Torchwood: BBC responds to complaints
Wednesday, 10 August 2011 - Reported by Marcus
The BBC has issued a response to a small number of complaints recieved from viewers who feel there is too much gay content in Torchwood. Under the BBC Editorial and General Complaints process the corporation aims to respond to formal complaints within 10 working days.
BBC Response
We have strict Editorial Guidelines which govern the content of our programmes, and Torchwood is no exception.
These clearly state: "In all BBC output the portrayal of sex, or the exploration of sexual issues, should be editorially justified and treated with appropriate sensitivity. In post-watershed content, we must be able to justify the frank and realistic portrayal of sex and the exploration of themes and issues which some people might find offensive."
Captain Jack Harkness is an established character in the series. The audience over the previous series of Torchwood have known him to be promiscuous and bi-sexual so we felt the content was justified in terms of the context and characters and would be 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 offence.
Last month the BBC confirmed that the UK versions of Episode Three had been slightly edited to remove some of the more graphic sexual images, both gay and straight, from the story. We have strict Editorial Guidelines which govern the content of our programmes, and Torchwood is no exception.
These clearly state: "In all BBC output the portrayal of sex, or the exploration of sexual issues, should be editorially justified and treated with appropriate sensitivity. In post-watershed content, we must be able to justify the frank and realistic portrayal of sex and the exploration of themes and issues which some people might find offensive."
Captain Jack Harkness is an established character in the series. The audience over the previous series of Torchwood have known him to be promiscuous and bi-sexual so we felt the content was justified in terms of the context and characters and would be 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 offence.
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