Torchwood series 4 writers announced

The new writing team for the fourth series of Torchwood has been confirmed, and it includes names familiar to a number of US-produced series.

Russell T Davies, Torchwood's creator, head writer and executive producer, will be joined by Doris Egan, Jane Espenson, John Fay and John Shiban. They will share the writing duties with Davies – who has already written the first episode – for the rest of the 10-part series, which is a US/UK. In 2005, Davies was responsible for the successful revitalising of the BBC's long-running science-fiction drama, Doctor Who, which Torchwood is a spin-off from. He is also responsible for a number of other well-known dramas, including Queer As Folk, The Second Coming and Mine All Mine, as well as a second Who spin-off – The Sarah Jane Adventures, which stars Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. Egan has already worked on House and Dark Angel, Espenson on Battlestar Galactica and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Shiban on Supernatural and The X Files. Fay has already written for Torchwood, sharing some of the writing duties with Davies on its third series. As reported by Digital Journal previously, the new season will tell an international story and feature an overarching story line akin to 2009's five-part Torchwood: Children of Earth mini-series. The Chicago Tribune refers to Davies's newfound love for this type of format, which allows for the telling of "one large, taut story rather than a dozen or so separate tales over the course of a season". "I absolutely love it," Davies says. "I've been writing for 20 years and it's very rare to be given a new format." Last month, Digital Journal reported that a number of new cast members would be joining John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness) and Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), and casting is currently underway. Meanwhile, there is still uncertainty as to whether Russell Tovey will be reprising his Doctor Who role of Alonso Frame for Torchwood. Frame and Captain Jack were last seen going off together in The End of Time (2010), David Tennant's last episode of Doctor Who, leading to speculation that Frame would be joining the Torchwood team. However, Tovey recently told the audience at the San-Diego Comic Con that he did not know what the future held for his character. World-wide filming on the BBC Wales/Starz co-production is due to begin in January 2011, for an expected summer 2011 broadcast in the UK and North America.