Reports this week reveal that an attempt to bring FOX on board in a co-production to make a pan-Atlantic version of Torchwood has fallen through.

Torchwood – last seen on British screens in 2009 in the striped, five-day Children of Earth drama – has an unusually insecure status at present, given the success of that drama serial. With creator Russell T Davies and production partner Julie Gardner moving to the USA, speculation has been rife that the pair intended to take the show to America for co-production with a major TV studio.

In a statement, BBC Worldwide said:

“BBC Worldwide Productions and the FOX Broadcasting Company have mutually agreed not to progress together with a 13-episode serialized ‘Torchwood’ format.”

“We are currently in discussion with several interested networks.”

Jane Tranter, former BBC One executive and now BBC Worldwide Vice President of programming and production, has made it clear that Torchwood isn’t dead:

“It’s very much ongoing and very much alive.”

Rather like Captain Jack Harkness himself…