"The concept behind it is that simply no one dies," says show creator Russell T. Davies, a Welsh TV wunderkind who launched Torchwood in 2006.
"One day, you wake up and no one on Earth dies. And then the next day . . . and then the next . . . and the next." What makes it even more horrific is that injuries never heal: Severed heads continue to live on, forever in pain.
Davies delights in turning conventions on their heads.
"In most apocalyptic stories, there's a catastrophe where everyone is dead and there's just one survivor," he says. "This is the opposite."
Davies is best known for resurrecting Doctor Who in 2005 after the show went into a 16-year hiatus. He managed to transform the clunky, special effects-challenged classic into a singularly sophisticated and spectacular sci-fi series, leading one critic to dub it the perfect TV show.
Davies created Torchwood around recurring Doctor Who character Capt. Jack Harkness, a flamboyant, time-traveling cosmic wanderer played by Scottish-born, American-raised John Barrowman.
"When we meet [Jack] in Doctor Who, he's something of a rogue," Barrowman says of his character, an "angst-ridden . . . world-weary" hero who finds no meaning in life because he can't die. Shoot him, burn him, chop him up (and Davies has done all, and more, to Jack) and the intrepid Jack regenerates.
Torchwood features Jack as the leader of Torchwood, a cadre of British agents founded by Queen Victoria (after she was attacked by werewolves from space) to assess and deal with alien threats.
Tall, dark, and dashing, with matinee-idol looks, a hint of danger, and a killer fashion sense, Jack is the perfect hero, says Davies.
"He's such a massively strong character. He comes through the door with a lot of adjectives."
