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Steven Moffat Denies John Barrowman's Hint That He's Holding Up More Torchwood

Oh dear. For years since Torchwood came to a close with Miracle Day, John Barrowman has been a diehard advocate of bringing the Doctor Who spinoff back—but his latest statements about the show have landed him in some hot water with outgoing Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat.

Barrowman has been kicking up a storm about trying to get Torchwood back on the air, telling any outlet he can that he’s been talking to BBC executives about the show or that his Arrow producers would be totally fine with him filming a new season of Torchwood or a Doctor Who cameo as Captain Jack. However, recent comments he made got a bit more inflammatory, heavily implying at a panel at the Honolulu Comic Con last month that one person on the Doctor Who team, soon to depart the series, was stopping Torchwood’s comeback:

Without giving too much information away, I was on a phone call with one of our executive producers, telling me the obstacles we’d have to face in order to bring [Torchwood] back. And I don’t like to see obstacles, because my feeling is that it’s a good show and it deserves to come back. And being told that it can’t until it’s got approval with certain people involved with Doctor Who...

I don’t understand why one show has to have the approval of another in order to come back. But that might change when somebody leaves.

Naturally, critics of Moffat’s time on Doctor Who were keen to believe that Moffat was also stopping a fan-favorite character from making a return either on the show or through Torchwood, presumably while he cackled maniacally and twiddled a sinister moustache he’d grown for the occasion.

But the backlash apparently got so bad that Moffat has now had to release a statement (via Doctor Who News) telling angry Torchwood fans to back off:

You may be aware that John Barrowman has been saying, publicly, that I’ve been blocking a new series of Torchwood. To be very clear—I haven’t blocked it; I wouldn’t block it; I wouldn’t even be ABLE to block it. I didn’t even know a revival had been mooted till I read about it on the Internet. As John perfectly well knows, it’s not my show and I could no more prevent it happening that he could cancel Sherlock. I am bewildered, and a little cross, even to be included in this conversation.

For the record, I really liked the show (especially the third series) and would be very happy to see more - monsters and mayhem, why not? But the fact is, it has nothing to do with me. Please pass this on to the anxious and the angry - I’ve had enough hate mail now.

Probably not the best idea to engender ill will with the person currently heading up the show you’re eager to cameo on, but there we go. If there is someone at the BBC trying to hold back a return of Torchwood, it’s not Steven Moffat.

Well this all seems a bit awkward! I'm not John Barrowman's biggest fan frankly, but I can understand why he's so frustrated at the BBC seeming to have forgotten Torchwood. It always seemed to do very well in the ratings, so it is a bit puzzling why they just stopped making it. Blaming Steven Moffat is a stretch through, it seems more likely to be because Chris Chibnall and Russell T. Davis have other stuff going on now, and they were the original executive producers?

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I never even saw the US season. I'm not here for shows full of Bury Your Gays (in the umbrella sense of the word, since they were all bi).

Edited 2016-09-14 18:50 (UTC)

For me Torchwood died with Ianto one way or another, I never even finished "Children of Earth", so I don't really care at all, but I mean: BBC "cancelled" or rather ended "Musketeers" as well even though there would have been more stories to tell and the ratings were good, so there's that...

Well, Miracle Day was crap. :(

But yes, it was always Chibnall & RTD's baby, so it'd be up to them. Maybe Barrowman meant to imply that once Moffat leaves Chibnall takes over, and then *he* might push for more Torchwood?

Who knows. Mostly I feel sorry for Moffat, he doesn't need the added hate.

I wish people would stop blaming Moffat for everything. The way he's treated by fandom is practically bullying.

Not cool, Barrowman. :/

Oh John. He does say some ridiculous things and doesn't always help himself. I was such a huge JB fan at one point, but not so much now.

I'd still love to see Torchwood return though, and I agree it's odd the BBC doesn't follow up on such a good show.

I stopped watching when Ianto died, never bothered with the American 'Miracle Day' series. To be honest, I liked Torchwood when it was daft and fun and ridiculous and gay as all get-out - I didn't want it to go dark and gritty. I liked it when they were all just running around Cardiff fighting aliens, being utter failures at a secret organisations and shagging each other silly, and the whole show was beyond daft. That was my Torchwood.

Poor old Moffat gets blamed for everything. I understand Barrowman's frustration too but that should be aimed at the BBC.

I don't know if there were behind the scenes issues, but I suspect the main reason they never brought it back is because Miracle Day was awful. And I do mean AWFUL. It was one of the worst things I've ever seen and killed any lingering love I had for the show.

Then again, I was of the mind that it was a terrible idea from the start. The show did not need to continue after Children of Earth. They could've given Gwen/Eve Myles her own spinoff with a whole new cast, but they should've never done more Torchwood.

Miracle Day had a really interesting premise, but was weird starting up after CoE and ultimately...kind of ended up being just weird.

That said, I know that RTD took a leave because of his partner's illness, and Moffat was showrunner for this entire time and never once mentioned Jack in the stories, so it might've been an easy shot to take?