Sex Scenes Cut

[The Doc]

I'm just going to paste this over from the news page

Fans of Torchwood: Miracle Day in the UK are upset after the BBC announced that it plans to cut parts of a sex scene from episode three of the show fearing an 'avalanche' of complaints from viewers.

The sex scene which features Captain Jack, played by John Barrowman, and a barman he meets in the show, will still be seen in the US version. Many fans are now questioning whether the BBC would have left the scene intact had it been between a man and a woman.

Torchwood: Miracle Day, although a spin off from a family show, has always had more adult themes and sex scenes and swearing have both featured heavily in the past, but the BBC suspect that complaints may arise over this scene, which Barrowman described as 'not gratuitous', despite it airing after the watershed.

What do you think of the removal of the scene? Are the BBC right to cut it or should the viewing audience be able to see the show exactly as it was intended in its late evening slot? Let us know below

[Sandiwich11]

Like I posted on the main site, I don't get why all this outrage.  It's only a few of the over gratuitous shots from the scene that have been cut, we still see them have sex (and even get a Jack bum shot) so this anti homophobia hyperbole ranting is starting to get on my nerves

[The Doc]

I really don't think it has anything to do with Jack being gay tbh. The first comment on the article when I wrote it was about homophobia, but as I replied to Sandi on the news page, it was only a few months back that MS did that Isherwood film for the BBC and that had gay sex scenes in it, so I really don't think the BBC has become that prudish in such a short space of time, but as always with fandom there will always be groups of people who jump on a certain aspect and run with it.

Personally I don't mind if it is cut or cut down. If it doesn't interefere with the story and it won't make me lost track of whats going on then it makes no difference to me. However, I don't like when then BBC sites the viewers as the reason something is being cut (in regards to anything, not just sex scenes) because as a viewer, I would like to make my own mind up about stuff rather than have it done for me.

In this instance, again as I was saying on the news page, I really think the reason it was cut is just down to keeping in line with what RTD said about Captain Jack being a hero type character for children in the UK and being very particular about what he has Jack say or do in a story so as not to blemish that, which I think is a fair call and probably why we will be seeing certain differences throughout the run in the UK and US

[poprockgeek]

I'm not bothered about the cut & I'm really quite surprised that it is big news. I've always assumed it happens with certain shows, for whatever reason, all the time. Just giving an example - 'The Tudors' has an approximate run time of an hour when shown on BBC2 but sometimes the episodes only run for 45/50 mins so they have clearly been cut. 'Rome' was the same.

As long as nothing that is cut is essential to the story line.

The cut stuff may return for the DVDs anyway - does with other shows 

[chrissymarieb]

I am very interested to see how 'bad' this scene will actually be.  Somehow, I don't think the scene will actually be all that 'offensive'.  I will report back when I see it tomorrow

[Exterminate]

I really don't see what the fuss is about. People generally know what to expect from Torchwood and if sex offends them then they must have an issue watching about 80% of the shows put out these days. I think the BBC are treating it's viewers like idiots if they think they will be flooded with complaints over something so trivial. What I find more annoying is not that we won't see it, but that the BBC obviously thinks that we can't handle seeing it. I can't think of any other good reason why they have to make any changes otherwise. What makes it any different to any other sex scene they have shown? And I don't really buy all this 'Jack is a hero' stuff either. Fair enough, he may be. But if a parent is letting their child watch a show that is clearly geared towards adults then they want to look a little closer to home when offense is caused instead of complaining to the makers. One comment I read this week was from a mother saying how it was right for sex scenes to be cut because she wouldnt feel comfortable watching them with her 7 year old daughter and everyone should just shut up complaining, but the show is not made for her seven year old daughter. Or any seven year old for that matter. As adults we know what sex is and we have all seen it depicted on screen in some form or the other, so I don't see why this should be any different. As I said, it's not a case, for me at least, of wanting to see the scene because I could take or leave it, but it's more that I should be able to, as an adult, make the choice to view it if I wish.

[Saber]

I sort of agree with both sides. I don't really care that the scene has been cut, but at the same time I don't think the cut was needed and I think we should be left to decide whether we choose to view it rather than have the option taken away

[Nyki]

What Exterminate said.  I'd have no issue if it were cut for artistic or running-time reasons, but it just seems the wrong reason to cut it.

[TheDoctorDonna]

I'm with Exterminate. I'm old enough to make my own mind up about these things

[Roranicus]

I've read a couple of things about the scene from people who have seen the US episode and apparantly there is hardly anything in there to cut, so I'm not really sure why they have felt the need to edit it.

[thefifthdoctor]

It's a completely unnecessary scene, maybe they actually cut it cos it was bobbins?
Old Torchwood did far worse IMO.
I couldn't help but wonder, actually, if it's really in there as a cheeky wink from RTD at all the "gay agenda" balls fired at the show back in the day.
Jack even makes a gay joke about it later in the ep.

[chrissymarieb]

Yeah - I didn't really see anything in there that needed to be edited out.  And I agree with TFD that the scene itself didn't really add anything anyway so not sure why it was there to begin with other than because it could be.  But I didn't think there was anything more racy than usual about it.

[The Doc]

The BBC have released a statement in response to complaints about the scene. Despite being cut and edited, they still got a bunch of people complaining that they showed a gay sex scene. Perhaps they were right to cut it after all if people get offended enough to complain over something we didn't even get to see

[Exterminate]

I was reading about that this morning. It's not the nudity or the fact there is sex that they are complaining about, but the fact that it is 'gay sex'. **** idiots