Entertainment

Passing the ‘Torch’

What if you couldn’t die? What if no one could die?

We’re not talking vampires who heal immediately and stay 27 years old forever. We’re talking people who stay alive with massive injuries, people who keep aging and should be dead, people whose entire bodies and internal organs are burnt to a crisp but keep on living.

That’s the concept behind tonight’s riveting season premiere of “Torchwood: Miracle Day” on Starz.

If you’ve been a BBC “Torchwood” fan, you already know that, for the first time, this popular series is being produced by BBC Worldwide for Starz — and, because of that, a lot of the action will take place in the US, with many American actors.

The series, which grew out of “Dr. Who,” revolves around a team of agents who work for Torchwood, an agency located in Wales, that was founded in 1879 by the British royal family. The Torchwood agents investigate everything from UFOs and extra-terrestrials to any unusual activities that can not be explained by normal means.

Tonight, with the Torchwood agency having been dissolved and only one agent, Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), still alive — but hiding with her husband, Rhys (Kai Owen), and infant deep in the backwaters of Wales — something unprecedented in human history occurs: No one on the planet dies.

There is one other agent still around — but that’s because he can’t die: The immortal Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). Well, Harkness used to be the only person on the planet who couldn’t die — now he’s suddenly become mortal while everyone else has become immortal.

The USA is thrust into the action when CIA agent Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer) gets into a horrific car accident and is pierced through the heart with giant metal rods — but stays alive.

Matheson’s partner in crime-fighting, Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins), is a computer-hacker genius who tries to figure out what the heck is going on, and whether the mysterious “Torchwood” is behind the phenomenon taking place all over the world.

Added to the cast are Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under“) as Jilly Kitzinger, a cutthroat p.r. person who can spin anything, including this seemingly wondrous/horrific new turn in the world.

There’s also Oswald Danes (Bill Pullman), a child killer who escapes the death penalty because no one can die. Because of this, Danes is freed — a monster among the undying.

Lots of action, lots of shoot-’em-ups and lots of big explosions that don’t kill anybody.

It’s also lots of fun.