Why Torchwood Season 5 Hasn’t Happened (Despite Not Being Cancelled)

Torchwood season 5 has never happened – in spite of the fact the Doctor Who spinoff was never canceled. Russell T. Davies launched the Torchwood spinoff series in 2006, and the last season aired in 2011. The show starred John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness and Eve Myles as his colleague Gwen, as the two led an organization dedicated to protecting Earth from alien threats.

With Doctor Who booming in the United States, in 2010 Davies looked to the US to finance future seasons of Torchwood. As a result, Torchwood season 4 was a partnership between the BBC and the premium cable network Starz, and it was shot in America. Starz expressed interest in season 5, and insisted they weren’t in a hurry. “Torchwood is not one of the shows we went into thinking about a yearly return,” Starz CEO Chris Albrecht noted. “[Davies] has a lot of things on his plate. If Torchwood is at the top of his list, that will affect the future of Torchwood.” 

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Albrech was sadly alluding to the tragic news that Russell T. Davies’ husband, Andrew Smith, had recently been diagnosed with brain cancer. Davies put almost all projects on hold, and the two left Los Angeles to return to the U.K.. Speaking to the BBC in 2012, Davies admitted this had left Torchwood in a strange limbo. “I would have carried on if circumstances hadn’t brought me back to this country,” he observed. “I’m not working on it at the moment… When I get back to work one day I don’t know if it’ll be old news to the BBC then.” Davies focused on caring for his husband at their home in Manchester until 2018, when Smith sadly passed away. Davies has worked on acclaimed UK-based TV shows since his return, including A Very English Scandal and Years and Years, but presumably Starz would’ve wanted Torchwood season 5 to at least partially pick up in the U.S.

John Barrowman has suggested there were other problems, though. He’s been consistently vocal in pushing for Torchwood season 5, and in 2016 he expressed his frustration in an interview with Radio Times. “I was told that there are some obstacles to overcome, and every time I tried to talk about a way around them, it was almost like there was another obstacle,” he complained, blaming certain egos for getting in the way. “There’s a lot of politics involved, and the people that are close to it, I think would love to see it done, but there’s just certain egos in the path that are just standing in the way. That’s all I’ll say.” Barrowman finally returned as Jack Harkness in Doctor Who season 12, and he’s previously expressed hope that new showrunner Chris Chibnall could help bring Torchwood back, but it still remains unlikely right now.

Torchwood did return in 2017, but in an entirely different format. Davies wrote a 12-part audio-drama for Big Finish Productions, entitled Torchwood: Aliens Among Us. Ironically, that demonstrated a further problem with breathing new life into the series; while Barrowman was keen to return, Myles is in great demand in the U.K., and she couldn’t even make herself available for recording an audio-drama, only appearing briefly in the series. Torchwood season 5 would require her schedule clearing up, and aligning with those of Barrowman and Davies, and on top of that then actually ensuring it was properly financed too, all of which means the show is likely over for good – barring further Big Finish audio productions – even if it’s not officially cancelled.

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