Torchwood:Miracle Day – episode one

Welcome, Woodies old, new, British, American and looking through legal means or harmful. Guardian blog Torchwood this year will be nothing if not equal opportunity. We apologize for the British fans waiting for the BBC1 broadcast - we know, we put temptation in your way - but this way we can all share your considerable knowledge and discuss the series together.

In the spirit of which, if you are new to us for season four, then you are likely to ask the same question that the agent Rex Matheson: "What is Torchwood?" And the answer is as intangible as the mystery to the premise of this series. The simple explanation is a long-dead British institute founded by Queen Victoria after a few unfortunate cases with a werewolf, to investigate extraterrestrial occurrences.

Alternatively, Torchwood is one of the strangest shows on TV. Written by Russell T Davies, who brought Doctor Who back to television, he began as a bizarre, adult theme of the Doctor Who spin-off, packed with such nonsense as foreigners that sex you to death and "resurrection glove." But as he bounded BBC channels that he grew up, emerging as a edgy, sci-fi version of Spooks with the smash sleeper hit two years ago, Children of the Earth