Torchwood finally returns next month, with a new drama in its sails. Miracle Day emerges a whole two-years after the terrible events of the (not-terrible-at-all) Children Of Earth mini-series. The hold-ups are due to a complex co-production deal between BBC Worldwide Productions, BBC Cymru and US premium network Starz. But fans in the UK will have to wait even longer for their Torchwood hit.

Yesterday, the BBC confirmed that the show will hit British screens on July 14 – that's six days after American audiences will get the chance to see it. This new series has had a lot of money spent on it – you can virtually smell it, especially in the bit with the helicopter that we can't tell you anything else about (and oh, I would like to). But the lion's share of that money comes from Starz, so not surprisingly, they have the rights to broadcast it first. But six days? Why do British fans have to wait so long?

There's been plenty of fuss and bother about whether Torchwood effectively being made as an American show will fundamentally change its DNA. In my view, that hasn't happened. No, the show isn't really the same beast as it was for those first two series (and an absence of sex-aliens is no great loss), instead it's more a direct continuation of Children Of Earth, just on a bigger, international scale. That's not a bad thing. But the scheduling is. Sci-fi fans are particularly tenacious when it comes to their heartland shows, and since a new episode often feels like Christmas has come round again, they don't like to be kept waiting. And it's not as if there aren't ways to watch the show that mean you don't have to wait until its UK broadcast.

Let's be clear, we're not saying you should download the show illegally. But it may be that lots of fans do exactly that. Last season Torchwood shocked everyone by adding an extra two million viewers to its audience after being moved to BBC One. The corporation would argue that these people are its heartland audience now, and that not very many of them will download the episodes. (In fact, Russell T Davies has argued exactly this). But those Torchwood fans who have been with the show since the very beginning? Well, that might be different.

How do we feel about this? Personally, having seen the music industry decimated, I have a near zero tolerance for downloading. The upshot is that not many artists now get the investment they need because the money simply isn't there. We get the culture we deserve, really. But it's hard not to think that the BBC is treating a big show – a show that it developed and established – recklessly. Yes, of course, contracts are contracts. But a two-day broadcast gap worked perfectly well for Game Of Thrones. Why the long pause here?

So, Torchwood fans out there. Will you be able to hold off for six days just to keep your show safe? Will you be thrusting for the torrent sites the first chance you get? Or is six days not really that much of a big deal? Let us know.