Torchwood news: Chris Chibnall confirms who could bring back the series

Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall has confirmed that someone could bring Torchwood back to television screens. But who?

There’s a key question that many fans of Torchwood have been asking for a long time now. Namely: why hasn’t the series come back? Oh, John and Carol Barrowman have continued the story in both novels and comics, and Big Finish have done their own continuation on audio (one that subtly ties in to the others).

But nothing has happened on television, not since Miracle Day, the fourth season of the series. But why? For some time, John Barrowman strongly hinted that a certain former showrunner was to blame, before even outright stating it. (Unsurprisingly, Steven Moffat had to state that he was in no way shape or form blocking the spin-off’s return.)

In 2018, Barrowman claimed that with Chris Chibnall in charge of Doctor Who, Torchwood had a much better chance of coming back. After all, with him in charge of the parent series, he must be in charge of the spin-off, right?

But what does the man himself say? Well, according to Chibnall, a former showrunner is a key reason for why we haven’t seen Torchwood back on TV. But probably definitely not the one Barrowman’s been blaming…

According to Chibnall, Russell T Davies is the only man who could bring Torchwood back on TV. And honestly, we’re inclined to believe him.

(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Russell T Davies

In an interview with The Mirror, Chris Chibnall gave his thoughts on a possible Torchwood revival:

"That’s entirely in the gift of Russell T Davies. Torchwood is Russell’s show. He owns it and he’s very, very busy right now."

Honestly, this comes as no surprise whatsoever. As much as Barrowman has been keen to blame Steven Moffat over the years, the fact is that Torchwood has always, always, always been Russell T Davies’s baby. To claim otherwise is frankly ridiculous.

As both the show’s creator and one of its executive producers, Davies was heavily involved in all four series (although it has to be said, Chibnall was essentially joint showrunner during the first two).

More than that – he’s even given some key input into Big Finish’s continuation of the series with both Aliens Among Us and God Among Us. He’s created key characters for the series, and even wrote the departure scene for one of the original leads. So Russell still likes to keep himself involved in the series.

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Original projects

However, at the same time, he’s also kept himself busy. Since Miracle Day, he’s worked on a ton of original projects, including Cucumber, Banana, Tofu, A Very English Scandal and Years and Years. (The last of which has to be one of the very best dramas of the past ten years. If you haven’t seen it yet, do so right now.) And he’s kept very, very quiet about Torchwood having a future. And I don’t think we can really blame him for wanting to focus on other things while letting Big Finish take care of it.

Will we ever see Torchwood again on the small screen? The return of Captain Jack Harkness in Fugitive of the Judoon has certainly revived the demand for it. But will Russell be interested in reviving the series, or even handing it over to someone else? Only time will tell. One thing’s for sure: no matter how much we want Torchwood back, we shouldn’t trust anything John Barrowman says about it. Ever.

Does this news surprise you? Do you think Torchwood will come back on television? Do you agree that we should never listen to a word John Barrowman says about the series ever again? Let us know in the comments below.