[Zeppo]

Considering the rampant and aggressive homosexuality of Russel T Davies and in the Torchwood spinoff, I’m surprised the new companion is actually a female...

I mostly liked Torchwood, but you're right on target about how the foolishly gratuitous flaunting of homosexuality and perversion at every turn was a distracting non-sequitur that damaged the series

I have only seen a couple episodes of the newer Dr. Who series - I have it available to view on demand through Amazon Prime - is it worth starting at the beginning, or is there a better place to hop onboard? I had a nagging feeling while viewing Torchwood that I was missing something by not having started by watching all of Dr. Who first.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

You need to start from the beginning of this run to really get it all. If you do not want to do that then you need to start at season five when the eleventh doctor shows up.

Do not skip the Christmas specials.

[TomGuy]

I got interested in Dr Who in a round-about way.

I never watched the original, because I lived in several areas that did not have PBS.

About a decade ago, I got interested in a SciFi series called Special Unit 2 — a special force that went after bad aliens. It was a comedy-drama.

Then I heard about Torchwood and that it, too, was good guys chasing bad aliens. I watched it. It made numerous references and sort of filled in a lot of info on Dr Who.

Thus, I started watching the ‘new’ Dr Who series with Christopher Eccleston. He was the Doctor for only about one season. Then came David Tennant and later Matt Smith.

I am hooked.

I also liked the Saturday morning children’s series, The Sarah Jane Adventures — which was also good gal chasing bad aliens. I didn’t realize at the time but Sarah Jane Smith [Elisabeth Sladen] was one of the companions in the original Doctor Who series.

==

Start with the Christopher Eccleston era. Many later episodes refer back to things/aliens/cultures/events in the original and earlier ‘new’ series episodes.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

I tend to dip in and out. You’d be better off asking one of the harder-core fans here. I have only watched one or two episodes of Torchwood. It got tiresome very quickly.

Personally, I’m more looking forward to series X of ‘Red Dwarf’ coming out in October...

[christx30]

If you want to watch Torchwood, just watch it. Doctor Who doesnt factor into it that much except for Captain Jack and how he got to be immortal. I wholeheartedly recommend season 3 and 4 especially. I might need to watch 1 and 2 so I can see it all.