Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood returns for a fourth series on Thursday 14 July 2011 on BBC One. But do not expect more of the same as the ten-part adventure sees Captain Jack Harkness (played by John Barrowman) and Gwen Cooper (played by Eve Myles) as the only two surviving members of the Torchwood Institute, but Jack is off planet and Gwen is in hiding. Effectively, Torchwood is no more.
Then a miracle happens, or what people at first think is a miracle. One day, on planet Earth nobody dies. And then nobody dies the next day either, or the day after that, and so on. But people are still getting ill, they are still having accidents, they are still getting old. Within a few days, the hospitals are full. Within weeks, new diseases break out. The health services cannot cope and the populations are panicking.
The show starts simultaneously in Washington and Wales, where Gwen is living with her husband Rhys Williams (played by Kai Owen). In Washington, CIA agent Rex Matheson (played by Mekhi Phifer) and his assistant Esther Drummond (played by Alexa Havins) are investigating what is happening, and the investigation brings up the name Torchwood.
Added to the mix is Oswald Danes (played by Bill Pullman). He has raped and murdered a 12-year-old girl but on Miracle Day the lethal injection does not work, and his journey leads to him becoming a modern-day messiah.
The New Actors in Torchwood Miracle Day
American actor Mekhi Phifer is best known for his long-running portrayal of Dr Gregory Pratt on ER and more recently for playing Agent Ben Reynolds in Lie to Me. His TV career though dates back to the mid-1990s when he played, among others, Nathaniel Lee Mahoney in Homicide: Life on the Street. Other roles include Omar Jones in Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Alexa Havins’ first recurring TV role was as Babe Chandler and Babe Carey from 2003 to 2005 in One Life to Live and from 2003 to 2007 in All My Children, for which she got a Daytime Emmy nomination. She was also Sarah in Turbo Dates.
Bill Pullman made his film debut in 1986’s Ruthless People and movie credits since then include Spaceballs, Independence Day and Lake Placid. TV roles include as Dr Richard Massey in 2005’s Revelations.
Lauren Ambrose plays Jilly Kitzinger, a public relations executive for PhiCorp, a giant pharmaceutical company. Her best known TV role is as Claire Fisher in Six Feet Under (a role that earned her two Emmy nominations) but two years before that she played Myra Wringler in Party of Five and more recently Coco Tompkins in The Return of Jezebel James.
Arlene Tur plays Doctor Vera Juarez, who is on duty on Miracle Day and one of her first patients is Rex Matheson. She is best known for playing Bebe Arcel in Crash.
The Team Behind Torchwood Miracle Day
Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner are the executive producers for Torchwood Miracle Day. Davies also wrote the first and last episode of the ten-part series. The other writers are Doris Egan, Jane Espenson, Jim Gray, John Shiban, Ryan Scott and John Fay. Directing duties are shared between Bharat Nalluri, Billy Gierhart, Guy Ferland and Gwyneth Horder-Payton.
Steve Rogerson - Steve Rogerson is a UK-based writer specialising in television, technology, sports and beer.
Join the Conversation