jane Smith are to get their own spin-off show, TV Biz can reveal.

We told how BBC bosses are bringing back K9 for an episode in the Timelord’s new series.
Now it has emerged that the pooch and Sarah Jane, played by Elizabeth Sladen, will also star together in their own children’s series.

An insider said: “It would have been a shame to put K9 back in his kennel, so we’ve come up with an idea for another drama.

“It’s early days but K9 and Elizabeth Sladen are inseparable characters.

“There are loads of things we can do with Doctor Who. It’s one of the most popular shows on TV and viewers can’t seem to get enough of it.”We told how BBC bosses are bringing back K9 for an episode in the Timelord’s new series.

It will be the second spin-off from the sci-fi hit. BBC bosses are also making Torchwood, a racy drama for BBC3. That show stars former Doctor Who actor John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness.

The new Doctor Who series, starring David Tennant and Billie Piper, will launch this spring. K9 is in an episode called School Reunion, with Little Britain’s Anthony Head. A BBC source could not confirm any developments.

If this is the case, then the series will be the second time the two cast members have lead their own series (after 1981's K9 And Company) and the series will also be the second spin-off from the new series of Doctor Who. So, it'll be a little sister to Torchwood. Of course this is all just speculation at the moment, but Toby Whithouse, writer of School Reunion, and at least one Torchwood episode, confirms in an interview with this months Doctor Who Magazine that he has got a "special science-fiction series planned which I cannot possibly talk about". Um...could just be a coincidence, or do we have our first Doctor Who spin-off series without the involement of RTD?

We'll just have to wait and see how this development, erm...develops.