Australian media coverage

Channel Ten's decision to move Torchwood to a midnight timeslot has attracted some local media comment. Michael Idato of the Sydney Morning Herald says 'Ten has no one to blame but itself' for the 'critically acclaimed' programme's failure to develop an Australian audience. He writes that 'rather than let Torchwood go where it belongs - to the ABC as a companion piece to Doctor Who ... Ten bought it with the most disingenuous intention: to deny its science fiction roots and pitch it as a cop show.' Meanwhile, Andrew Mercado in the Sydney Sunday Telegraphcomments that the show has 'been dumped to midnights on Tuesdays ... confirming every sci-fi fan's worst fears that the 'Doctor Who' spin-off would eventually end up in late-night hell, along with The 4400 andBattlestar Galactica. Couldn't Ten have given it one last try in prime time on a Saturday night instead of those unimaginative Law & Orderand NCISrepeats?' Ian Cuthbertson of the Weekend Australian also writes that 'viewers enjoying Torchwood ... will find they have been stiffed. Not doing as well as Ten would have liked, the program has been uprooted and transferred to midnight [Tuesday]. How very sci fi.' Glenn Dyer of Crikeysays Ten is a 'loser . . . for sticking the underwhelming Torchwood at Midnight. Just 98,000 viewers. It's better than that, but it's not Dr Who-like. Why not a Friday night at 9.30pm and try and make it a cult show?'

Meanwhile Keith Austin, also of the Sydney Morning Herald, writes of 'The Lazarus Experiment', that the title character is 'played by great relish by the League of Gentlemen’s Mark Gatiss, a long term 'Doctor Who' fan who has written some of the best episodes of the series' latest incarnation.'

Finally, in the ratings, 'Doctor Who' is on the rise: 'Evolution of the Daleks' scored 874,000 viewers in the 5 major capitals while 'The Lazarus Experiment' scored an even better 895,000 viewers, coming a close second to the Dame Edna Treatment on Channel Nine and the show’s best Aussie ratings since 'Smith and Jones'. For more ratings details see theSydney Morning Herald’s Tribal Mind.

Thanks to Theta Sega MP for the Sunday Telegraph piece.