Torchwood!

Ok, I was pretty much sold before I looked, because Captain Jack is awesome. That said . . . it's off to a good start. A bit grittier than Doctor Who as promised. I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to seeing more. I'm not dancing around and signing its praised and chomping at the bit waiting for the next episode to be out like I have with some other shows, but it's good. Hopefully that'll improve as it comes into its own.

There were quite a number of cute little references thrown in for those of us who've been watching the last couple years of Doctor Who, which were fun. I'd guess it stands on its own perfectly well, and there are certainly no spoilers for the other series so far.

Edit: Episode 4 of Torchwood contains severe spoilers for the season finale of the most recent season of Doctor Who. My recommendation is now to watch the series in order of episode release. This may have the side benefit of maximizing the payoff of the work they did building an interest in the Torchwood project throughout the run of the Doctor Who season.

In the same way that you may have been watching Doctor Who for references to older Doctor Who as well as for its own Easter Eggs, Torchwood has some great Easter Eggs for the fan of the new Doctor Who. Keep your eyes and ears open for some cool stuff.