The Problem with Torchwood

I've finally nearly finished watching the first series of Torchwood. Getting an HD TV and Sky package was wot made me do it - or else I would have been happy to avoid it.

The series undoubtedly improved over the course of the series but it really is a poor set up and when you have a poor set up a show will struggle. Not in terms of viewing figures though!

I particularly enjoyed some of the more off beat stories such as the one in which Gwen could hear a ghost of a man killed in a hit and run accident and the one where some people turned up in a plane from the 1950s. There was some very good inventive stuff in those episodes and the fact they didn't have too much alien rubbish in them helped.

But watching the remainder of the series made me realise where the real problem with Torchwood lies. It's almost an opposite of Dr Who in this regard: When Dr Who deals with the consequences of the drama it becomes more realistic.

For example, when Rose first returns to the Powell Estate and she's a missing person it has consequences for the central characters that drives the drama. When Torchwood does this it exposes how bloody stupid the set up is. For example the strange life that Gwen and her boyfriend have. It just doesn't make sense and the characters know it. The audience knows it. Don't get me started on the alien fight club.

When Torchwood returns in a couple of weeks I'm expecting it's problems to become ever more obvious. But at least I can see this rubbish in glorious HD.