Gay Scene Cut From UK Torchwood

TimeLord

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Aug 15, 2008
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Quote from The Sun newspaper (sorry, only source I could find)

One of the most sexually explicit scenes ever filmed for a TV drama has been torched from Torchwood.

Bisexual Captain Jack Harkness has a gay romp with a barman. The scene, which includes shots of Jack's naked bum, was filmed for the third episode of Miracle Day would have gone out 20minutes after the 9pm UK watershed.
It has already been shown on the US cable channel Starz, which co-funded the drama. But shocked Beeb bosses have cut it from the BBC1 version, fearing an avalanche of complaints from viewers.

Last night, the BBC confirmed the scene had been axed along with another gruesome scene later in the series.
Apparently the BBC and Starz have "very different audiences" according to the BBC.
While the BBC maintain that this doesn't change the story in the slightest, I am rather offended that the show has to be toned down for us British. The sad thing is, if it was aired in the UK then there probably would be complaints.
 

Mandalore_15

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Not a big deal. Stuff like that is almost completely unnecessary in a sci-fi show, and seeing as gay people are in the minority, it makes sense to go with what the majority audience would want.

EDIT: OK, I'm adding a note to this because a lot of you seem to think I want the scene to be censored or that it shouldn't be shown on TV. Read my post: I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that toning down sexual scenes has happened many, many times in the past, and it's all done based on what the production company thinks the show's main audience wants to see. As such, to me it's not a big deal, it's just a fact of the industry.

In the past, a far greater number of heterosexual sex scenes have been cut/toned down for TV than gay scenes, but if this was a straight scene I sincerely doubt anybody would be bitching about it being cut quite so much. How about you all just have a bit of a think about that before shouting at me...
 

vrbtny

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Sep 16, 2009
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Well this is kinda weird. I thought some American states still didn't accept gay marriage, and gays in general, and yet the UK is the one that has the gay bit cut.... weird.

Then again it is UK TV, not exactly known for its daring in it's TV content. Rating's wise.
 

Woodsey

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Aug 9, 2009
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Its appalling. And the excuse of "its popular with kids", is not a good one. Its shown after 9pm, if parents let 8-year-old's watch it then that's their choice.

12-year-old's watch Saw, they don't say "well even though its rated 18 loads of kids watch it, so we're gonna tone it down some".

At least the first episode was shit so I have no intention of tuning in anyway.

Mandalore_15 said:
Not a big deal. Stuff like that is almost completely unnecessary in a sci-fi show, and seeing as gay people are in the minority, it makes sense to go with what the majority audience would want.
Uuh... no. If its been filmed for the show and written in then there's no reason to take it out, especially if one version is showing it. It obviously is relevant in some way if its been written in to begin with. If some retards want to ***** and complain because two gay guys are going at it then they'll just have to ***** and complain whilst everyone else proves they've got a mental age of more than 5.

But rolling with the possible notion that it is just because its graphic (bare buttocks? How dare they), then again, its after the watershed. That's the cut off point.
 

King Toasty

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Mandalore_15 said:
Not a big deal. Stuff like that is almost completely unnecessary in a sci-fi show, and seeing as gay people are in the minority, it makes sense to go with what the majority audience would want.
But the whole point of Torchwood was to tackle things Doctor Who couldn't. Sexuality is a fact of life, and it was trying to show that in previous seasons. By removing it, it loses a LOT of what the show was.
 

Zhadramekel

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Seeing as how John Barrowman's ass was already shown to viewers of the Friday Night Project a long time ago I don't know why it should be such a big deal now.
 

Azrael the Cat

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Should note 2 major points:

1. The 3rd episode of Torchwood hasn't been screened yet in the USA (the article is wrong on that point). It gets screened 2 days from now in the US (9 days in the UK).

2. Numerous gay sex scenes have been shown on the BBC, including previous seasons of Torchwood. The BBC (like most western TV outside the US) is MUCH more liberal than US television when it comes to sex and nudity, though more likely to censor violence. The issue here is that Torchwood has been moved to an earlier timeslot than previous seasons. In the past, it has been a 'post-watershed' timeslot show, hence giving it a free reign with sex and nudity. The issue with sex isn't that it involves gay sex (gay characters/sex aren't even vaguely controversial on UK tv), but that it is before the watershed.

Britain basically runs a 2-tier system for tv ratings restrictions. If it is before the watershed timeslot for that day, it has to be family friendly - can still have gay characters and gay sexual innuendo (e.g. during Russel T Davies' stewardship of Doctor Who), but no explicit sexual nudity. If it is after the watershed, you can show pretty much whatever you like. Sometimes you get shows where the watershed falls in the middle, and you get a hilarious mid-show upscaling of sex and nudity:).

The Torchwood issue has nothing to do with any general conservatism on UK TV - it's purely a timeslot issue.

In any event, contrary to what the article says the episode hasn't been screened yet.
 

Quagmirian

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Jul 19, 2011
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Torchwood has always been full of, in the words of Charlie Brooker, 'anything-goes shaggery'. The BBC had better come up with some other excuse than 'it's gay'.
 

Outlaw Torn

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Zhadramekel said:
Seeing as how John Barrowman's ass was already shown to viewers of the Friday Night Project a long time ago I don't know why it should be such a big deal now.
Because it's the BBC, not Channel 4. There have been a few bits of gay frolicking on Jack's part in past episodes so showing a blokes arse doesn't sound like they are pushing it, which makes it all the more strange that they would do it now. Although having not seen the scene, it be the next meat-swing so maybe it is the right decision? (Probably not)

Noone would bat an eyelid if they announced that you would get to see Gwen's arse on screen, so obviously the BBC doesn't think the public are ready for man-cheeks just yet. Meanwhile in the current day we'll just have to settle for the live autopsies with naked models and general tit-fests shown on other channels.
 

Stormpigeon

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Nov 22, 2009
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As proved by the whole "Heinz Beanz" advert thing (for those who don't know, two gay guys kissed in the advert, about 10 people complained, it was axed, and THOUSANDS complained that it had been axed) I'm fairly sure the UK is ready for something like this.

Speaking as a UK resident and watcher of Torchwood, I think the BBC needs to grow up and embrace new times. If it was a man and a woman they wouldnt cut a second and it'd probably be far more graphic anyway. A gay scene is not going to make me stop watching it.

The quality of the first episode of the new series might though...
 

BlackWidower

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TimeLord said:
Quote from The Sun newspaper (sorry, only source I could find)

One of the most sexually explicit scenes ever filmed for a TV drama has been torched from Torchwood.

Bisexual Captain Jack Harkness has a gay romp with a barman. The scene, which includes shots of Jack's naked bum, was filmed for the third episode of Miracle Day would have gone out 20minutes after the 9pm UK watershed.
It has already been shown on the US cable channel Starz, which co-funded the drama. But shocked Beeb bosses have cut it from the BBC1 version, fearing an avalanche of complaints from viewers.

Last night, the BBC confirmed the scene had been axed along with another gruesome scene later in the series.
Apparently the BBC and Starz have "very different audiences" according to the BBC.
While the BBC maintain that this doesn't change the story in the slightest, I am rather offended that the show has to be toned down for us British. The sad thing is, if it was aired in the UK then there probably would be complaints.
Two things: The uncut version is airing on Starz? So not only do the Yanks get the show nearly a week earlier, they also get extra bonus scenes? Fucking BBC! It's origianlly a British drama! The Americans shouldn't be getting preferental treatment, you should!

Also, the third episode hasn't aired yet...in either country. Not until this coming Friday.
 

Alucard788

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May 1, 2011
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BlackWidower said:
Two things: The uncut version is airing on Starz? So not only do the Yanks get the show nearly a week earlier, they also get extra bonus scenes? Fucking BBC! It's origianlly a British drama! The Americans shouldn't be getting preferental treatment, you should!

Also, the third episode hasn't aired yet...in either country. Not until this coming Friday.
I'm...kinda amazed, and actually really impressed, that mano a mano uncensored is on US shores. Times really are changing. That's a good thing!

Bravo to Starz! ^_^
 

Esotera

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May 5, 2011
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Mandalore_15 said:
Not a big deal. Stuff like that is almost completely unnecessary in a sci-fi show, and seeing as gay people are in the minority, it makes sense to go with what the majority audience would want.
Unless I'm severely mistaken, gays are a minority in America also. So why should they keep the scene there but cut it in Britain? And scifi as a genre actually deals with sexuality a lot, depending on what you're reading/watching.
 

callfy

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Apr 17, 2010
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What do you expect from British television? Anything sexually explicit or the sight of blood and they freak out, I live in the UK and I hate the TV over here, especially when I re-watch the show on DVD and find scenes I never saw on TV.
 

TheTurtleMan

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It's not really that big of a deal is it? While there's a lot of people that are fine with seeing a gay sex scene, theres also another half that doesn't want to see it. It's the same reason that they don't show nudity in most pg-13 movies. Some people are fine with people under 17 years old seeing nudity and others aren't.

Cutting this isn't going to disrupt the major plot of the show so who really cares? There's plenty of other places where we can watch gay sex anytime we want anyways.
 

Dags90

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Oct 27, 2009
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Stormpigeon said:
As proved by the whole "Heinz Beanz" advert thing (for those who don't know, two gay guys kissed in the advert, about 10 people complained, it was axed, and THOUSANDS complained that it had been axed) I'm fairly sure the UK is ready for something like this.
Over 200 people in Britland complained that this ad was "offensive".

It's ridiculous. People are just scared they might actually find John Barrowman's bum attractive.