Series 4 (Torchwood)

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Series 4 of Torchwood, known as Miracle Day and originally called The New World, was a 10-part serialised series of Torchwood broadcast in summer 2011. It was written by Russell T Davies and co-produced by BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide and Starz Entertainment. It starred John Barrowman as Jack Harkness, Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper, Mekhi Phifer as Rex Matheson, Alexa Havins as Esther Drummond, Bill Pullman as Oswald Danes and Arlene Tur as Dr. Vera Juarez. It was primarily set in both Wales and the US. The series covers an arc in which death ceases to exist on Earth.

Cast

File:Miracle Day Torchwood Team.jpg

The team for Series 4. From left to right: Gwen Cooper, Jack Harkness, Esther Drummond and Rex Matheson.

The BBC poster for the series

Promotional poster for the series

Primary cast

• Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
• Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
• Rex Matheson - Mekhi Phifer
• Esther Drummond - Alexa Havins
• Oswald Danes - Bill Pullman

Secondary cast

• Dr. Vera Juarez - Arlene Tur
• Andy Davidson - Tom Price
• Geraint Cooper - William Thomas
• Mary Cooper - Sharon Morgan
• Jilly Kitzinger - Lauren Ambrose

Guest stars

• Lyn Peterfield - Dichen Lachman
• Dr. Alicia Patel - Lena Kaur
• Surveillance - Danny Szam
• Guard - Daniel Adegboyega
• Brian Friedkin - Wayne Knight
• Stuart Owens - Ernie Hudson
• The Gentleman -C Thomas Howell
• Brad - Dillon Casey
• Olivia Colasanto - Nana Visitor
• Agent Allen Shapiro - John de Lancie

Casting notes

• Prior to the US co-production being announced, James Marsters stated he would like to return as John Hart for the new series and Freema Agyeman stated there was still a possibility for her to return as Martha Jones. Neither character is expected to appear during the Miracle Day arc.
• This series will feature a whole new cast of characters, with only four of the original characters returning (Gwen Cooper, Jack Harkness, Rhys Williams, and Andy Davidson), and only two of the original members of the Torchwood team returning, (Gwen Cooper and Jack Harkness).

Production

• Wales Online have reported that filming for next year’s series of Torchwood: The New World, will begin in the US on January 11th, 2011, lasting for 7 months.
• At the 2011 Television Critics Awards, Russell T. Davies announced that filming had been bumped up a day, starting on Monday, January 10.

Writers

• Russell T Davies will write Episodes 1 & 10
• John Shiban (Episode 6)
• Doris Egan (Episode 2 )
• Jane Espenson is writing episodes 3, 5, 7, and co-writing 8
• John Fay (Episode 9)
• Ryan Scott - will co-write Episode 8

Notes

• Writer Jane Espenson said that one of the characters names that was announced has been changed, and that any names that were previously announced have probably changed as well.
  • Esther and Oswald's last names have been changed from Katusi and Jones to Drummond and Danes.
• Ed Thomas will return as production designer for the UK unit. He will be joined by Greg Melton for the US unit.
• Makeup will be handled by Todd McIntosh. Costume will be handled by Shawna Trpcic.
• Torchwood: The New World has been changed to Torchwood: Miracle Day.
• SFX Magazine has announced and broadcast the promotional character pictures for Miracle Day, each with a character abstract.
• To promote the show, Starz employed a group of "Soulless" to stage a protest march in Washington, D.C. on 7th July 2011.
• "Soulless" masks were also made available at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con.

Broadcast dates

• Series 4 premiered 8th July 2011 on Starz in the US, and July 14, 2011 on BBC1 in the UK.

Television stories

Ten episodes have been confirmed for Series 4.

Series synopsis

When C.I.A. agent Rex Matheson investigates a global conspiracy, he finds himself unearthing a threat which challenges the entire Human race.

One day, nobody dies. All across the world, nobody dies. And then the next day, and the next, and the next, people keep aging -- they get hurt and sick -- but they never die. The populice of the planet dub this "Miracle Day" for the immortality they now seem to have. However, this leads to a negative result: a population boom, overnight. With all the extra people unable to die and continuing births, resources have become finite. It’s suggested that in four months’ time, the human race will cease to be viable. But this can’t be a natural event – someone must have caused "Miracle Day". It’s a race against time as C.I.A. agent Rex Matheson investigates a global conspiracy. The answers lie within an old, secret British institute. As Rex keeps asking “What is Torchwood?", he’s drawn into a world of adventure, and a threat to change what it means to be human, forever.

The answers seem to lie within Torchwood itself. But Torchwood (3rd branch) was destroyed, years ago, and the keys to the institute are held by its only two surviving agents- former Police Officer Gwen Cooper, who has long since disappeared along with her husband and child, and the mysterious Captain Jack Harkness, a man whose history seems to stretch back for centuries and has disappeared off the face of the earth.

Things become even more complicated as Rex soon becomes one of the people continuing to live thanks to "Miracle Day" and his firing from the C.I.A. along with his assistant Esther Drummond. Luckily, Gwen comes out of hiding and Jack returns to earth to help. Combining their experience with bizzare situations with information gathered from one of Rex's contacts, a new Torchwood team takes shape.

Adding on to the bizzare circumstances, Jack has lost his immortality. While some pharmacitical companies take advantage of the number of people needing pain killers, Jack begins to think that something from his past may be causing "Miracle Day".

Regular series

Note: for the first time in a Doctor Who franchise series, individual episode titles are not displayed on screen.

#	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
1	The New World	Russell T Davies	Bharat Nalluri	Return of Jack Harkness. Introduction of Rex Matheson, Esther Drummond, Oswald Danes and Vera Juarez. Beginning of "Miracle Day".
2	Rendition	Doris Egan	Billy Gierhart	Introduction of Jilly Kitzinger.
3	Dead of Night	Jane Espenson	Billy Gierhart
4	Escape to LA	Jim Gray & John Shiban	Billy Gierhart
5	The Categories of Life	Jane Espenson	Guy Ferland	Final appearance of Vera Juarez.
6	The Middle Men	John Shiban	Guy Ferland
7	Immortal Sins	Jane Espenson	Gwyneth Horder-Payton	Introduction of Angelo Colasanto.
8	End of the Road	Jane Espenson & Ryan Scott	Gwyneth Horder-Payton	Death of Angelo Colasanto.
9	The Gathering	John Fay	Guy Ferland
10	The Blood Line	Russell T Davies & Jane Espenson	Billy Gierhart	Death of Noah Vickers, Allen Shapiro, Geraint Cooper, Esther Drummond, Oswald Danes and Charlotte Willis. End of "Miracle Day".

Rumours

• Alonso Frame will appear. This was proven false.
• It has been hinted that Ianto, who was killed off in the Series 3 episode Children of Earth: Day Four may come back. This was proven false.
• More of Jack's past will be revealed.
• Prior to Starz confirming the writers for Series 4, two notable writers were rumoured to have written scripts for the season: A resume posted online and attributed to Andrew Cartmel indicated he had written an episode entitled "The Jinx" for Series 4; and a report of TV and film writer Bryan Fuller (House, Superman Returns) meeting with Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner in the summer of 2010 led to rumours that he, too, was writing an episode.