Until a few days ago, YouTube access to BBC clips from Torchwood and Doctor Who were available to viewers in Great Britain only. (And sometimes not even to them; I have seen complaints from Irish and Scottish fans that their computers were also blocked.) However, BBC Worldwide has struck a deal allowing clips to be not just viewed worldwide, but made available for embedding in websites and blog pages via a MySpace page. Although reputedly only classic Who and the behind-the-scenes materials from Torchwood Declassified and Doctor Who Confidential would be released, I was able to click and watch a clip from last season's Doctor Who episode "Family of Blood," and there are clips of last season's Torchwood listed on the site as well.

However, there is nothing from the latest season of Torchwood. Torchwood's second season premiered in Great Britain last Wednesday to good ratings and audience appreciation numbers. The British schedule has the cut-down, child-friendly version of episodes airing just before the watershed the following Wednesday, shortly before the next new post-watershed uncensored episode. Torchwood will premiere in America this Saturday, finally answering questions regarding which version Americans are being shown. (The upcoming Region 1 release of Torchwood DVDs should give American viewers their first uncut-for-advertising view of Torchwood, and so far, there has been no news of problems with the release or with the extras, as has plagued the announced shipment of the Davros collection of classic Who or the swapped commentaries in the latest set for New Who.)

Frustratingly for Torchwood fans, the official BBC Torchwood site remains locked to non-British viewers (and the aforementioned unlucky Scottish and Irish fans). Because the Doctor Who site has never been locked against worldwide fans, and because the Torchwood Season 1 and Sarah Jane Adventures websites were both unlocked for worldwide viewing when those shows aired, this continuing block is confusing and frustrating. Fan communities have shared that the new features include a recruiting video by Ianto and games that can be run as "missions."

More cheerfully, it's looking as if there will be a second season of the popular Sarah Jane Adventures. SFX magazine quotes Elisabeth Sladen as saying that 24 episodes have been commissioned (if they follow the pattern of first season, this will mean 12 two-part stories) with filming to begin in March. Be warned, however, that the link to SFX also includes spoilers regarding the next season of Doctor Who.