Primetime - Torchwood - BBC2 Wed 9pm

If you haven’t heard of Torchwood, where have you been? Under a rock? It’s been extensively advertised, from trailers at the cinema to the side of almost every Norwich bus. Russell T. Davies’ long-awaited sci-fi crime drama, which is ostensibly aimed at a more adult audience (hence the post-watershed time slot, assortment of sexual references and occasional f-words), follows the activities of the third Torchwood Institute, situated in Cardiff. Leading the team is the enigmatic and charming Captain Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman.

When we last saw Captain Jack, he was stranded on a satellite thousands of years in the future after facing a Dalek invasion to protect The Doctor and Rose. Now he’s back on earth, heading the fight, tasked (among other things) to keep an eye on the space-time rift that runs through Cardiff, and whatever washes through it. Though a lot of the filming seems like an advert to visit Cardiff, it’s a nice relief to see real places instead of the dubious sets made to look like London or other cities.

The first two episodes were disappointing, bearing in mind the hype to be expected of a show that is trying to set up the premise and reach a bigger audience than just Doctor Who fans. Our introduction to Torchwood is through the eyes of Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), a feisty Welsh policewoman who, to satisfy her own curiosity, tracks down the team and discovers the truth behind the special-ops organisation. Viewers are thrust into Gwen’s shoes, striving for answers to impossible circumstances. Surprisingly, she seems to cope well with the revelation that aliens do exist.

Gwen is very much the moral compass for the team who, through their work with aliens and alien technology, have lost touch with humanity. She acts as a reminder that they are in a position to help people, not just to scavenge technology. Eve Myles manages to play both the intelligent and innocent civilian convincingly, and blends well into the team of misfits, which include the irritating know-it-all whiz kid Owen (Burn Gorman), technical expert Toshiko (Naoko Mori) and receptionist/general support man Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd).

Though they are a team, you get the feeling that no-one really knows each other. Trust is definitely an issue from the first episode, which makes for interesting viewing as the audience gets to know the characters just as they begin to really understand each other.

The series picks up after the introductory episodes, however does not manage to sustain an interesting or innovative feel in comparison to the higher end sci-fi shows such as Battlestar Galactica. It seems to lack the narrative fineness of Doctor Who, instead using depthless emotional stories to draw readers in without much resolution. The episodes are stand-alone but don’t seem to refer back to each other. What happened to Ianto and his ‘betrayal’? Something so significant can’t just be ignored completely in the next episode.

If you love Doctor Who, Torchwood is a mild delight. The little references back to it’s parent show, such as the Doctor’s hand that the Sycorax leader cut off in The Christmas Invasion, make it all the more interesting, adding depth to the fan-dubbed ‘Who-niverse’. And for non-who-fans, it still makes for an entertaining and action-packed 50 minutes, bringing a introduction into a fantasy sci-fi world. There are some fantastic one-liners (“I’d like to see CSI Cardiff - they’d be measuring the velocity of a kebab”), and not to forget – John Barrowman.

Natasha Kundaiker