By DJ Tyrer
As a whole, Torchwood has attracted nothing but scorn - so much potential was seen in the idea, but little made it onto the screen. Even on an individual episode basis, only one or two episodes seem to have had any real positive feedback and even those were seen as rather lacklustre. Overall, the consensus is that Torchwood was derivative and confused 'puerile' for 'adult'. Indeed, it hasn't even excited the same level of debate as the new Doctor Who - where we had some deep divisions as to whether episodes or characters were any good - rather than drawing battlelines, most viewers just yawned. A sad indictment of the series, especially when it was trying to be controversial. Apparently, a new series is in the pipeline - it will be interesting to see how many viewers bother to return and whether it offers them an incentive to stay with it...
The Christmas Special of Doctor Who also failed to receive an endorsement - again, everyone concured that it was naff (especially Catherine Tate who proved that she's not a terribly good actress). My feeling was that it was like watching a spoof - unfortunately, this was the real thing and not a joke like The Curse of Fatal Death... There were about ten good seconds towards the end but they were waaay too late to salvage anything. To be honest, I felt like giving-up on the series altogether at the end of the 'Special' - only the trailer made me decide to keep my fingers-crossed for series three. About the only positive thing I can say about this and Torchwood was that they meant I ceased to play the role of lone voice of cynicism - as I so often was with the new series of Doctor Who - becoming, instead, one of the majority. Sadly, that's not much recompense...
Which brings us to Sarah Jane... After all that negativity, things didn't look good for it - yet, the consensus, a consensus I agree with yet again, is that not only was it close to the 'feel' of the original Doctor Who (unlike the new series or Torchwood), it was actually really rather good! Yes, it could have been better, but so could most things - it would have had to have been a lot worse to match the others in the rubbish stakes. Unlike Torchwood, it lived-up to the potential and promised that the future could be even better. Even if the actual series failed to equal the pilot, it would have to tumble a long way to generate the lack of interest that Torchwood has.
So, I - and, it seems many others - will be tuning-in for Sarah Jane with high hopes - the series is now our saving grace for the Who franchise. Let's hope it can encourage an upswing in the quality of its siblings...
