History Series / TorchwoodMiracleDay

In a bit of a role reversal from previous airing schedules of both ''Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood'', The American channel Starz aired the episodes first and then aired in Britain a week later (with Canada and Australia airing them in-between). The episodes finally landed on BBC America several years later.

''Miracle Day'' takes place two years after the traumatic events of ''Children of Earth''. People on Earth have very suddenly stopped dying, mystifying experts and straining the Earth's resources. This is PlayedForDrama, as every single realistic result of unending death is explored: people trapped in explosions remain conscious and in horrifying agony forever, both normal hospital procedures and the entire legal system need to be revised within days, the normal 50% in-utero mortality rate of severely disfigured fetuses is no longer in effect, and the undeath is soon found to be AgeWithoutYouth.

-->-- '''Chuck Sonnenburg''', [[https://sfdebris.com/videos/tv/miracleday.php Torchwood: Miracle day review part 1]].

Captain Jack Harkness (Creator/JohnBarrowman) and Gwen Cooper (Creator/EveMyles), the last members of the Torchwood team, reunite. They're forced to go to America, where they are helped by CIA secret agents Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer) and Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins), as well as others sympathetic to their cause. Things quickly get complicated when Jack realises that he's been stripped of his own immortality and healing powers in the process.

The series is DarkerAndEdgier, BloodierAndGorier and HotterAndSexier than ''Torchwood'' had ever been before. Although it still retains its {{Camp}} elements, ''Miracle Day'' is largely serious, with a strong focus on MedicalHorror and BodyHorror.

* MST3KMantra: The final episode attempts to invoke this with regard to [[spoiler:the Blessing]], with the Mother saying that being unable to explain what it is adds a little wonder to the universe, and Jack and Gwen laughing their asses off at their having absolutely no idea what it is.[[invoked]]

-->--'''Chuck Sonnenburg''', [[https://sfdebris.com/videos/tv/miracleday.php Torchwood: Miracle day review part 1]].

-->'''Chuck Sonnenburg''', [[https://sfdebris.com/videos/tv/miracleday.php Torchwood: Miracle day review part 1]].

* WritersCannotDoMath: When the characters are calculating how fast Earth's population is increasing, they count the dead people twice. Explained by SF Debris at 9:05 [[http://sfdebris.com/videos/other/miracleday1.php here]].

Sadly, the fourth season of ''Torchwood'' did not sate everyone's palate. Since it aired, [[FranchiseKiller no new television stories have been produced and the series came to a grinding halt for several years.]] After hibernating, it has shifted into audio format releases. BBC America also seems keen on omitting this season from their reruns.

Sadly, the fourth season of ''Torchwood'' did not sate everyone's palate. Since it aired, [[FranchiseKiller no new television stories have been produced and the series came to a grinding halt for several years.]] After hibernating, it has shifted into audio format. BBC America also seems keen on omitting this season from their reruns.

Sadly, the fourth season of ''Torchwood'' did not sate everyone's palate. Since it aired [[FranchiseKiller no new television stories have been produced]] and the series has shifted into audio format. BBC America also seems keen on omitting it from their reruns.

In a bit of a role reversal from previous airing schedules of both ''Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood'', The American channel Starz aired the episodes first and then aired in Britain a week later (with Canada and Australia airing them in-between).

->''[...] Today is the day that death does not exist."''

->''Today is Miracle Day''.

-->''Today is Miracle Day''.

->''"Death is not an option."''

* AWizardDidIt: The Blessing, which no ones what it is or where it comes from or anything, caused Miracle Day.

** While [[Series/DoctorWho Nurse Rory's]] absence can be explained away by the fact he's never actually met Jack, where the hell are Martha and Mickey? You remember Martha, Torhwood medical contact that surely would have been mentioned in that file the CIA had somewhere and as a ''doctor'' would have been pretty involved with the Miracle anyways. They don't even bother to HandWave her absence like they did in COE.

* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Horrifically averted. The consequences of immortality without any sort of healing factor are made gruesomely clear early on. It's also established that people continue to age as normal. Even if you manage to avoid all injury and disease for the rest of your life, would it still be worth living by the time you're 1000 years old and considerably more frail than the oldest living human has ever been?

* SocietyOfImmortals

* StuffBlowingUp

** Stuart Owens, a Phicorp bigwig, is notable for being rather helpful and non-antagonistic despite qualifying for this. As he puts it, "I'm not a bad man. I'm not a good man, either. I'm a... ''[[TrueNeutral middle]]'' [[TitleDrop man.]]"

* [[DoomedMoralVictor Doomed Immoral Victor]]: [[spoiler: Oswald Danes blows himself up to bury the Blessing and kill a Family leader. He still reckons he's going to Hell for his crimes, but views this as a victory because Hell is full of bad little girls...]]

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: "Technically it's another city; [=PhiCorp=] is in Los Angeles and we're in Venice." Nope; Venice is part of Los Angeles.

** The characters are very clear that he's only temporarily out on a legal technicality that people are already working to resolve, something to do with "acts of God" in the state's constitution. Whether such technicality would really happen is another issue. That said, they wouldn't just release him-he would appeal, and wait in prison until the courts decided on his case, which takes a while. [[ObstructiveBureaucracy In his case, they would likely stretch it out deliberately too just to prevent this]].

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: basically what every government in the world utilising overflow camps becomes, [[spoiler: since Category 1 inmates are sent into 'the module', death chambers where they are incinerated alive.]]

* ZombiePukeAttack: The 'zombie' people were the ill undead thus, many would throw up regularly for effect in hospital scenes.

** He wasn't thrown into the Blessing; he was thrown over a rail straight ''down'' via normal gravity.(Fridge Logic says the Blessing should have been down as well, seeing as it goes through the Earth, but hey).

-->'''Captain Jack:''' [[GenreSavvy In my experience, that's how it normally works.]]

** That said,there are other factors involved that could affect the economy, such as the declaration of martial law and people looting or buying up all the painkillers.

* [[spoiler: [[AWizardDidIt A Giant Symbiotic Vagina Did It]]]]: Basically what caused the Miracle.

* ActorAllusion: Matheson is gleeful at the beginning over someone named "Reynolds" retiring due to his wife's sickness. Mekhi Phifer played Ben Reynolds in ''Series/LieToMe''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Bill Pullman mentioned in an interview that Oswald Danes [[spoiler: ended up dying because the lawyers said so]]. Not that we can blame them, but still.

* RecycledSet: Scenes filmed at Ontario International Airport are set in airports in Los Angeles, Shanghai and Buenos Aires.