 Barrowman is best known in the UK for his role in the BBC science fiction drama Doctor Who. When the series was revived in 2005, Barrowman came on board as recurring guest character Captain Jack Harkness, an omnisexual time traveller from the 51st century. His first appearance as Harkness was in the two-part story "The Empty Child" / "The Doctor Dances". He went on to appear in the next three episodes, "Boom Town", "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways". Jack became so popular, he was given his own show – Torchwood, a Doctor Who spin-off series featuring a team of alien hunters based in modern-day Cardiff, which premiered in 2006. American film and television critic Ken Tucker describes Barrowman's role on Torchwood as "dashing", "utterly fabulous", "celestially promiscuous", and "like Tom Cruise with suspenders, but minus the Scientology". In the show, Jack "tracks down — and occasionally beds — ETs with the help of his quartet of bedazzled groupies — slash — Experts in Their Fields: One's a doctor, one's a cop, one's a scientist, and one ... makes coffee and late nights piping hot. It's like the Justice League of Extended-Pinkie Nerds."
