Russell Davies used to write for kids TV. One of the reasons he created this show was he thought kids needed an alternative to the usual crap.

The casting is very good. My favorites are Sarah of course, and Maria's hot father.

I liked that they had an alien from the same race as a Torchwood episode (the alien who masqueraded as a woman and got together with Tosh), but they didn't make a big deal out of this, so people could just connect the shows if they wanted to connect them.