Torchwood isn’t much more than a short-lived Doctor Who spinoff. However, the series is a landmark piece of queer television, masquerading behind truckloads of science fiction.
— Read on www.syfy.com/syfywire/torchwood-essential-queer-television-science-fiction-doctor-who-anniversary
Just a bit of observation tonight…
I quite enjoyed this series a few years ago. One of the best aspects of it was the normalcy of all the relationships regardless of composition: M/F, F/F, M/M, or poly. Because the relationships were just aspects of how the characters related to one another, and to the crises they were facing in each storyline.
One of the best things about fantasy television, and science fiction in particular, is the story is the thing, and thus all the social commentary simply is. There’s no magnifying glass on it. In regular TV that tries to bring in LGBTQ relationships, so often this focus — necessarily dramatic because conflict is, after all, what drives story — results in frying things to a crisp (and ruining) not only the surrounding show, but also the characterizations beyond recognition.
But Torchwood never fell into that. Jack Harkness was a being of exciting appetites: for adventure and for beings. He dove in with gusto. Admirably putting his physical and emotional life on the line all the time.
Lara Zielinsky 