LIFE SUPPORT! "TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY"

The new Horsemen of the Apocalypse?! The TORCHWOOD team are back in action! Image: BBC/STARZ.

The old saying "We live to die" is literally torn apart by the dark and terrifying events soon witnessed in the new fourth season of the popular DOCTOR WHO spin-off from Russell T Davies -TORCHWOOD- with its new STARZ US/BBC UK co-production ten episode series titled MIRACLE DAY. All across the planet, in just one day, the people of Earth are put in an unforeseeable crisis, as its billions of inhabitants suddenly find themselves in a situation where death has been seemingly obliterated. Sounds good at first thought, but the scenario soon proves a frightening trigger hair to a much larger crisis as the population explosion reaches terrifying new heights and the lack of regular and natural mortality puts a huge strain on the world's already stretched food and other important resources. Just how and why has this happened? Is this all some kind of attempt by an alien race to weaken the Earth's defences and peoples prior to an invasion? Or is there a far worse threat closer to home that has initiated and inflicted this deadly new and unwanted phase of evolutionary chaos. Re-enter the once self-exiled Time Agent/traveller, the heroic Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman, clearly having the time of his life as the series lead star, making the unique part his own) who, with the one surviving member of the original TORCHWOOD team based in Wales, England, an isolationist Gwen Cooper (as played by lovely Welsh actress Eve Myles- her character now in rightly paranoid hiding alongside her loyal husband, Rhys (Kai Owen), and new baby), are soon hunted down by this unknown opponent, which, with its powerful connections and team of lethal Black Ops commandos, doesn't want their interference in the grand scheme of things, and will do anything to stop them...

Mother/protector! Eve Myles takes aim as Gwen Cooper.

Hand on heart, I can't say I've ever been one of the greatest fans of TORCHWOOD-its earliest season, controversially dubbed by the shows makers as the adult DOCTOR WHO, was to me anything but, as its gratuitous attempts to inject a harder edged concoction of stories with more sex, violence and swearing within its core characters and storylines, led by Russell T Davies' wet dream omnisexual hero co-creation Harkness, often came across as more juvenile and cliched than anything seen in the less adult and actually more intelligent WHO. Fortunately, over time, the series format and characters have evolved and improved greatly, as would the storytelling, with Davies's later CHILDREN OF EARTH mini-series shown in 2008 over five weekday nights on the UK's BBC ONE soon becoming a vital, must see TV event that was full of genuine shocks and surprise (including the bold and tragic death of one of the main cast)- so well realized that it would soon prove to be a huge ratings hit on the BBC AMERICA channel, too, apparently garnering record breaking audience ratings, and leading to their fellow US STARZ channel, smelling a recognizable hit series that could form a stronger part of their own unique programming and identity, joining forces with Auntie Beeb's American wing for this longer length and equally ambitious new season, which carries on the same kind of central umbrella storytelling ambition/mix of action and high concept seen with CHILDREN OF EARTH, but taking it up several notches with a greater, and most welcome, infusion of additional monies for bolder action set pieces, pyrotechnics and special effects.

Mekhi Phifer brings a driven American edge to the series as Agent Rex Matheson.

Sympathy for the Devil? Bill Pullman as the Lecter-esque Oswald Danes.

Arlene Tur as intriguing new character Dr. Vera Juarez.

Rounding out the new TORCHWOOD team is CIA operative Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins)

Joining the regular TORCHWOOD cast for this unique new hybrid-made series is an excellent cast of American talent, including E.R.'s Mekhi Phifer as the ambitious, bold and brash FBI agent, Rex Matheson, who, having undergone an unexpected life changing transition, joins forces with TORCHWOOD, and, as well as showing a darkly healthy transatlantic sense of humour, kicks ass with the best of them, alongside his young and resourceful assistant, Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins), and Arlene Tur as the glamorous Doctor, Vera Juarez, investigating this new crisis to the Earth and its effects on the Human Race. On the opposite side of the character fence, and fighting our heroes every step of the way through MIRACLE DAY will be ex-SEINFELDer Wayne Knight (probably more familiar to UK audiences as JURASSIC PARK's loathsome scientist/ thief Dennis Nedry) and, adding major acting weight to the series, film star/character actor Bill Pullman as the horrible paedophile/ Hannibal Lecter-esque figure of Oswald Danes, who, surviving his lethal injection execution during the start of MIRACLE DAY, becomes a dangerous and all-knowing American TV evangelist/celebrity whose cult following by the masses soon swells to frightening levels and threatens chaos across the planet, aided and abetted by Lauren Ambrose as his equally ambitious publicist (you can't get more sinister than being in that job!), Jilly Kitzinger. Other noted actors to be seen across the series will include GHOSTBUSTERS Ernie Hudson, UNFORGIVEN's Frances Fisher, Mare Winningham, DOLLHOUSE's Dichen Lachman, STAR TREK's ex-Q, John De Lancie (surely playing another seedy baddy!), and DEEP SPACE NINE's Nana Visitor.

Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) makes a stand against the new threat in the Episode One finale.

US Trailer (with lots of spoilers): YouTube - ‪Torchwood: Miracle Day - Official Trailer‬‏
UK trailer-BBC: YouTube - ‪Torchwood Miracle Day Trailer - BBC One‬‏

I've seen the opening episode of MIRACLE DAY and I have to say that it's good fun- far better than I thought it was going to be. It's transatlantic start may be a little slower paced than the previous opener of CHILDREN OF EARTH, but that had less episodes to play with and more that had to be set-up quickly, but this glossy new tale soon builds up the tension and atmosphere to effective levels, with some good performances from cast old and new-there are some suitable heroics from a now vulnerable to pain Captain Jack (whose character, affected in reverse by the effects of MIRACLE DAY, and performance from Barrowman welcomely seems a bit more restrained (though this sadly won't last long-he'll apparently soon be ramming his gob, and other private parts, on men and women in episodes to come!) and Welsh Wonder Woman Gwen Cooper, including a fine helicopter chase set piece and a really fun scene of gore, that is shocking and blackly funny at the same time, which should soon hook viewers in for the duration.  Die-hard TORCHWOOD fans, already unhappy that the UK created series is being shown in the US first, may miss the Wales backdrop after the first episode has come and gone, but I didn't, and I think the new US backdrop to the story may prove interesting and give the writers, including THE X-FILES John Shiban and modern BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Jane Espenson, some new fish out of water facets to play with regarding our core heroes and their continued relationships. Hopefully the dramatic and action stakes will evolve and get even better over the duration, too. Can CHILDREN OF EARTH be topped? Time will quickly tell, but, unlike the series main storyline and its grim shadow over Humanity, I think the ultimate future prognosis for TORCHWOOD looks very healthy indeed!

The early STARZ promotional poster for the new series.

On a side note, the UK's BBC RADIO 4 are airing three all-new radio dramas called TORCHWOOD: THE LOST FILES, starting from today 2.15pm until Wednesday.

The first three seasons of TORCHWOOD are now available on DVD and Blu-ray from 2ENTERTAIN.