Hundreds of viewers have complained to
the BBC following Thursday's airing of Torchwood: Miracle Day,
the UK's Daily Mail reported.
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. Torchwood was created by Russell T. Davies, the
man behind the edgy gay series Queer as Folk.
In the 10-episode mini-series
Torchwood: Miracle Day, which is being broadcast in the United
States on cabler Starz, people the world over stop dying, and
Harkness loses his immortality.
In the episode titled Immortal Sins,
Harkness has a fling with a young Italian named Angelo, played by
Daniele Favilli.
According
to the Daily Mail, the BBC received more than 500
complaints about the coupling.
“This show is meant to be a sci-fi
show,” wrote one viewer. “I had to turn it off as my grandson,
an avid sci-fi fan, was in the room.”
Another accused the BBC of turning the
show into “gay porn.”
Network executives defended the
content, saying it “was justified in terms of the context and the
character and within the expectations of regular viewers.”
“We aim to depict relationships,
whether heterosexual or homosexual in an honest and realistic way.
These scenes are not meant to cause offense.”