The Committee to Nuke Elysium

Every two years or so, a new British political drama turns up that takes everyone by surprise. Usually, the show is pre-hyped as the Year’s Big Political Drama, such as STATE OF PLAY, the last series to have that kind of impact and prestige. Nobody expected the next one would be this new series of TORCHWOOD. Davies has taken the genre of Science Fiction and the by-now expected conventions of TORCHWOOD and used them in the service of a very adult message calling for holding the government accountable and even mass rebellion. At a time when British Television is in danger of drowning in crappy reality shows, market share, ratings wars and celebrity talk shows about nothing, it’s bracing that CHILDREN OF EARTH should be the one show to remind us that scripted drama can actually be about something, and TORCHWOOD has finally become a proper adult Science Fiction show.