John Barrowman last played Captain Jack Harkness on TV 8 years ago, in 2011’s Torchwood season 4, but the star has always been open about his wish to return to the Whoniverse and his tireless efforts to get someone at the BBC to see the potential for more from the spinoff show or the character of Jack. In fact, Barrowman’s latest update on the situation is that he’s discussed a possible Doctor Who movie which would reunite him with David Tennant and Billie Piper.
While speaking to Radio Times, Barrowman recalled catching up with former Who showrunner – and Captain Jack creator – Russell T. Davies and chatting about how fun it would be to make a film with the Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Jack.
“I can’t remember what ceremony it was, but I was speaking to [Davies] – he’d picked up an award for A Very English Scandal – and we said: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could do a Torchwood or Doctor Who movie with [Captain] Jack, David [Tennant] and Billie [Piper]?”
Piper and Barrowman appeared together on the first season of the revived Doctor Who, overseen by Davies, with Tennant joining at the end of 2005. Barrowman then teamed up with Tennant in 2007 before the trio were united on screen for the only time in massive Whoniverse crossover “The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End” in 2008. They didn’t share any scenes, but Barrowman and Piper also had cameos in “The End of Time,” both Tennant’s swansong and Davies’ last episode as EP.
Barrowman went on to reflect on this era of the show and how much it still means to the fans, saying:
“If I can boast, the three of us, we all call each other ‘The Golden Age’ [laughs]…The three of us made such an impact that people still talk about us to this day, which is great!”
He’s right – fans of the RTD era would go wild if a movie starring these three was actually in the works. However, Barrowman’s encounter with Davies sounds more like a wistful chat between two old friends than a formal meeting about getting something off the ground. The writer has also previously stated that he won’t pen another episode of the show, so we can presume he would feel the same way about coming up with a script for a film.
It’s good that the current incarnation of Doctor Who‘s still going strong, then, as season 12 is currently in production ahead of its arrival on our screens in early 2020.