'Doctor Who' Spinoff Rounds Out Cast as Davies Gives Filming Update
Production on the first official Doctor Who spinoff since the ill-fated (and very forgettable) Class attempted to create a Doctorless Doctor Who in the mid-2010s kicked off at the end of August 2024 with a splashy A-list roster. The five-episode limited series (which should not be confused with the other Doctor Who spinoff in the works, an ongoing series set at UNIT featuring a roster of former companions). Principal photography is underway and going swimmingly, with series creator and Doctor Who Reboot specialist Russell T. Davies giving an update on when things are scheduled to conclude. Unsurprisingly, though the show is only five installments, the sheer amount of technical details (not to mention an entire race of Silrulians, this time redesigned to take advantage of the Disney-sized budgets) will keep things going until the end of the year.
This month's edition of Doctor Who Magazine has an article from Davies, which revealed: "In the office, this show is generally shortened to TWB, which makes me think it stands for Torchwood: Birmingham. We’re in the third week of filming. Very exciting! The shoot will go on until just before Christmas, and it’s a mammoth task." Also revealed: more cast, three names that the more hardcore among us will know, but not nearly as high profile as the previously announced Russell Tovey (Feud: Capote vs the Swans) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Surface).
Torchwood: Birmingham sounds a bit like a Doctor Who-Line of Duty cross-over, where Adrian Dunbar has to reconcile his Catholic faith with the existence of two-hearted aliens who help him uncover the next bad apple corrupting an entire department under AC-12's preview. (Listen, I would 100% watch a Line of Duty Season 7 where UNIT finds itself in the middle of a far better remake of Marvel's Secret Invasion.) But for now, we must make do with The War Between the Land & the Sea casting Patrick Baladi, who played LoD's Jimmy Lakewell in a recurring capacity until he was offed in Season 6.
