When TV2's intriguing sci-fi drama Torchwood returns this week for a new five-part series, things have heated up between two of its alien-crime-busting crew. Torchwood couple: Ianto Jones Torchwood stars openly-gay actor John Barrowman as the pansexual Captain Jack - a seemingly indestructible man of action from the far future who heads up a team who safeguard Earth against threats from other worlds. In previous episodes of the show, we've seen Jack and fellow Torchwood crewmember Ianto Jones (played by Gareth David Lloyd) get closer. "It just grew naturally out of the scripts and performances from John and Gareth," explains Davies of their unique relationship. "It's such a rich area – the sheer will-they-or-won't-they tension of two men getting closer. But again, you can come to Torchwood as a new viewer and follow their relationship from the start, you won't get lost," he promises. Children of Earth Previous episodes of Torchwood had told stand-alone stories, but its return tells an elaborate five-part tale of a mysterious alien force suddenly controlling every one of the world's children. "It was a story I'd had in mind for ages," says Davies. "I'm just glad the BBC gave me a canvas big enough to tell the tale! But underneath the sci-fi and the aliens, there's something very relevant to the world, I hope. The way we sit in the west, and watch footage of atrocities in different countries, and imagine it's all so far away, and so impossible here. Which is a nice, comfy lie we tell ourselves. That was the heart of it. I wanted to tell a story in which civilisation snaps, in which we turn on ourselves, in which nothing is safe. Plenty of people live like that, on this planet." As the future of the human race hangs in the balance, Torchwood faces death and destruction and battles to protect the human race. After the potentially apocalyptic encounter, will Torchwood and the human race ever be the same again? Torchwood: Children of Earth begins on TV2 this Wednesday 10 February at 10:30pm. A video trailer for the series is shown below. Matt Akersten - 9th February 2010