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I always thought it was the other way around: what was too racy for the Americans; the UK couldn’t lap up enough.
Notorious for their strong censorship, the Americans have decided on this occasion to air the ‘graphic’ gay scene that features John Barrowman as bisexual Captain Jack Harkness romping with another man; however, the BBC has just announced it is to axe the lewd sex act from an upcoming episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day fearing a public outcry.
What’s happened to us Brits? Have we all gone soft or something!?
Late this week the BBC confirmed the scene had been axed along with another gruesome scene later in the series. A source said: “It wasn’t that it was a gay scene that worried people, but just the fact that 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.”
The source added: “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.”
Barrowman, in recent interviews promised Torchwood fans that the new series would be its sexiest yet, with “man sex” and “full-on” nudity.
Leaping to the shows defence he insisted that the sex scenes are part of the plot and not “gratuitous.” He said: “It’s not gratuitous sex. It facilitates the story, so it’s nothing they grab just to put on the camera and sensationalise it.”
Fans were furious the BBC began broadcasting the series six days after it premiered on Starz. The backlash against the decision had actress Eve Myles who plays Gwen Cooper speaking out against the BBC by saying: “If it was up to me and John we’d show it to UK fans straight away.”
The BBC argued that it had a contract with Starz, which meant it couldn’t broadcast the series for at least 24 hours after the American broadcaster and eventually they chose a slot that was the “best” for the show.
Well, it has to be said; banning scenes is the kind of censorship that will certainly have people wanting to see what all fuss is about. So I’d say it’s probably not such a bad thing for Torchwood that this has happened and it could well give John Barrowman’s star-power the much-needed boost to get him noticed a little more in Tinseltown!
I for one WILL be watching!
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