Barrowman felt "punished" by Torchwood axe

Openly-gay actor John Barrowman has said that cutting the new Torchwood series from 13 episodes to five felt like "being punished", according to an interview with Radio Times.

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Saturday, 16 July 2011
30 June 2009
jack harkness

Openly-gay actor John Barrowman has said that cutting the new Torchwood series from 13 episodes to five felt like "being punished", according to an interview with Radio Times.

The third series of the sci-fi series will now be shown over consecutive days on BBC1.

Barrowman told the Radio Times: "I'm going to get a little political and I'll probably get into trouble for it."

He said Torchwood's first series had been "the most successful show on BBC3 - ever" and, as a result, had been moved to BBC Two where "we were beating shows that had been on BBC Two for a long time".

"The decision was made to go to BBC One and then we were cut - from 13 episodes down to five."

Barrowman said the new episodes were "incredible, I have no doubt about that".

"But personally, I felt like we were being punished. Other shows move from BBC Three and Two to One and they don't get cut. So why are we? It felt like every time we moved we had to prove ourselves."

A BBC spokesman said: "We wanted to create a powerful sense of event when the show came to BBC One and so talked with the show makers about a story that could run over five consecutive days."

This was something "very special" that had only been done before with 2008's five-part thriller Criminal Justice and Iraq-based drama Occupation, shown earlier this month.

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