'Torchwood' receives rapturous US response

The BBC's sci-fi drama Torchwood has garnered rave reviews in the US ahead of its debut this weekend.

TV Guide branded the Doctor Who spin-off "cheeky... and often startlingly adult," with Variety adding that it "has the fixings of a thinking-man's sci-fi series that doesn't take itself too seriously".

The Los Angeles Times gushed about the "dark and splendid" show's "overtones of Men in Black and Buffy the Vampire Slayer", with the Hollywood Reporter review stating that it is "so good and unsettling and creepy" .

However, one detractor was the Newark Star-Ledger's Alan Sepinwall, who dubbed the John Barrowman series "a pornographic parody of The X-Files".

The first season of Torchwood will launch on BBC America this Saturday, while the second season will be screened on BBC Two in early 2008.