TVSquad

Just as happened with parent series Doctor Who, those of us stateside won't have to wait as long after the British airing of Torchwood's second season to see it here, though ironically it has yet to be announced when it will premiere on BBC Two in the UK. TVGuide.com tells us the second season of BBC America's biggest hit comes to us beginning January 26. And with James Marsters (Buffy/Angel) dropping in for a guest shot, and Doctor Who's Freema Agyeman (companion Martha) checking in for an extended stay mid-season, this second go round with Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen and the gang is shaping up to be more exciting than the first.

Marsters will play a time-agent criminal who "goes around in different times killing people with no remorse at all." His character Spike, remains one of the most popular in the Buffy-verse, so I expect Torchwood's ratings to see another "spike." (Boo! Boo! Hiss! Get off the stage!).

Ageyman, who left the Doctor's side at the close of his third season to stay behind on Earth, reprises her role as Martha Jones from that series in Torchwood. It is promised that she will be rejoining the Doctor at some point in the fourth season of that show, and as the two series share a reality, one would surmise she will finish her stint on Torchwood just in time to go gallivanting around time in the Tardis again.

Meanwhile, John Barrowman (Jack Harkness) will stay back on earth and defend the human race from threats alien and bizarre. It's like The X-Files without all the angst. Rather than whine and cry and be emotionally scarred by being abducted by aliens like Mulder, Captain Jack runs laughing like a crazed banshee to jump onto the Tardis so he can hijack a ride with an alien (the Doctor). Maybe it's because the Doctor isn't big on probing. And if he were, the sonic screwdriver isn't really that big anyway ... wow, that took an ugly turn.