Illuminating Torchwood

Created in 2006 as a spinoff of Doctor Who, the internationally popular BBC television series Torchwood is a unique blend of science fiction and fantasy, with much more of an adult flavor than its progenitor. The series' "omnisexual" protagonist, maverick 51st-century time agent Captain Jack Harkness, leads a team of operatives from the present-day Torchwood Institute, a secret organization dedicated to battling supernatural and extraterrestrial criminals. With its archetypal characters, adult language, subversive humor and openly homosexual and bisexual storylines, Torchwood provides a wealth of material for scholarly analysis and debate. Using Torchwood as its focal point, this timely collection of essays by a range of experts and enthusiasts provides an interpretive framework for understanding the continually developing forms and genres of contemporary television drama.

About the Author
Andrew Ireland is the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Students in the Media School of the United Kingdom's Bournemouth University. In 2004 he was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy.
Donald E. Palumbo is a professor of English at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He lives in Greenville.
C.W. Sullivan III is in the English department at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.