Why did people complain? Not because it’s got John Barrowman in it, not because it’s being condensed from 13 to 5 episodes, in the same week. They didn’t complain about the fact that the programme [...]]]> Ofcom (and probably the BBC) have been receiving a small number of complaints about the smash Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood.

Why did people complain? Not because it’s got John Barrowman in it, not because it’s being condensed from 13 to 5 episodes, in the same week. They didn’t complain about the fact that the programme depicted someone being drowned/buried alive in concrete.

People are complaining about the gay bits. Apparently most complaints to Ofcom are from parents annoyed that their children are being subjected to homosexual content.

Lets look at the facts, and decide whether the BBC, or the parents, are being immoral.

• Captain Jack is gay. He kissed The Doctor in his earlier Doctor Who appearances.
• Torchwood is being shown on BBC ONE, after the 9pm Watershed.
• The 9pm watershed is effectively a 15 rating.
• Parents are complaining that Children are watching 15 rated content.
• Torchwood first came about as an attempt at a Children’s programme, but is now shown later.

I’ve got nothing against parents, personally. I just wish they would get themselves some common sense, and stop being quite so ‘holier than thou’ when it comes to protecting their precious children.

Parents also need to learn that the Watershed runs from 21:00 to 05:30 each day. This means that if you don’t want to corrupt your children, you need to control what your children watch after 9 o’clock at night.

Is it bad of the BBC to adapt Torchwood to be slightly more adult in its Sci-Fi approach? There aren’t any other Sci-Fi programmes made by the BBC which are targetted towards adults, but maybe it would have been better to dream up a new programme than change a children’s hit to an adult hit.

No matter what is broadcast, on which channel, Parents need to bear in mind that, whilst they may object to phrases such as:

“are you taking it up the bum?”

Your child can find that sentence, and a whole lot more, with graphic images to explain what the words meant, here on the Internet.

Torchwood is like Star Trek. It’s inclusive of all. Okay, Star Trek wasn’t quite inclusive of gay people, but Star Trek was in the 1960′s. Russell T Davies is creating Doctor Who and its offspring into an inclusive programme which doesn’t focus on gender, colour or sexual preference. If you can’t handle that, you’ve got an off switch. Let those of us who can handle real life get on with things. Read the Daily Mail instead.