The scene sees Captain Jack Harkness (Barrowman) embark on a “gay romp” with a barman.

The newspaper quotes a “veteran telly insider” source as saying: “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. You can get away with scenes like that on American cable channels, but you can’t on primetime BBC One. Even though the show airs after the watershed, it has a lot of young fans who would have been shocked at the graphic nature of the sex.”

Episode 3 will air on Starz on Friday night and on BBC One next week.

A BBC spokeswoman is reported to have confirmed: “The UK and US versions of Torchwood are slightly different. However, these differences do not change the story in any way and the strong storylines are first and foremost to the series.”

A “gruesome scene” from a future episode will reportedly also be cut for UK broadcast.

Episode 2 of Torchwood‘s 10-part fourth series airs this week on BBC One at 9pm on Thursday, titled ‘Rendition’.

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