Torchwood: Children of Earth (2009, BBC)
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Torchwood, the BBC’s highly acclaimed science fiction television series, returned to the small screen with an epic five-hour miniseries featuring some of the most inspired, exciting and heartbreaking television you will see all year. If you missed the miniseries when it aired recently, fear not. The BBC has just released Torchwood: Children of Earth on a two-disc DVD set.

For the uninformed, a little background: Torchwood was created by Russell T. Davies, the lead writer on the current Dr. Who hit series. Torchwood follows the adventurers of Captain Jack Harkness, a man who has been granted the gift/curse of immortality. As played by actor John Barrowman, Harkness comes across a throwback to the heroes from the 1930s serials. At times a little over the top, as a man out of time, someone who’s seen so much, Barrowman’s portrayal works. Harkness leads a secret team of supernatural investigators based in Cardiff, Wales, called Torchwood. Using alien technology, Torchwood has saved the earth countless times. The team originally consisted of five members. However, at the end of the second season of Torchwood, medical officer Dr. Owen Harper (Brun Gorman) and computer expert Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori) were killed. That left Torchwood as a three-member unit, with ex-police officer, Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and general support officer Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) rounding out the group. (more…)