Naughty!

Maybe just a little bit of Gwen. A tiny bit.

I don't really want to diss anyone. Eve Myles is a competent actress etc....but.... I really want somebody who I can like......a lot......empathise with.....root for.
I don't get any of that with Gwen. I have to try really hard to get stuff out of the show because they haven't made some of the characters likeable enough (or the actors can't make the characters likeable enough...I'm not sure)

That's where Billy Piper just shone. She is adorable. I know it's hard to find someone that even comes close but at this moment I would be phoning up the best casting directors.

What Torchwood really needs is some genuinely likeable characters.

I love Owen. He's like a beacon of acting brilliance. He doesn't have the best role. He hasn't been given the nicest character yet I find him utterly fascinating. He seems to find just the right "level" whatever he's doing.
You feel like you can almost read his mind (even when they're not doing mind-ready stories) and he never over plays anything. He's just brilliant - I hope to god he's in series 2.

I also like Captain Jack but he's missing something in the scripts. They need to make him more "special"

I can happily lose the other characters. They've made them all too "stand alone". Eveything's been so story led that we haven't got to know any of the characters and most of the actors haven't put enough personality into them for us to get attached. I want some characters I can bond with...empathise with. Buffy had it about right with Willow and Xander. They were underdogs who you really rooted for. They were really human and messed up sometimes and they were real and everybody loved them.

I sound like I'm being very harsh but I love Torchwood - I really want it to succeed. I've enjoyed every episode but I think it could be great. It's good despite it's failings.

I so hope we get some new characters we can identify with in series 2.

Just had a thought. Remember the girl from the DW ep who met the doctor through the fire place. Now she was adorable. I liked her. Can't they bring her forward in time somehow and plonk her in the middle of Torchwood. Some good cross-over material there as well.

But please - get rid of Gwen and Tosh and what's his name.
I've reached the point where I don't even want to like them now.
Last edited by suzzle : 17-12-2006 at 03:08

Re:Last post
Introduce Madame La Pompadour to Torchwood...?
(There goes the space time continium....)
Basically, Reinette becomes the mistress of Louis the 14th, under the above name & as such is a major historical figure in 17/18th Century France....
Her disappearance will definitely be noticed....

Funny how many seemed to be very positive about Eve Myles before TW started, now it seems that she has not gelled .....

I think you are spot on. When I first heard about Billie's casting I though "Stunt Casting" and assumed it would be a disaster. I was wrong, Billie is an excellent actress and a real credit to the series. She managed to give very natural performances and not once did I notice that she was acting. Sounds stupid I know but I've always thought that if you notice someone acting then they aren't good actors. Difficult to explain so I hope you get what I mean

Eve Myles is different and frankly she's not in the same league, acting-wise, as Billie. She's trying to be natural but it's coming across badly, forced somehow. Is this down to her or the scripts. I'd suggest a bit of both because most of the cast seem to be struggling too. Okay it's not a RSC theatrical performance but the quality of acting dramatically improves a show especially when the scripts are poor. I recall Patrick Stewart literally saving some TNG scripts just on his acting ability alone. Cyberwoman was a dire script but it might have been passable had the acting convinced.

perhaps that it is down to the scripts and direction she is being given as I thought she was rather good in TUD.

They could send her back one day and no-one would notice she's gone because of the space-time thingummy dingummy!

OR She could just be a dead ringer for her. (dead ha ha) and one day she could meet the doctor and he could go all jelly legged!

I thought that for a while but I started to notice glaring "acting" That's not down to the scripts. I just can't empathise with the character at all. If she dropped dead in tonight's ep I'd just think "Oh well, I wonder who the replacement is?"

I know that sounds horrible but I'm just being honest. I have no feelings towards the Gwen character at all. I enjoyed the bit of a fling with Owen thing but that's about it. The only time I found her convincing was when you could hear her thoughts so she wasn't "acting" at all.

One more thing (I'm on a roll now)

I think the idea of a gay/bisexual superhero is wonderful in theory and it's never been done before. In this day and age there shouldn't be a "shock/horror" factor if we see a gay relationship on telly.

However, once you inrtoduce an agenda into into a series I feel you're onto a loser. I feel I'm being "educated" in some way and I really don't need it. One single gay relationship with some real depth to it would have had a much more impact and "truth." It can be hard to identify with a gay relationship if you're not gay (and I guess 90% of us aren't) so unless we can see it develop and see it's "truth" it ends up as meaningless filler which just reminds me there's this agenda and actually distracts me from what's happening in the story.

All the relationships in this show suddenly "popped up" without any kind of lead up where we can see what might/might not happen in advance.

None of the characters seem to have a story arc (well at least not one that takes a naturally flowing course) None of them seem to have gone on a "journey." Even Gwen who has been incorporated into this weird and wonderful world. She just seems to be the same old copper but in different clothes, in a different place.

There's no chemistry between the characters - except Owen. Burn Gorman would probably have chemistry with a dead donkey. Maybe they should have "work-shopped" the actors before filming started to build some real raport and chemistry then they could've had something to get their teeth into with the scripts.

They need to have a re-think about this show. I love the concept and would watch it anyway for the storylines but they are missing a chance to make an epic series by not making it more character led. (With some good, interesting, believable, likeable, characters)

Billie Piper was likeable and vulnerable and you felt she had a real relationship with everyone around her. There's not even a hint of that with most of the Torchwood characters. It's all a bit staged and rushed.
Last edited by suzzle : 17-12-2006 at 14:09

Actually I did too. There's a big difference from being a guest character to leading character I guess.

Its beaten lost all but once and has now steadied out at 1 million, the same as the Spooks premieres and an amazing result for 10pm on a Sunday night.

BBC3 will be peed off no doubt about it but ultimately the BBC can justify this move on the basis of its overall performance accross the multi-channels.

Torchwood is a big hit in sci-fi terms on UK television, it combined audience is close to the 4million mark putting into the Dr Who, Star Trek and Buffy league of popularity. BBC2 has always been the BBCs sci-fi home with the exception of Who.

..... and on BBC2 it won't have that awful DOG in the corner of course.

I think Tosh will still be in it no matter what channel you watch it on.