TV preview: Torchwood: Miracle Day | The Night Watch | Small Teen, Bigger World | Roger - Genocide Baby

There was a time when Torchwood was regarded as a byword for astonishingly misconceived television. Seemingly dredged from the gauche imaginings of a teenage boy with delusions of maturity, the first two series of this Doctor Who spin-off were hobbled by some of the most atrocious writing ever conceived in the name of supposedly adult drama.

But then, in 2009, something strange and unforeseen happened. The mini-series Torchwood: Children of Earth was actually very good.

Taking its cue from the intelligent, pessimistic sci-fi writing of Nigel Kneale – rather than from whatever on God's scorched Earth it was trying to be before – it suddenly transmogrified into the ambitious, thought-provoking, emotionally resonant and compelling drama it was initially promoted as.

Against all odds, Torchwood actually worked.

So, TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY now arrives surrounded by a degree of hopeful anticipation. Happily, at least on the evidence of episode one of this ten-part series, it doesn't disappoint.

Now largely bankrolled by US premium network Starz – home of Spartacus: Blood and Sand and deservedly axed Arthurian piffle Camelot, but don't let that put you off – in conjunction with the BBC, and primarily filmed in the States, it's expanded even further in scope.

Certainly, the recruitment of writers acclaimed for their work on the likes of The X Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer augurs well for the remaining episodes.

This entertaining opener fulfils its brief of introducing the series to a new audience while establishing a thorny new case for our depleted gang of formerly Cardiff-based extra-terrestrial investigators.

Original Torchwood honcho Russell T Davies has devised an intriguing scenario whereby the world awakes one day to discover that no one can die. Typically, he explores this idea in all its moral, ethical, political, religious and, in one grisly scene involving a man who's been blown to bits, physical permutations.

But while the human race gets to grips with the calamitous consequences of immortality, our hitherto immortal hero Captain Jack Harkness is shocked to discover that his wounds no longer heal.

Is he – gulp! – a vulnerable mortal again? Either way, it's an excuse for muchos emoting of the solemnly constipated Barrowman variety (and I do like him, don't get me wrong).

Elsewhere, Bill Pullman appears to be channelling the voice, if not the spirit, of Truman Capote as a convicted paedophile who is released from prison when his lethal injection fails to take hold, while Gwen, the only other remaining Torchwooder, languishes in self-imposed rural exile with her cuddly husband, a fully stocked armoury and an amazing baby who doesn't emit so much as a peep, even during a guns-blazing high-speed chase.

Naturally, it isn't long before her retirement is revoked.

Is this the first time that openly Welsh people have starred in a US drama? They certainly present an amusingly parochial contrast to their chiselled American co-stars, particularly the female CIA agent who looks more like a swimwear model than a government factotum. Such is the body-fascist fantasy of American television.

It remains to be seen whether Torchwood: Miracle Day can deliver on its promise, but for now it seems to have learned from Children of Earth, with its assured fusion of high-concept philosophising and knowingly ridiculous comic-book action. All good fun, and worth it alone for the spectacle of a furious African American with a gaping chest wound yelling "Goddamn Wales!" on the Severn Bridge.

Adapted by multi-award- winning screenwriter Paula Milne (whose credits include the mawkish Small Island) from the novel by Sarah Waters, THE NIGHT WATCH is a feature-length standalone drama about a group of interrelated Londoners during and after the Second World War.

With its non-linear timeframe – it begins with an extended epilogue in 1947, before flashing back to reveal how these troubled characters affected each other's lives – its structure is more interesting than the plot itself. Although well performed by the likes of Anna Maxwell Martin and Claire Foy – as a pair of lesbian lovers on the margins of an already fractured world – it doesn't quite deliver the expected emotional punch. Watchable but not exactly riveting.

One of the few worthwhile things about BBC 3 is its roster of sensitive and sensible documentaries about The Young People dealing with difficult issues.

It proffers two this week, the first being SMALL TEEN, BIGGER WORLD, a two-part sequel to last year's film about Jas, a teenager with restrictive growth. Part one focuses on her cautious reconciliation with the father she's never met, her first steps away from home at college, and her relationship with her Mum, who also has restrictive growth and for whom Jas is a registered carer.

Equally affecting is the rather baldly titled ROGER – GENOCIDE BABY, in which Norwich teenager Roger Nsengiyumva returns to his Rwandan homeland to explore the harrowing details of his family history.

Born during the tribal genocide of 1994, Roger's life was saved by his remarkable mother, who spirited him away from the Hutu death squads. Tragically, his late father wasn't so fortunate.

Roger wrestles with the issue of whether he can, like his mother, forgive those who murdered his people, during a week of remembrance in a nation valiantly surging towards reconciliation.

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY

Thursday, BBC1, 9pm

THE NIGHT WATCH

Tuesday, BBC2, 9pm

SMALL TEEN, BIGGER WORLD

Monday, BBC 3, 9pm

ROGER – GENOCIDE BABY

Wednesday, BBC 3, 9pm

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 9 July, 2011