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BBC (UK) edits racy Torchwood scene

Spoiler: Australian viewers will get to see a scene that aired in the US but left the BBC red-faced in the UK.

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Spoiler: The BBC has cut a scene from Torchwood: Miracle Day from the British edition of the sci-fi drama, fearing it is too raunchy to play in its timeslot.

The scene sees bisexual Captain Jack Harkness in a tryst with a hunky barman.

Starz will air the scene in the US, because it is a cable television network.

But the BBC has ruled it too hot for the UK, due to air just 20 minutes after the 9pm watershed.

A source said: “It wasn’t that it was a gay scene that worried people, but just the fact it was such an explicit sex scene, full stop. You can get away with scenes like that on American cable channels, but you can’t on primetime BBC One.

“Even though the show airs after the watershed, it has a lot of young fans who would have been shocked at the graphic nature of the sex.”

A BBC spokeswoman added: “The UK and US versions of Torchwood are slightly different. However, these differences do not change the story in any way and the strong storylines are first and foremost to the series.”

The outcome is ironic given there were early fears Captain Jack’s sexuality would be toned down for US audiences.

TV Tonight can confirm Australian viewers have nothing to fear UKTV will air the US version, with an M rating that allows the scene in full.

Torchwood airs 8:30pm Saturdays on UKTV.

Source: ThisIsLondon

7 Responses

  1. Okay I can confirm that we are getting the US version, reading reports online and the sex scene last night on UKTV was the same as Star, and very graphic. Can’t see them airing it on FTA. While no naughty bits were shows it was still very graphic for the younger viewers and left little to the imagination.

    It was interesting how they had the 2 sex scenes (gay and strait) inter-cut and running at the same time, probably made it easier to edit a the BBC version and slot it right in. No dirty pun intended 😆

  2. I was hoping ABC would get the FTA rights.

    Also one question, checking online and apparently we’re getting the UK promos on UKTV, not the US one. Star has the promo after the end credits, BBC has then before the end credits. Also the UK ones are about 60 sec long, while the US is about half that. Well that’s been the case for ep 1&2 so I’m not 100% sure if we are getting the US version on UKTV or we’re getting the UK version almost a week before the BBC.

    I guess time will tell when the edited sex scenes start.

  5. David,
    the show is actually classified “MA” and comes with consumer advice at the start about the strong violence and sex scenes.
    What’s interesting is that while the BBC denies the edits were because it was a ‘gay ‘sex scene, it is intercut with an equally strong hetrosexual sex scene (that they don’t mention requiring edits!) but guess they felt the ‘young fans’ wouldn’t/ couldn’t be shocked by that ?

  6. I was wondering if the rumors of edits were true, checking on line there was no difference in the first ep between the UK and US version, the 2nd airs soon in the UK and I’m expecting the same there (no sex scenes, gay or other wise).

    It is weird we’ll get the US version on UKTV here, I just wonder when it comes time for the ABC to show it (in about 6 months) with they get the edited UK version because it’s also not on cable/paytv?

    FYI even those sex scene will be edited for the BBC according to reports the total length of the UK eps will be long due to re-editing of other scenes to add more footage.

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