After first stating that tonight's third episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day will be shown "not edited and the channel will transmit as is" the gay sex scene between Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and another man, it ended up not being shown on South African television and was cut out.
SABC1 showing the censored version of Torchwood: Miracle Day after the channel originally said will broadcast an unedited version, is in line with the BBC which also censored this specific episode of the show when it was shown in Britain on the public broadcaster there.
Torchwood: Miracle Day (which SABC1 wrongly credits on-screen as "The Torchwood Miracle") is actually an original drama production of the Starz TV channel in America similar to the Showtime and HBO channels on satellite TV. These channels' content offering features much more explicit violence, nudity, sex and language than public broadcasters.
The closest SABC1 came on Monday night in Torchwood: Miracle Day was showing Captain Jack Harkness in bed after sex with another man and taking a telephone call. The episode on SABC1 carried an on-screen 13V age restriction advisory, whilst the DStv EPG indicated a 16 age restriction in effect for the drama.
