The BBC says it has received complaints that Torchwood: Miracle Day is “too gay”.

The series, starring gay actor John Barrowman, features bisexual hero Captain Jack Harkness.

Barrowman said recently that viewers of this series are likely to assume that Jack is exclusively gay because of a number of raunchy scenes.

The corporation said on its website that its editorial guidelines state all sexual content should be “editorially justified and treated with appropriate sensitivity”, as well as being realistic.

The response adds: “Captain Jack Harkness is an established character in the series. The audience over the previous series of Torchwood have known him to be promiscuous and bi-sexual [sic] so we felt the content was justified in terms of the context and characters and would be within the expectations of regular viewers.

“We aim to depict relationships whether heterosexual or homosexual in an honest and realistic way. These scenes are not meant to cause offence.”

The BBC recently admitted cutting out parts of a gay sex scene in the current series.

Although US audiences will see the raunchy scenes, BBC bosses decided they would be too explicit for a UK audience, even after the watershed.