Torchwood creator Russell T.
Davies has said there was no pressure to alter the sexuality of the
series' characters in bringing the show to America.
The sci-fi spinoff of the BBC hit
Doctor Who is helmed by Captain Jack Harkness, played since
2005 by openly gay actor John Barrowman. The time traveling Harkness
is bisexual.
In the 10-episode mini-series
Torchwood: Miracle Day, which premiered Friday on cabler
Starz, people the world over stop dying, and Harkness loses his
immortality.
Davies, who also created the edgy gay
series Queer as Folk, told
gay glossy The Advocate that Torchwood strives for
a post-gay world.
“I just think people's sexuality and
their sexual drive and identity is absolutely essential in shaping a
character,” Davies said. “We're desperately striving toward that
sort of post-gay statement now of saying that a gay character doesn't
have to be identified sexually because we're so much more than that.
That's kind of trivializing something vast, something very, very
important that occupies my head. It's all very well to say, 'It's
not about sex,' but there's a bit of shame in that opinion as well.”
When asked if he felt any pressure to
increase the sexuality of his characters in bringing the series to a
cable network, Davies said, “This conversation only happens in
interviews,” but then conceded that his reputation as a sexual
provocateur keeps that conversation at bay.
“Frankly, the fact that I created
Queer as Folk, it's got to be a sign that you're not going to
be able to come into the room and ask me to tone it down,” he said.