TORCHWOOD: C of E gets a lightning fast DVD release hot on the heels of its incredibly successful 5 night run on BBC1. A mini series stripped across one week can either build an audience or lose one along the way, and this one seems to have managed to maintain its audience throughout which I think is testament to the fact that the viewing public seem to have found it very compelling. Whether it's an enjoyable experience for them is another question as the subject matter was very hard to watch at times, but strong gripping storytelling it certainly turned out to be, and if anyone missed all or part of it and was wondering what all the fuss was about, well, now's your chance to catch up.

In many ways this serial was the TORCHWOOD we always hoped we'd get. A grown-up, hard hitting science fiction series that refuses to pull its punches as it tells a big story set on the world stage and cuts free of its Cardiff roots to give a sense of truly national and international crisis. Much of it is set in London (real London, not Cardiff London) and whilst no-one would ever want to diminish the efforts of other shows made by BBC Wales, this truly gave it a bigger budget feel. Yes, it had its faults, and yes there were moments when it seemed utterly preposterous, and what viewers new to the concept thought of the strangely indestructible Captain Jack Harkness is anyone's guess, but there was one heck of a story in there, which kept me glued right until the very last second of its five hour running time, and few TV dramas can do that to me these days.

Some of the issues tackled along the way will move you or just anger you in ways that TV drama seldom manages to do any more, and you are left with a belief that faced with such a threat, yes, that's exactly how certain people would behave. You just want to shout at the television set "Look at what you're doing!" as the slow, clinical execution of the functions of the state swing into action. And then there's the matter of the children. Strangely sinister at first as they are possessed by the as yet unseen threat known only as the 4-5-6, then heartbreakingly vulnerable when the full horror of the alien plan becomes clear. Whether using the threat against children as a dramatic tool is successful or not rather depends on your own response to what you see, but it certainly made me stop and think more than once. I thought it was powerful stuff.

As to whether TORCHWOOD itself can survive the cataclysmic events of these 5 days remains to be seen. Certainly the success of the series probably ensures another run, but the show itself is changed forever by what happens during the course of this story and can never be the same again. The main cast, John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd and Kai Owen give exemplary and emotional performances throughout and they are joined by an amazing guest cast including a stunning and ultimately shocking turn by Peter Capaldi as John Frobisher (an actor I'd pencilled in as a potential Doctor Who once upon a long ago), Paul Copley, Cush Jumbo, Susan Brown and Nicholas Farrell as the cheekily named but ultimately weak minded PM Mr Brian Green (note those initials and that colour reference).

This release also includes TORCHWOOD: DECLASSIFIED, a behind the scenes piece and a short audio clip "In the Shadows" read by Eve Myles.