20 years ago, Doctor Who revealed the origins of the infamous Torchwood

The second season of the revived Physician Who, which started in 2005 after a 16-year hiatus from Basic Who in 1989, featured David Tennant and Billie Piper in a 13-episode season of epic time-traveling adventures. From its very first season, showrunner Russell T. Davies arrange a number of threads that unraveled during the present’s tragic finale. One among its greatest, nevertheless, was the origin of Physician Who’s most notorious group: Torchwood.

Physician Who has by no means shied away from introducing a thriller, and it did so with Torchwood throughout episode 12 of season 1, “Dangerous Wolf”, the place the group is referenced as a solution in a recreation of The Weakest Hyperlink. It might go on to be talked about once more in “The Christmas Invasion”, which sees Harriet Jones (Penelope Wilton) name on Torchwood to shoot down the retreating Sycorax’s spaceship. Contemplating the group’s navy may, the query of who Torchwood was and what function they’d serve was one of many sci-fi household present’s earliest mysteries. The “who” was lastly answered in season 2’s second episode, “Tooth and Claw.”

The Physician doesn’t at all times take his companions to new planets; generally the time-hopping alien is content material to go to the previous. In “Tooth and Claw,” Tennant’s Time Lord and Piper’s Rose Tyler accomplish that by touring to Scotland in 1879, the place they encounter Queen Victoria (Pauline Collins). The duo learns that the Queen plans to cease on the property of an previous pal, Sir Robert MacLeish (Derek Riddell), because it’s unlikely the Queen will make it to Balmoral Fort earlier than darkish. Posing because the Queen’s protector, the Physician and Rose be a part of her — unaware that they’re being led right into a entice involving a bunch of monks who plan to contaminate the Queen with lycanthropy through the use of an extraterrestrial werewolf.

In typical Physician Who trend, Davies blends historical past and campy sci-fi shenanigans into a really phenomenal episode that takes benefit of the epic ‘the whole lot goes’ playground that Physician Who is thought for. The Physician and Rose ensnare and kill the werewolf utilizing the Queen’s Koh-i-Noor diamond, reduce by Prince Albert, and a telescope within the property’s observatory. The Queen is grateful to the Physician and Rose for saving her life, however is totally unamused by the extent of glee the 2 confirmed amid the carnage and chaos that led to a number of individuals dying, together with Sir Robert. She banishes them from the British Empire and declares that, after the occasions she’s skilled, she refuses to be caught unaware by aliens (pleasant or in any other case) once more. In reminiscence of Sir Robert’s sacrifice, she names the group after the title of his property: Torchwood.

The origins of Torchwood are important for 3 causes. The primary is that we all know that it began as a corporation that regarded the Physician and different extraterrestrial lifeforms as potential threats to humanity, which might clarify why there have been seemingly no qualms with taking pictures down an alien ship in “The Christmas Invasion.” Secondly, the revelation that Torchwood’s origins lie with the British Empire would later assist clarify its nationalist angle when the operatives revealed themselves to the Physician in episode 12, “Military of Ghosts.” Its unofficial slogan on the time is revealed to be “If it’s alien, it’s ours.” An actual, not-so-subtle nudge on what kind of shady group Torchwood is, and why they’ve the technological know-how that can ultimately assist result in the tragic season finale, “Doomsday.”

Nevertheless, the best significance of Torchwood’s origins is it could finally arrange and result in a beloved adult-oriented Doctor Who spin-off. Torchwood follows Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), a former companion of the Physician. After the destruction of Torchwood One in “Doomsday”, Jack has rebuilt the group in Cardiff. Torchwood Three signified a brand new period for Torchwood, one that might be far much less antagonistic and extra open to cooperation with alien lifeforms, together with the Physician.

Picture: BBC

One of many biggest issues about Physician Who is that, very like Star Wars, there’s loads of house to broaden on tales lengthy after they’re first launched. Torchwood continues to be the topic of tales, by means of books, radio plays, and more, about its existence and historical past inside the world of Physician Who. The thriller of Torchwood was planted in late season 1, but it surely’s solely with “Tooth and Claw” that the set-up of one of many sci-fi collection’ most questionable organizations is ready to flourish.