Surprised no one's posted this yet (unless they have and I'm just not seeing it) but Moffat has come out and said he's annoyed that Barrowman's claiming various egos are preventing a new series and that Moffat is one of them. Moffat says he has no say in what's done with Torchwood and wouldn't stand in the way of its return. John, I think the reason Torchwood won't come back is that pound for pound its a bit shit... As for Moffat, surprised he isn't being held responsible for Brexit, Donald Trump and the BBC losing the Great British Bake-off!
I can confirm Moffat isn't responsible for Brexit, but he is the guilty party where Donald Trump and BBC losing the Great British Bake-off is concerned.
And it's been five years since Miracle Day. To an exec in the BBC, the attitude is probably, "Torchwood, what have you done for me lately?" In other words, Torchwood's day as a television series is probably long past.
The BBC has no problems dragging old stuff back out again and they've got all that extra cash to spend now that they've lost Bake Off... Anyway, it's hardly any secret that Moffat doesn't like Barrowman, so when Chibnall takes over I'd certainly expect him to return to DW again.
Where the hell does everyone keep getting the idea Moffat has authority over Torchwood? Back when Moffat took over Doctor Who everyone in fandom acted as though Moffat could now call the shots for Torchwood and SJA, he couldn't, RTD still maintained control over those shows regardless who controlled Doctor Who, just like after Moffat steps down from Doctor Who and Chibnall takes over, Chibnall still won't have any authority over Class, that's still Moffat's responsibility. I can accept fans getting it wrong, they often do. But John Barrowman really should know better than to blame Moffat for whatever is happening with Torchwood. I'm waiting until Trump wins the election before I blame Moffat.
I had not heard that Moffat had issues with Barrowman. That's unfortunate. Any particular reason that you know of?
Did Barrowman mention Moffat? As far as I know, fans just made assumptions and blamed him, so he responded. The 'egos' could just as easily be RTD saying 'We only do more Torchwood if I have total control," or people at the BBC. or Starz clinging onto options to exercise control, or...
Well.. what Barrowman said was, "(Torchwood) needs approval from certain people involved with Doctor Who... but that might change when somebody leaves, and somebody new and wonderful comes in". How would you interpret that?
I really like Barrowman, but (like others have said) I'm pretty sure Torchwood doesn't come back because it just wasn't very good. Heck, in its last season the BBC didn't even want it, so I can't imagine them wanting to bring it back after all this time (and I doubt Moffat has anything to do with the decision).
You could read it as emphasizing the "new and wonderful" part, like Chibnall's history with Torchwood making it more likely he'd push for it to come back as a companion series, while Moffat doesn't really care either way and won't go out of his way to champion it. Still, even if this is the literal scuttlebutt Barrowman was referring to, I'm sure he knew full well what he was implying by phrasing it the way he did, and wanted to deflect some ire onto Moffat.
According to DoctorWhoTV, Barrowman (speaking at a convention) went so far as to mention Moffat by name stating: “As long as Steven Moffat is involved, Jack will not be back.”
I hadn't heard this either. Could just be something as simple as a personality clash, I mean didn't Eccleston have some issues with Barrowman as well, or am I just propagating Chinese whispers? We all know Moffat can be a git, and I've always imagined Barrowman must be one of those people who's a hoot if you spend an hour with him, but the longer you're in his presence the more you'd likely want to throttle him!
The only thing I've ever heard regarding the working relationship between Eccleston and Barrowman came in an interview Barrowman did around the time he came back in season 3 where he was asked to compare working with Eccleston with working with Tennant and Barrowman's response was something like Tennant's a much happier guy than Eccleston was. Which, is vague enough to mean anything. It could mean there were issues between the two, but it's also important to note that at the time Eccleston wouldn't have been a very happy person when Barrowman arrived to film his episodes, what with behind the scenes nonsense we know went on during the first season, the decision looming over his head of weather he'd stay for another season or leave when they were done, and his father was terminally ill at the time, but Eccleston's commitments to the show were preventing him from being able to visit. It's possible and likely to say Eccleston never went out of his way to be friendly with Barrowman, but there's nothing to really indicate the two of them had any serious issues with each other either.
Chibnall will be new and I always thought he was alright...but wonderful? Although I did like Broadchurch. I kept hearing these stories about the antics Barrowman supposedly got up to while on the Doctor Who set that Eccelston thought were unprofessional. I never knew if it was factual or a fan joke that got out of hand
I always thought the destruction of Torchwood was an easy reason to bring Jack back. That being said, Torchwood is a dead horse imo. Miracle Day put the nail in the coffin.
Eve Myles talked at Shore Leave a few years ago about something Barrowman did during the filming of Torchwood's "Countrycide." It was cold and miserable, they ended up huddling together to stay warm, and somehow it ended up that he was smacking her in the head with his, and I quote Myles, "his todger." "I thought he was patting me in the head, and it was his todger!" She got her revenge. She stuffed sausages in Barrowman's boots, and his dog attacked the boots and destroyed them.
^^Even though I had a good idea what "todger" meant, I Googled it anyway, and, yep, I was correct. Also, the Google results page is actually kind of funny.