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.
I wonder who that somebody could be?
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.