4th Series of TW ready to Go

The third series of Torchwood hasn't even aired yet but the next one is prepared. And there's some news about the upcoming episodes.

Last night saw a preview screening of the the first installment of Torchwood: Children of Earth at the National Film Theatre. The episode, titled Day One, was followed by a 'Q & A' with the show's creator, Russell T Davies.

During the session, Davies revealed that the fourth series is "ready to go" but is entirely dependent on how the third series performs. The showrunner also revealed that he would be willing to do the show for the next ten years and wanted more crossovers with its 'parent' show, Doctor Who. RTD also added that The Doctor is mentioned in the last episode of Torchwood: Children of Earth.

So far, early reviews - mainly posted on the social networking site, Twitter - are very positive with words like "awesome" and "brilliant" being bandied about whilst others have suggested that the opening episode is the best hour of Torchwood so far.

No definite date has been set for the UK transmission but Torchwood: Children of Earth will start broadcasting in North America on July 20h. The DVD/Blu-Ray release is set for July 27th.

Russell T Davies has confirmed that plans for a fourth series of Torchwood are already well underway, contradicting recent tabloid rumours that suggested the programme has been axed due to poor ratings.

Davies, creator of both Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, revealed the news earlier tonight during a cast and crew Q&A session at a special preview screening of Children of Earth: Part I, which was held at the BFI Southbank in London.

However, the outgoing Doctor Who executive producer added that the BBC will make an informed decision regarding Series 4 based on the audience’s response to Series 3. He urged fans to make all of their friends and family watch to ensure a further series gets the green light. Gareth David-Lloyd, who plays Ianto Jones in the series, has previously said that although the third series has been cut down to 5 60 minute parts, the production team will go back to the regular 13 x 50 minute episodes should a fourth series be commissioned.

Fans and critics were given an exclusive preview of the first episode of the new series, and the inital reviews that have been posted online following the event have been positive ones - the majority of which have praised Russell’s writing, and have labelled the story as being the best episode of Torchwood so far. One fan who attended has said that it was like watching a Hollywood blockbuster rather than a TV drama.

During the interview, Russell also managed to drop in a few hints for the remainding episodes of the series, including a speech about the Doctor which will be in Part 5 of the story. He also mentioned that he’d have no trouble in working on the show for another 10 years.