Caleb Woodbridge previews ‘Categories of Life’, episode 5 of Torchwood: Miracle Day. As governments worldwide agree on the new “categories of life”, the Torchwood team goes undercover to discover the secrets of the overflow camps and their mysterious “modules”…

If you’ve been wavering over whether to stick with the series, this week may well be make or break. So far, Miracle Day has plodded rather than gripped, but events take a darker and more dramatic turn. This week brings some real shocks and revelations. Either you’ll be on the edge of your seat waiting for the next episode, or throwing things at the screen in frustration, or maybe even both.

‘Categories of Life’ is helped by keeping some of the cheesier conspiracy elements in the background: the focus is firmly on how society deals with the Miracle, without any off-the-peg Men in Black agents or mysterious spinning triangles. It’s all the stronger for it, and it’s possibly the first time that the scenes with Torchwood are as interesting as those with Oswald Danes and Jilly Kitzinger.

But while episode 5 pleases by actually making some bold moves, it sometimes frustrates with the clumsiness with which certain scenes and characters are handled. Sledgehammer subtlety would be elegant by comparison.

For all that, it regains a much needed sense of excitement and momentum, and is probably the best episode of Miracle Day since the series opener.

Episode 5 airs 9pm, Thursday 11th August, BBC1/HD, and our audio commentary will be online immediately afterwards. is now available.