Episode 3 of Miracle Day to be toned down in UK

July 20th, 2011
Warning! This article and its comments may contain spoilers...
episode-3-of-miracle-day-to-be-toned-down-in-uk

It was confirmed last month that alternative versions of Miracle Day will be aired in the UK and the US, and it seems that Episode 3 will feature the biggest difference yet.

The BBC’s Torchwood Twitter has revealed that the UK cut of the episode will “differ slightly” to the US Starz one, and The Sun newspaper has reported more details about what’s been removed. It’s thought that BBC One has opted to tone down an explicit scene between Jack and a barman as it has been deemed unsuitable for British primetime TV.

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“It wasn’t that it was a gay scene that worried people, but just the fact it was such an explicit sex scene, full stop,” a source said. “You can get away with scenes like that on American cable channels, but you can’t on primetime BBC One. Even though it airs after the watershed, it has a lot of young fans who would have been shocked.”

A BBC spokeswoman has added that the changes “do not change the story in any way”.

The BBC’s now issued an official statement on its Complaints site explaining further:

It is not unusual for co-productions to have slightly different versions of a show to reflect its different audiences. For episode three of Torchwood, as part of the usual discussions between broadcasters and the production company, small potential edits in two intercutting scenes of gay and straight sex were discussed and made by production. This minimal edit makes little difference to the episode to be broadcast in the UK. Both scenes remain but run a few seconds shorter than the US version. In a later episode a sequence of gay sex is important to the story and therefore both the US and UK will show the same version.

Torchwood continues to be a series that will ask important questions of how we all live in today’s society and the drama reflects life as we recognise it. The BBC and Starz have both been huge supporters of the writers’ vision for the series.

Do you agree with the BBC’s decision to cut the scenes? Let us know below! The episode in question, Dead of Night, airs in the US this Friday night and next Thursday in the UK.

Unravel the latest Series 4 developments in our ongoing and dedicated discussion…

Keep up to date with all the Miracle Day developments at our Torchwood site!

With thanks to JC!

32 comments on this article
  1. Vanessa
    July 21st, 2011 at 1.18pm | #1

    @Dean ThetaSigma Bennett
    I’m not interested in seeing a full on sex scene be it gay or hetrosexual.

  2. Vanessa
    July 21st, 2011 at 1.20pm | #2

    @Elwyn
    Torchwood is normally certificate 15. Wouldn’t a full on sex scene of any kind make it an 18?

  3. Vanessa
    July 21st, 2011 at 1.24pm | #3

    @Hayley

    My understanding is that full on sex scenes would have a later watershed- something very late like midnight but I’m not sure of the exact time.

  4. TE
    July 21st, 2011 at 2.00pm | #4

    Either way, this means the other explicit sex scene later in the series will also be cut by the BBC. To be honest, I couldn’t actually care whether a sex scene was being cut or not if it’s irrelevant to the plot like plenty of scenes in Starz programmes.

    Anyway, it’s not like the BBC version will be much shorter than 55 minutes in comparison to the Starz version which would be closer to 50 minutes.

  5. dani
    July 21st, 2011 at 4.13pm | #5

    I can understand it really. What I mean is, I am the LEAST homophobic person in the world, but I do not want to see full on sex scenes of any kind to be honest. Whether it be straight, or gay sex, I don’t really want to watch it. BBC isn’t cutting the scene because it’s showing gay sex, it’s cutting the scene because it shows sex.

  6. TE
    July 21st, 2011 at 4.43pm | #6

    @dani
    Exactly. What I’d like to know is why irrelevant sex scenes were even included when RTD dislikes sex scenes that have no relevance to the plot. But then I’ll take a wild guess and say Starz were desperate for one.

  7. TSG
    July 21st, 2011 at 8.52pm | #7

    I think that statement is a brilliant clarification. Well done to the BBC on responding in a logical and prompt fashion.

  8. David
    July 24th, 2011 at 6.55pm | #8

    It is more relevant to the character Jack… it’s because he is gay and as a society, some of us don’t accept homosexuals. So in a way it’s shoving it in our faces saying “we’re here and we’re queer”, it’s on their side to not be ashamed of it and helps other closeted homosexuals to feel more comfortable. I’ve seen it and it was a graphic scene lmao it was shown side-by-side with a hetrosexual scene too. Both were graphic but the gay sex scene was in my view more connecting than the other to the story because Jack being mortal he got drunk and in his case he had to use protection because he’s now at risk.
    All in all… I LOVE THIS SHOW! AND LOVE THIS SERIES EVEN MORE! Being produced by someone American means money, means a BETTER SHOW! And I just hope and pray to be seeing more Torchwood after the Miracle Day is over.

  9. Vanessa
    July 26th, 2011 at 1.57pm | #9

    Jack is refered to as ‘omnisexual’ which would be closer to bisexual than gay (although the actor is gay). Would it be just as relavent to his character if it wasn’t gay sex? Dow we need to have a full on sex scene to know that he is what he is? I don’t think we do- passionate kissing does that just as well.

  10. Vanessa
    July 26th, 2011 at 1.58pm | #10

    The suggestion that it was included because Starz wanted a sex scene actually sounds more logical if it has no relavence to the plot.

  11. Richie McGriffin
    July 30th, 2011 at 3.53pm | #11

    I’ve seen the original version. They actually cut down BOTH sex scenes – both hetero and gay. It’s another case of the media making a case out of nothing. There’s nothing to complain about – they treated both sex scenes the same.

  12. TE
    August 5th, 2011 at 4.59pm | #12

    Actually, I’m surprised the BBC noticed this but didn’t notice that an Auton in Rose had visible breasts (yeah, they’re plastic but seeing as they like to kick up a fuss at any little thing…)

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