List of Torchwood characters
List of Torchwood characters
The following is a list of characters in the BBC science fiction television series Torchwood, including supporting characters, and important human villains.
John Barrowman plays protagonist Jack Harkness
Main article: Jack Harkness
Captain Jack Harkness, played by Scottish-American actor John Barrowman, is a the leader of Torchwood Three. A former Time Agent born in the 51st century, Jack had two years of his memories wiped by the Time Agency and subsequently became a con-man operating in the 20th century, where he stole the name of “Captain Jack Harkness”; his real name is unknown. After contact with the Ninth and Tenth Doctors in Doctor Who, Jack reformed and changed his ways to do good works with Torchwood where he became a member of the Institute’s Cardiff branch. He joined Torchwood in the 19th Century by time-travelling there. He became leader of the organisation at the start of the 21st century, and handpicked his team-members. As a result of his reluctant immortality, Jack has lived a long life, in which he has seen the loss of his brother Gray and grandson Stephen, and had relationshops with many different lovers over the years, both men and women. After the destruction of the Torchwood Institute, Jack left earth again, but returned because of the events ofTorchwood: Miracle Day
Eve Myles plays leading lady Gwen Cooper
Main article: Gwen Cooper
Gwen Cooper, played by Welsh actress Eve Myles, was recruited into Torchwood Three in the series premiere “Everything Changes”. A policewoman, partnered with PC Andy Davidson, Gwen by the second series becomes elevated to the team’s second-in-command, after serving as leader during Jack’s absence. Despite their relationship being tested by Gwen’s dishonesty, feelings for Jack Harkness and a tempestuous affair with Owen Harper, Gwen and her live-in boyfriend Rhys eventually get married. Gwen is one of two surviving agents following the destruction of the Cardiff branch of the Torchwood Institute, and goes into hiding following the birth of daughter Anwen. During Miracle Day she is conflicted between her Torchwood duties and her responsibility to her baby daughter and severely ill father.
Her family have lived in Wales for generations, and it is suggested by the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) andRose Tyler (Billie Piper) that Gwen is related to the Gwyneth (also portrayed by Eve Myles) whom they met in Cardiff in 1869 in “The Unquiet Dead”, due to spatial genetic multiplicity.
Main article: Owen Harper
Doctor Owen Harper, played by American-born English actor Burn Gorman, is Torchwood Three’s medical officer. Having lost his fiancée to an alien parasite, Owen’s genius and determination is recognised by Captain Jack and he is recruited into the Institute. Owen would go on to have many short-lived sexual relationships with women such as Suzie Costello and Gwen Cooper, but remained largely indifferent to the affections of colleague Toshiko Sato. In Torchwood series 2, Owen is killed by Aaron Copley, and having been resurrected with alien technology is left in a state of living death; cheating death would ultimately prove short-lived, as Owen was seemingly vaporised in a surge of radiation in the series 2 finale, “Exit Wounds”.
Naoko Mori plays tech expert Toshiko Sato
Main article: Toshiko Sato
Toshiko Sato, played by Japanese-born British actress Naoko Mori, is Torchwood Three’s technical expert and computer specialist. The character first appeared in the Doctor Who episode “Aliens of London”, although this experience was not mentioned in Torchwood until her final appearance in the episode “Exit Wounds”, where it was revealed that she was covering for team medic Owen. Toshiko is quiet, fiercely private and professional. A fantastic genius, she was recruited into Torchwood after being imprisoned by a similar organization, UNIT, from whom she stole design plans for a “sonic modulator” in a bid to free her captured mother. Working for Torchwood Three, Toshiko perfected the “Rift Manipulator” device for the organization. Throughout the series, Toshiko is seen to harbor feelings for Owen Harper; she confesses the extent of her feelings on her death-bed as Owen laments never managing to take her on the date he promised her.
Gareth David-Lloyd plays general factotum Ianto Jones
Main article: Ianto Jones
Ianto Jones, played by Welsh actor Gareth David-Lloyd, is Torchwood Three’s support man. Ianto’s job initially involves managing clean-up operations concerning Torchwood’s various activities and providing tea and coffee, although his role later expands to accompanying the team on field missions. Having transferred to Torchwood Three from the head branch in London (Torchwood One), Ianto’s motives at first are simply to house his partiallycyber-converted girlfriend Lisa Hallett, who later breaks loose and is exterminated by the team in “Cyberwoman”. He enters into a sexual relationship with Jack in the first series, which meets with mixed reactions from the other characters; Owen, for example, characterises him as Jack’s “part time shag”. Ianto never received full security in his relationship with Jack, or indeed with his sexuality; shortly after he became secure with their being labelled a “couple”, Ianto was killed by a virus in episode four of 2009 serial Children of Earth.
Kai Owen plays Gwen’s partner, Rhys Williams
Main article: Rhys Williams (Torchwood)
Rhys Alun Williams, portrayed by Welsh actor Kai Owen, is a recurring character in the first two series and a main cast member from the third series onwards. Rhys is initially introduced as Gwen’s oblivious live-in boyfriend, but as the series progresses he becomes aware of the existence of extraterrestrial life, and the true nature of Gwen’s job. The two marry in the episode “Something Borrowed” and proclaim a relationship based on truth. When the government attempt to assassinate Gwen Cooper in Children of Earth, Rhys goes on the run with the team, assisting his wife in lieu of a fourth team member following the deaths of Tosh and Owen. Though he would rather live a domestic life with Gwen and their daughter Anwen in the fourth series, Rhys again finds himself having to assist Torchwood—which is no longer an official government agency, but rather a band of fugitives—over the course of the fourth series.
Freema Agyeman plays UNIT Medical Officer Martha Jones
Main article: Martha Jones
Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman, is a returning Doctor Who character who first appears in the second series episode “Reset”. A friend of Jack’s, she is likewise a companion of the Tenth Doctor. Since preventing the end of the world alongside Jack, she has become a Doctor of Medicine and a medical officer for the international extraterrestrial response agency UNIT, and temporarily joins Torchwood to assist Jack and his team in solving a series of mysterious deaths around Cardiff. Later, she becomes involved in assisting the team following the death and resurrection of Torchwood’s resident medic Owen Harper in the episodes “Dead Man Walking” and “A Day in the Death”. She collaborates with Jack, Gwen and Ianto again in the Doctor Who episodes “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End”. Executive producers had intended for Martha to appear in Children of Earth, but Agyeman was unavailable; the character is stated as being on her honeymoon during the events of the serial.
Mekhi Phifer plays CIA agent Rex Matheson
Main article: Rex Matheson
Rex Matheson, played by American actor Mekhi Phifer, is a field agent for the CIA whose investigation into Torchwood leads him to join the organisation after he is betrayed by the CIA. Rex is immediately connected to the supernatural event which is preventing humans from dying; he survives a fatal wound to the heart in the first episode of Miracle Day. Well-trained within the CIA, Rex finds himself frustrated by Jack and Gwen’s ad hoc and sometimes unprofessional approach to field work, and also by Esther’s lack of experience. He befriends and romances Vera Juarez, and is appalled at what happens to her. As the series progresses, Rex softens to his team-mates, particuarly Esther who he is unwilling to sacrifice at the expense of the world. After the Miracle ends, Rex is horrified to discover he seems to be Immortal in the same vein as Captain Jack.
Alexa Havins plays CIA analyst Esther Drummond
Main article: Esther Drummond
Esther Drummond, played by American actress Alexa Havins, is an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) alongside Rex Matheson, whose lifestyle as a field agent she romantically envies. After her investigation into Torchwood leads to her betrayal by the CIA, she joins Torchwood. Though a rookie in the field, she provides the team with a competent computer analyst and hacker as they investigate the so-called miracle which has prevented death from occurring to human beings on Earth. As the series progresses, Esther also takes part in the team’s undercover operations and at one point spends two months on the run with Jack Harkness in Scotland. She is eventually fatally shot in Buenos Aires as a measure to persuade Rex not to reverse the Miracle.
American actor Teddy Sears played a mysterious representative of the Three Families, credited only as Blue-eyed man. He first appears in the episode “The Categories of Life” where he informs Jilly Kitzinger that her work with Phicorp and Oswald Danes has gotten her noticed by the right people. After Oswald Danes and Kitzinger part company in “End of the Road”, the blue-eyed man reappears and informs Kitzinger that her intern is a traitor and shoots her dead. He then offers Kitzinger “a promotion” working with The Families at a level way beyond Phicorp. Two months later, he meets Kitzinger on a park bench and tells her that her work has been appreciated. He gives her a new identity, Lucy Statten Meredith and informs her that she will be sent to Shanghai where she can see the truth behind The Miracle. In “The Blood Line”, after The Miracle ends, Kitzinger manages to track down the Blue Eyed Man after visiting the same park they met previously. He informs her that The Three Families intended the miracle as a “test-run” and that they had a Plan B which they were waiting to orchestrate.
Brad, played by Canadian actor Dillon Casey, appears as a Washington DC bartender who encounters Jack Harkness in the episode “Dead of Night” when the latter visits the bar he works at, called the Golden Gopher. Brad takes pride in the amount of sobriety chips that have been cashed in subsequent to the miracle. However, when Jack offers a button to the collection, Brad is adamant that Jack doesn’t hurt the coat—which he admires greatly. Brad later leaves the bar with Jack and sexual intercourse is initiated between the two. Brad doesn’t see the use in wearing a condom since no-one is able to die but Jack calls him out on this pointing out that a sexually transmitted infection would still cause a lifetime of regret. Brad submits to Jack being in charge and is later seen asleep next to Jack whilst Jack nurses a whisky and phones Gwen.
One of the scenes between Jack and Brad was censored in the UK airing of the show, having been deemed too explicit for a prime-time audience. However, the sequence remained in its entirety in the Starz broadcast of the episode. Jane Espenson, who wrote the episode, commented that the sexual encounter between the two men was Jack’s method of “affirming life”.
Thomas “Tommy” Reginald Brockless, portrayed by Anthony Lewis, appears in the episode “To the Last Man”. A combat stress reaction / shell-shocked World War I soldier, born in 1894, Tommy is brought into Torchwood Three’s custody and cryopreserved in 1918 after his future self instructs them to do as such through a time slip. It is these time slips that Tommy is instrumental in stopping. At an unspecified year in his future, fragments of 1918 and the present will bleed together, potentially destroying the world. Hence, once every year, Torchwood awakens Tommy to check whether his presence is required and to give him a “day out.”
It is 2008 when these events eventually begin to unfold. As this begins to happen, Tommy must be sent back to his own time acting as a metaphorical “stitch in time,” pulling all of 1918 back to where it belongs. However, during his last day, Tommy falls for Toshiko, making his decision all the more difficult. He is eventually convinced to do so thanks to Toshiko, who encourages him to fix the Rift by referring to him as her ‘brave, handsome hero’ (quoting Thomas’s own words to her). She cannot reveal to Tommy that he will be one of hundreds of shell shockvictims executed for cowardice.
Evan, Helen and nephew Huw Sherman, portrayed by Owen Teale, Maxine Evans, and Rhys ap Trefor respectively, are residents from a village with a very strange tradition in the episode “Countrycide”. Once every ten years the villagers cannibalise any travellers passing by, through, or to their village. The Torchwood team travelled to the vicinity of the village in order to investigate disappearances in the area, thinking they could be connected to the Rift; when they were drawn into a trap orchestrated by the villagers, they discovered their unsettling secret. When the apparent ringleader of the group, Evan, was eventually captured and questioned, the only reason he gave for following this tradition was that “it made him happy.”
Alice Carter (née Melissa Moretti; previously Sangster), played by Lucy Cohu, appears in Children of Earth, and is the daughter of Freelance Torchwood Operative Captain Jack Harkness and Torchwood Operative (1960–1975) Lucia Moretti (18/06/1945 - 23/11/2006). Alice’s birth name was Melissa Moretti, but she has been under deep cover since 14/2/1977. Her precise history is unclear, but her mother died in 2006 and she is aware of her father’s immortality, which she apparently has not inherited, as she ages normally. Her son, Steven, is unaware that Jack is his grandfather, instead believing Jack to be his uncle. Although their relationship appears uncertainly affectionate, Jack and Alice rarely have contact as Alice dislikes his work and the reminder that he will outlive her, as well as trying to protect her son from Jack’s work at Torchwood. After being used as a hostage to prevent Jack interfering, she convinces the black ops team holding her prisoner to break Jack out of prison to enlist his aid in defeating the 456, only for her relationship with her father to fully collapse when Jack, having completely run out of options, is forced to sacrifice her son Steven Carter to use him to transmit a resonance frequency that will destroy the 456 and save the other children.
Gerald Carter, portrayed by Roderic Culver, appears in flashback sequences of the episode “To the Last Man” where his backstory is also briefly given.[3] Trained in military intelligence, he joined the 1910s Torchwood Institute and would later assume the position of leadership at Torchwood Three in Cardiff. According to the Torchwood website, he had been an avid supporter of early “Rift theory”, and after controversially being placed in charge of the team in 1907 managed to bring great strides. However, following the death of Harriet Derbyshire, Carter felt responsible and retired to a consultancy position, until his death in 1942.
Steven Carter, played by Bear McCausland, appears in Children of Earth and is the son of Alice Carter and the grandson of Captain Jack Harkness. Being a young boy of school age, he is affected by the 456’s invasion. He believes Jack to be his uncle, and is unaware of Jack’s immortality and agelessness. The two appear close, although their contact is infrequent. His father’s name is Joe. Steven died when he was used by his grandfather to kill the 456 by transmitting a resonance frequency that would disrupt the wavelength-based 456, even though Jack knew it would result in his death.
Angelo Colasanto, portrayed by Italian actor Daniele Favilli, is introduced in “Immortal Sins”, the seventh episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day, as a first generation Italian immigrant to the United States who was involved romantically with Jack Harkness in 1927.
Angelo was raised as Catholic and was originally brought up on a small village on the Italian coast with a population of almost two hundred. He attempts to enter America via Ellis Island by stealing the visa of Jack Harkness, who was in New York on a mission from Torchwood. After Jack catches Angelo, he is locked up and prepared to be deported back to Italy. However, after talking to Angelo in his cell Jack empathises with the young man and uses his Vortex Manipulator to forge a new identity slip for Angelo, allowing him to enter America. Jack and Angelo then rent a room together in New York’s Italian district and Angelo finds himself seduced by Jack, later entering a sexual relationship with the man. Angelo is conflicted between his faith and sexual interests and although Jack is not the first man to have sex with him, he states that Jack is the first man who has shown tenderness to him. Angelo is perturbed by the explosion of fireworks outside the rented room of their apartment, being unused to such an occurrence in his home village. However, Jack explains the significance of the date - the Fourth of July - American Independence Day.
With Jack, Angelo became part of a plan to make money by selling sacramental wine, as alcohol was illegal in America at the time due to prohibition. Almost immediately after they obtained the alcohol they were kidnapped. Instead of being killed, however, Jack was able to convince their kidnappers to allow them to work for them, and were asked to transport a box between two warehouses. Jack packed Angelo’s bags for him and told him to run away. Angelo didn’t want to leave Jack, and explained that he could cope with seeing new things, so Jack decided to make him his companion in the same way that the Doctor had enlisted Jack as a companion. When they arrived at the warehouse, Jack opened the box to reveal a brain parasite that the Trickster’s Brigade were planning to use on future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to alter the course of history. Jack killed the parasite, and the two of them fled. Unfortunately, Jack was shot in the head and killed, and Angelo was arrested.
After spending a year in prison for his part in the break in, Angelo is released. He is shown to be shocked to find that Jack was alive due to his immortality. Jack informed him that he had obtained the same room that they had had a year before, and invited him to come back with him. However during intercourse, Angelo assumed that due to his undying nature Jack must be an embodiment of the devil, and stabbed him several times. He was shocked when Jack came back to life again, and allowed Jack to be taken to a butcher’s shop where a crowd of people repeatedly killed him. When the crowd left, Angelo freed Jack and planned to go with him. However, Jack no longer trusted Angelo after his actions, and jumped off of a building in order to escape.
In 2011 it is revealed that Jack is wanted by a mysterious woman operating under the orders of Angelo Colasanto. Colasanto is revealed to be still alive, and to possess knowledge of how the Miracle started; the woman is his granddaughter, Olivia. Thanks to Jack’s warnings of the economic hard times of the future - including the Wall Street Crash of 1929 - Angelo managed to become incredibly wealthy, and lived in a mansion in Nevada. He is revealed to have allied with “the Families”, a group formed by a pact between three mobsters in 1928 while Jack was being repeatedly murdered and resurrected, but his connection to the Families sours because they frowned on Angelo’s relationship with Jack - a relationship he remembered fondly even after marrying and having children. Shortly after the Torchwood team arrived at the Colasanto estate, as Jack was saying goodbye to his former lover, Angelo suddenly dies—the first true death since Miracle Day. It is discovered that Angelo had salvaged an alien null-field generator from the ruins of the Torchwood Hub in Cardiff, and had it installed in the floor beneath his bed. The null field disrupted the morphic field that Jack theorized was responsible for the Miracle in that one location, allowing Angelo to die naturally.
Olivia Colasanto, portrayed by American actress Nana Visitor, is the enigmatic grand-daughter of Angelo Colasanto, who first appears in the episode “Immortal Sins”. Olivia is involved in the plot to kidnap Gwen Cooper’s family to force her to hand over Captain Jack Harkness. Upon Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond foiling her appropriation of Jack, and Sergeant Davidson rescuing Gwen’s family, Olivia reveals her trump card - that Jack will still come with her as she can bring him to Angelo and thus enlighten him to how the Miracle started. Episode eight, “End of the Road” begins with Olivia bringing Jack and his Torchwood associates to the Colorado mansion where she lives with her grandfather Angelo, now a decrepit old man in a semi-vegetative state. Olivia states that although Angelo loved his wife, he never forgot about Jack, and would often tell stories about him. She also reveals that a disharmony arose between Angelo and the families because of Angelo’s relationship with Jack, and makes clear the connection of the three families to the Miracle. After agent Shapiro arrives and places the rogue contingent of the CIA under arrest Olivia is also arrested and placed in a SUV vehicle ready for transportation. However, she is blown up by controller Brian Friedkin after he detonates an explosive device as he was ordered to do by the families.
Geraint Cooper, played by William Thomas, is the father of Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), who first appears in the episode “Something Borrowed”. He is married to Gwen’s mother Mary (Sharon Morgan); and lives in Swansea. Present at Gwen’s wedding to Rhys (Kai Owen) he is alarmed to see her pregnant; and increasingly alarmed when she tells him the true nature of her job. Seen to be a practical thinker he attempts to phone the police when the Nostrovite first attacks; but is prevented from doing so as Ianto has sent out a signal to jam the phone lines. Despite Gwen and Rhys proclaiming that they will not keep secrets from each other in their marriage; Geraint’s memories of the day are erased by Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). Geraint subsequently forgets about the alien pregnancy, the wedding fiasco and the nature of Gwen’s job; which his daughter feels to be “for the best”.
Between Children of Earth and Miracle Day Geraint becomes a grandfather to baby Anwen, and is properly told about Gwen’s work for Torchwood. In The New World, the first episode of Miracle Day (2011) he is victim to a heart attack, yet does not die because of the miracle affecting the world’s population. Geraint’s daughter and her family return from exile to visit him in hospital, and experience conflicting emotions about his predicament. In “Escape to L.A.” Rhys unwittingly sends Geraint to a government run overflow camp. In “The Categories of Life”, he and Gwen break into the camp to rescue Geraint, although their first attempt triggers another cardiac arrest, upgrading his government-appointed status from Category Two (conscious and living) to Category One (unconscious and due to be incinerated). Gwen and Rhys successfully rescue Geraint in “The Middle Men”. Two months later, Gwen and Mary attempt to conceal Geraint from government officers in their basement, but he is recaptured in “The Gathering”, and taken back to the overflow camp to be incinerated. In “The Blood Line”, Gwen recounts a childhood memory of her father, where he had gotten the blame for money going from his work. Eager to help, Gwen had gotten together her pocket money but her father confided in her that what had bothered him was the fact that people thought him dishonest. Gwen remembered this as the first time anybody and spoken to her as an adult. Later, with aid from PC Andy, Rhys managed to get into the overflow camp and sit at Geraint’s side as the Miracle is finally negated, allowing Mary to speak her last words to her husband by telephone. As the Miracle ends, Geriant wakes up one last time with everyone else before finally passing away.
Mary Cooper, played by Sharon Morgan, is the mother of Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) who first appears in the series two episode “Something Borrowed” and is re-introduced more prominently in the fourth series after her life is directly touched by Miracle Day. Prior to her first appearance, Gwen’s mother was first referenced in “Ghost Machine” when Gwen uses the ghost machine to relive a happy time of Rhys and herself preparing to leave for Mary’s sixtieth birthday party.
In “Something Borrowed” Mary exhibits the behaviour of an archetypal fastiduous and snobbish middle class woman. For example, she is seen to be persistent in nagging her husband Geraint (William Thomas) and in scoring points against Rhys’ Mum, Brenda Williams (Nerys Hughes), on one occasion giving the latter a backhanded compliment on her outfit. Like Geraint she is happy at the prospect of an apparentgrandchild from daughter Gwen, particularly because she believes the surprise pregnancy will shock Brenda. Although Mary is not privvy to the nature of Gwen’s job she ends up caught up in the adventure when she is threatened by the Nostrovite; who has assumed the guise of Brenda. Despite Gwen and Rhys (Kai Owen) proclaiming that they will not keep secrets from each other in their marriage; Mary’s memories—like those of the other wedding guests—are erased by Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). Mary then forgets about the events of the wedding day, including her daughter’s alien pregnancy, which Gwen feels to be “for the best”. She is last seen with sleeping against Brenda—perhaps an indication that the two will manage to put aside their differences. Mary was later referenced in the Doctor Who story “The Stolen Earth“—in which Gwen instructs Rhys to phone her mother, and to tell her to “take her pills and go to sleep” during the Dalekinvasion.
In “The New World”, the first episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day Mary accompanies her husband to the hospital after he has a heart attack, and meets her grand-daughter Anwen for the first time since she was born. With her daughter in hiding, Mary now knows the full workings of her daughter’s former occupation and asks her for information about the miracle. Whilst Gwen is renditioned to the United States, her husband Rhys and daughter Anwen move in with Mary and her husband. After Geraint is taken to an overflow camp, Mary encourages Gwen’s rescue mission. She is later kidnapped and held hostage in an attempt to force Gwen to hand in Jack Harkness. However, the family is rescued by a South Wales attack team, led by sergeant Andy Davidson, Gwen’s former colleague. Mary’s life threatening experience results in her telling Gwen not to give up in her Torchwood quest, and to “go and get the bastards” responsible. In “The Gathering”, set two months after the previous episode in which Gwen is deported from the USA, Mary is seen hiding her category one husband from the authorities. When the house is initially searched, Mary breaks down in tears after having been forced to pin down and stifle her husband to prevent him making noise. When the house is searched a second time, Mary is refused entry. She later signs the forms releasing her legally dead husband, who is taken back to the Cowbridge overflow camp in preparation for incineration. After son in law Rhys Williams gains an emergency police visa to visit the Cowbridge overflow camp, and Gwen helps end “The Miracle”, Mary gets a final chance to say goodbye to her husband by telephone.
Series writer Jane Espenson draws an analogy between the series four plot of Gwen and Mary hiding Geraint in the basement to the living situation described by Anne Frank in “The Diary of Anne Frank”. Although the eventual goodbye scene between Mary and Geraint did not feature heard dialogue, the content of her conversation was part of the initial script for the episode. Writing for the entertainment section of AOL’s website Brad Trechak notes that he was highly amused by “the extremely British snark” exhibited by Mary in the episode “Something Borrowed”. AfterElton’s Steven Frank compares the character to “a tightly wound Helen Mirren” and also praises the “cattish behaviour” displayed in her interactions with Brenda. The Radio Times’ Patrick Mulkern praised the storyline of the Cooper family in “The Gathering” describing the scenes with Mary and Gwen hiding Geraint in the cellar as “tense” and “touching”.
Aaron Copley, portrayed by Alan Dale, is the leader of experimental medical facility “The Pharm” and features in “Reset”. When his facility claims to have developed a miracle substance able to cure medically incurable diseases such as diabetes and cancer, the Torchwood team investigate. Martha Jones is sent in by Captain Jack, allowing Torchwood to gain unprecedented access to Copley’s files. It is discovered that he has been capturing alien specimens (including a giant mayfly and a weevil) and using their bodily fluids to develop the “Reset” cure. When Copley discovers that Martha knows this, and has herself actually travelled in time and space, he begins to carry out intrusive tests on her, believing that time travel may have altered her cells making her more likely to survive the treatment. After Martha is eventually saved by the team, and the Pharm’s computer records are wiped and the aliens euthanased, Copley follows them outside and pulls a gun on her. Whilst trying to calm Copley down, Owen Harper is shot dead. In an act of revenge, Jack shoots Copley in the head, instantly killing him.
Suzie Costello, portrayed by Indira Varma, is a principal character in the first episode “Everything Changes”. The second-in-command of Torchwood Three, the Cardiff-based wing of the Torchwood Institute, she has been researching a piece of alien technology, a glove which has the ability to resurrect creatures that have recently died, but only for a short period of time. It is revealed later in the episode that she has been murdering people in order to create test subjects for the Glove, having become obsessed with trying to make it work permanently. While confessing her crimes to Gwen Cooper, she prepares to shoot Gwen in order to cover up her crimes, when Jack arrives. Suzie shoots Jack in the head, but he rises again due to his inability to die, and she commits suicide by placing the muzzle beneath her chin and shooting herself instead. In “They Keep Killing Suzie”, the Torchwood team brings her back to life using theResurrection Gauntlet (wielded by Gwen) and the “Life Knife”. Unknown to the team, this was part of a plan that Suzie set up months before her death. She appears to be resurrected permanently and unable to be killed. However, this is because the gauntlet is continuing to transfer life energy between her and Gwen. Suzie feels inferior to and resents Gwen for “replacing” her in all areas, including having a relationship withOwen Harper. When asked what she experienced while dead, she initially claims that she remembers nothing but darkness, but later tells Jack that she sensed something in the darkness that is coming for him. Suzie manipulates Gwen into freeing her from the base and subsequently murders her own father. Expressing regret over Gwen’s impending death but still willing to sacrifice her to remain alive, Suzie continues draining Gwen’s life energy and remains alive even after Jack shoots her multiple times, until Toshiko Sato destroys the gauntlet, breaking the energy transfer and finally killing Suzie once more. Jack tells Ianto Jones to record the multiple causes of death as “Death by Torchwood”.
Suzie will have a leading role in the novel Long Time Dead, a prequel to Torchwood: Miracle Day.
The Cousin, played by Chris Butler, is a high-ranking member of the Three Families and oversees the Buenos Aires Blessing site. He first appears (though only in voice) in “Escape to L.A.”, where he speaks to Ellis Hartley Monroe over the phone as her car is crushed by a car compactor—with her inside. He only appears physically in “The Blood Line”. When Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond reach the Buenos Aires site, they are captured by the Cousin’s men, and he speaks to them and to Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Oswald Danes, Jilly Kitzinger and the leader of the Shanghai site over the phone. When Jack and Rex prepare to sacrifice all their blood to end the Miracle, the Cousin shoots Esther, reminding Rex that if the Miracle ends, she will die. However Gwen convinces Rex to go ahead, and he and Jack end the Miracle. As both Blessing sites start to fall apart, Rex uses the last of his strength to throw the Cousin into the Blessing, and he falls to his death.
Oswald Danes, played by American actor Bill Pullman, is a former schoolteacher; in 2006, he was convicted and sentenced to death inKentucky for raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl named Susie Cabina. His only defense for the crime was that “she should’ve run faster”. He is executed by lethal injection in a Kentucky penitentiary; though the execution is carried out successfully, Danes does not die thanks to the Miracle, instead experiencing agonizing pain (rather than dying instantly). Shortly afterward, meeting with a representative from theGovernor’s office, Danes’ lawyers successfully advance a force majeure argument, as Danes himself points out that his sentence was technically carried out; he cites the Fifth (double jeopardy) and Eighth Amendments (cruel and unusual punishment) as protection against re-execution. As a result, the Governor of Kentucky is reluctantly forced to release Danes on parole.
As a convicted murderer and child rapist, Danes is vilified by the public, but opinions begin to change when he tearfully expresses remorse for his crimes in a television interview. At first refusing an offer of representation from PR guru Jilly Kitzinger, Danes reconsiders when he is beaten by a pair of police officers. He attends a meeting with Kitzinger’s employer, the mysterious PhiCorps, which is attempting to make their non-narcotic painkillers available without a prescription in the post-Miracle world. As an internationally-known “survivor”, Danes agrees to become a public spokesman for PhiCorps, who provide him with bodyguards. During Torchwood’s investigations into PhiCorps, Jack Harkness confronts Danes, who admits that his expressed feelings of remorse had been false, after which he has his bodyguards savagely beat Jack before throwing him out into the street. He then appears on television on behalf of PhiCorps, promising new drug laws, increasing his status as a popular public figure.
Shortly afterward, small-town politician Ellis Hartley Monroe began her “Dead is Dead” campaign - urging those who had been “killed” since the Miracle to be segregated. Finding Monroe giving a press conference at a hospital full of “dying” people who had been abandoned, Danes upstaged her by entering the hospital itself and promising to aid the patients in their plight. Viral video of his holding up an abandoned baby girl and promising a better life for her caused Monroe’s star to fall; she disappeared not long afterwards.
Shortly afterwards, Danes is asked to be the keynote speaker at the “Miracle Rally” held by PhiCorps in Los Angeles, where he wishes to use his own words instead of the several drafts Kitzinger hands him. As he prepares to step onto the stage, Danes once again encounters Jack, who tries to convince him to be a hero and reveal to the world (banking on Danes’ increasing celebrity to get the message across) that PhiCorps had in fact been preparing for the Miracle long before it happened. However, Danes gives a ranting speech stating his belief that humanity had evolved into “everlasting angels”, and is seen at the end revelling in the audience chanting his name and cheering him.
In the end, however, Danes is still reviled for his crimes, despite the fact that the people seem to love him. While at a hotel in Dallas, Texas, a prostitute named Claire (played by actress Megan M. Duffy)—sickened that Danes, a convicted child rapist and murderer, wants to simply go on a date with her—lets slip that he may be reclassified as a “Category Zero” and done away with. An irate Danes confronts Kitzinger, who reveals that Category Zero is an amendment to the category system that would have convicted criminals like Danes, who could not be executed by the “normal” means, incinerated in the modules along with those who are designed as Category One. Kitzinger informs him matter-of-factly that he had his moment in the sun, and PhiCorps now plans to discard him. Angered that he was used and is now being discarded, Danes slaps her, then flees the hotel room with his former PR guru shouting after him that he cannot hide, because he is now the most well-known figure on the planet due to PhiCorps’ publicity.
Despite being the most wanted man on the planet, Danes manages to smuggle himself into the UK and arrives in Wales, where he enters the home of Gwen Cooper. Gwen and Rhys subdue him and leave him tied up in their kitchen. Gwen threatens to turn him over to the police, but Danes counters that he knew Gwen had a secret of her own - the local police was searching for her father, Geraint, as an unregistered Category One. Danes reveals that he stole Kitzinger’s laptop before fleeing from Dallas, and not long afterwards, Kitzinger vanished without a trace - but not before she left vital clues to the location of “the Blessing” in mistranslated news stories from China and Argentina. The clues from the proper translation - made with the secret aid of Rex Matheson, who had returned to CIA headquarters in Virginia - lead to Shanghaiand Buenos Aires. Danes smugly points out that they have no choice but to take him along to one of those two locations, as his only other options are to either be turned over to the police, or be left in the Cooper house with Rhys - who had made it perfectly clear that he intended to kill Danes if that were the case - and both options presented their own problems. Thus, he accompanies Jack and Gwen to Shanghai.
While preparing to locate “the Blessing”, Danes learns of Jack’s origins when he comments that he can see that Jack is hiding something. Danes asks, “Do we make it through this day?” Jack admits that the future is changing, but says that he had seen the stars, and remarks briefly on how he’s seen humanity grow in the future; he comments that he wishes Danes could see these things too, because then he would realize “how small you’ve made your life”. With that, Danes arrives at the location of “the Blessing” at a warehouse in Shanghai with Jack and Gwen, with explosives strapped to his chest. Just as the Miracle is negated, Danes holds the leader of the Shanghai operation in one arm, the detonator to his bombs in the other. He shouts for Jack and Gwen to escape, because he plans to set off the bomb, knowing that - because his face was so well known, and because his crime was so heinous - he could not leave the warehouse alive. When his hostage remarks that he is going to Hell, Danes gleefully agrees with her, saying “that’s where all the bad little girls go”. Screaming to his dead victim, Susie, to “keep running”, Danes detonates the explosives, killing himself and his hostage, destroying the warehouse and burying “the Blessing”.
Main article: Andy Davidson (Torchwood)
Police Constable Andy Davidson, played by Tom Price, is Gwen Cooper’s former police partner, an officer for the South Wales Police inCardiff. Price is credited as a guest star in all four series. PC Andy first appears in Torchwood’s première episode, “Everything Changes” and reappears on a semi-regular basis. Andy had a crush on Gwen when the two worked together and still has feelings for her. Whilst he never quite understands the function of the Torchwood Institute, he appreciates that Gwen’s work for Torchwood involves “spooky”, extraterrestrial situations, and therefore comes to trust them. When his loyalties are put to the test in Children of Earth he sides with Gwen rather than follow government procedure. In Miracle Day, Andy is a sergeant for the South Wales Police and is one of few people to have Gwen’s contact details while she is in hiding. He is later forced to assist the CIA with her rendition to the United States.
Rhiannon Davies (née Jones), portrayed by Katy Wix, appears in Children of Earth and is the sister of Ianto Jones, who lives with her husband Johnny (Rhodri Lewis) and children Mica and David. Rhiannon and Ianto became distant after the death of their father, although Ianto visits her in Children of Earth in an attempt to gain access to Mica so he can analyse the cause of the synchronised chanting. Rhiannon refuses to let Mica go out of parental concern and sidetracks Ianto by taking an interest in his romantic relationship with Jack Harkness.
Rhiannon’s house is put under surveillance after the government attempt to assassinate the Torchwood team, although Rhiannon later sneaks out of her house and supplies Ianto with Johnny’s car and a laptop so that he can rescue Captain Jack. Once the schools are closed on the third day of the crisis she starts looking after neighbourhood children, with husband Johnny charging “ten quid a kid”. Ianto contacts her before facing the 456 and tells her that the government cannot be trusted. After Ianto dies, Rhiannon is visited in person by Gwen Cooper who explains Ianto’s demise to her. Rhiannon is distraught but follows Ianto’s final instructions and with the help of Gwen and Rhys takes the neighbourhood children on the run from the army.
Mr. Dekker, played by Ian Gelder, appears throughout Children of Earth as an engineer and head of Technology for MI5 who has been working on transmissions from “the 456” since they were first received. In the first episode, he identifies with John Frobisher as “the cockroaches of government,” trudging civil servants, non-elected, who remain despite changing whims of the public and the fickleness of electoral tastes. When asked by Frobisher if he has any family, Dekker says he’s always been too preoccupied with work and that this “turns out to be a god-send,” a wry unintentional foreshadowing (though he may know about the 1965 incident) of what happens to families (particularly Mr. Frobisher’s) as a result of the 456’s demands. Dekker survives the gas attack in the Thames Building (which kills Ianto Jones and many unidentified members of MI5) by pulling on a biohazard suit in the nick of time, a success facilitated in part by the fact that he makes no attempt to save others. When his survival is pointed out with an air of surprise by Colonel Oduya (Charles Abomeli), Dekker states that he managed it by simply standing back—”a strategy that’s worked all my life.”
He is abducted from his lab in the Thames Building by Agent Johnson’s mutinying forces, along with Jack, and brought to a temporary HQ, where he halfheartedly assists Jack in assembling the transmission equipment necessary to combat the 456; he is shot in the leg by Agent Johnson in a presumed moment of frustration in response to his immediate pessimism about opposing the 456 - this may also be a kind of karmic retribution for his lifelong attitude of slightly cowardly remove. Dekker does show greater willingness, even enthusiasm, to assist more actively with the project upon being reminded of the most recent and unprecedented transmission from the 456—the squeal that killed Clement MacDonald, which can presumably be played back against them. He and Jack realize simultaneously that the only way to transmit this will be through a child—killing it in the process. Dekker, not aware that the only child available to them is Jack’s own grandson, Steven, at first seems excited by this prospect—”Centrular resonance—that child’s gonna fry!” but looks disgusted upon actually witnessing the event; this is likely the first time Dekker has seen the results of his work.
Harriet Derbyshire, portrayed by Siobhan Hewlett, appears in flashback sequences of the episode “To the Last Man” where her backstory is also briefly given. She was recruited directly from the University of Oxford (where she observed physics lectures) into Torchwood Three. According to the Torchwood website, she is one of the notable employees whose bodies are stored in the cryogenics area. She died at the age of 26 years.
Sarah Drummond, portrayed by Candace Brown is the sister of regular character Esther Drummond, who makes her first appearance in the fourth series episode “Escape to L.A.”. It is mentioned in the episode “The Categories of Life” that Esther and Sarah’s mother had previously passed away in the year 2003. Esther first mentions Sarah in the episode “Dead of Night” where she states that although her sister is older, Esther has always had the task of looking after her because she can’t cope.
In her début episode, Esther checks up on Sarah to see how she is coping in the aftermath of the Miracle. Sarah refuses to answer the door, which is barricaded with a number of different locks. Esther fears for the safety of Sarah’s two young daughters, Melanie and Alice, as Sarah is hypochondriac and will not let them leave the house. It is later revealed that social services have arrived and taken Melanie and Alice into care, whilst Sarah undergoes psychiatric evaluation, which causes Esther to regret her actions. In “End of the Road” Esther speaks to Sarah who is still located in the psychiatric ward under strict supervision from Doctors. She expresses the opinion that people in the new world no longer have souls, and appears eager to volunteer herself and her children to become category one—effectively committing suicide. Her reaction to the state of affairs motivates Esther to do her utmost to put an end to the Miracle. Post Miracle, Sarah is seen alive and well with her children at Esther’s memorial service.
Brian Friedkin, played by American actor Wayne Knight, is a high ranking officer in the Central Intelligence Agency & Esther and Rex’s boss. After the events of Miracle Day, Esther informs him that she has been liasing with Rex over the Torchwood Rendition to the United States. Upon learning that his agent Lyn Peterfield has a mortal Jack Harkness he orders Lyn to kill him, which she attempts to do by arsenic poisoning. He has been receiving messages from a mysterious unknown source represented by a triangle symbol for decades. Friedkin later arranges for Esther Drummond and Rex Matheson to be set-up in his attempt to not only get rid of Torchwood, but anyone associated with the defunct organisation. The two escape, and Rex later confronts Friedkin at his Washington DC home. Rex takes Friedkins phone and is informed that whoever has been contacting Friedkin has been on Earth for decades. Rex later shoots next to Friedkin’s head, warning him not to go deaf from the gunshot. Friedkin captures the Torchwood crew at the Colasanto estate but Rex secretly puts on Gwen’s transmitter lenses and tricks Friedkin into confessing his work for the Families. Friedkin is arrested by his boss, Allan Shapiro, and placed in the back of a van. The Families had ordered him to blow up himself if captured which he does, destroying the vehicle and incinerating himself, one of his agents, and Olivia Colasantos.
John Frobisher, played by Peter Capaldi, appears in Children of Earth. He is Permanent Secretary to the Home Office and the civil servant placed in charge of the 456 incident. His job becomes increasingly difficult when all around him, including Prime Minister Brian Green, begin to shirk any responsibility for the disaster that is unfolding. He is assisted by Bridget Spears and Lois Habiba. After telling Bridget about the 456, he hands her a file of a blank piece of paper. Spears knows what this means and types up the names of four people to be killed; the quartet had coordinated the surrender of twelve orphans to the 456 in the year 1965, and include Captain Jack Harkness.
Frobisher has a wife, Anna and two school-aged daughters, Holly and Lily, who are subconsciously delivering the 456’s message among the rest of the world’s children. He is ordered by the Prime Minister to publicly send his daughters off for inoculation (the cover for turning over children to the 456), to allow the government to appear just as much of a victim as the rest of the world and ‘save face’. Leaving Number 10, he directs Bridget to sign for “Requisition 31” and bring it to him. The metal box contains a sidearm and a loaded magazine with which he kills his family, and himself—believing he is saving his daughters from the worse fate of being used as drugs by the 456.
Charles Gaskell, played by Cornelius Macarthy, is an employee of Torchwood Three during the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He appeared in flashbacks of 20th century Cardiff, from Jack Harkness’ point of view, in the episode “Exit Wounds”. In 1901, he and fellow Torchwood Three employee Alice Guppy discover Jack Harkness buried in Cardiff, and freeze him in the cryogenic area of the Hub. He, although black, was employed by Torchwood in a time of widespread racial prejudice.
Gray (surname unknown), portrayed by Ethan Brooke as a child and by Lachlan Nieboer as an adult, is Captain Jack’s younger brother and the main antagonist of the second series.
Gray is first alluded to in the series two premiere “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”, when Jack’s former partner John Hart states that he “found Gray”. In “Adam”, Jack’s memories of his brother are brought to the surface by an alien who is meddling with the team’s memories. Jack recalls letting go of his brother’s hand and losing track of Gray during an alien invasion in their homeland of the Boeshane Peninsula, an action he regards as the worst thing he ever did. Young Jack (portrayed by Jack Montgomery) searches for Gray but is unable to find him, his grief made worse when he returns home and discovers his dead father. When the alien is defeated, he taunts Jack that he will lose these memories of his brother.
In “Fragments”, Captain John shows Jack a hologram of a person he claims to be Gray. Appearing again in “Exit Wounds”, Gray is a damaged character who has endured a lifetime of unspeakable torture; having learnt cruelty from his captors, Gray is a vengeful sadist. Gray returns to Jack only to reveal that he blames him for the torture he has endured over the course of his life. Seeking to punish his brother, Gray buries Jack alive in Cardiff in the year AD 27, placing him in a permanent cycle of death and resurrection. (When he is found by Torchwood in 1901, he has them cryogenically freeze him so he may return to the present without the risk of further paradoxes.) In present day, Gray wreaks havoc across Cardiff, and murders Torchwood member Toshiko Sato, who had been attempting to prevent a nuclear explosion which Gray had triggered. Jack re-emerges from stasis and forgives Gray, and asks that his brother do the same. Gray refuses to absolve Jack, who sorrowfully chloroforms his younger brother. Jack places Gray inside a cryogenic chamber, knowing he may never awaken. It is likely Gray died whilst in cryogenic storage when Torchwood Three was destroyed in “Children of Earth”.
Brian Green, played by Nicholas Farrell, is the British Prime Minister in Children of Earth, having ascended sometime after Harold Saxon(i.e., The Master) is assassinated by his wife, the former The Hon. Lucy Cole in “Last of the Time Lords”. Using Home Office Permanent Secretary John Frobisher as a scapegoat, Green initially denies any previous British involvement with the 456 in 1965, to ensure plausible deniability and security.
However during negotiations, the 456 discloses that the reason it choose the UK to land was ‘off the record’, exposing to the Americans, et al., that the British Government are trying to hide the previous encounter in 1965 where 12 children were given to the 456 as a ‘gift’ in exchange for an antivirus to a current virulent strain. In Day Four, Green and the Cabinet are forced to decide how to select the 10% of children demanded by the 456.
On Day Five, he informs John Frobisher that, for plausible deniability reasons, his children should be included in the ‘gift’ to the 456, which results in Mr Frobisher killing his family and himself to prevent the forced sacrifice of his children. After Captain Jack defeats the 456, Green still tries to protect his political ambitions, trying to blame American interference on Government policy. However Bridget Spears, using the same Torchwood contact lenses used by Lois Habiba previously, threatens to expose the truth to the British public. Denise Riley, the Home Secretary, implies she is in a position to challenge Green’s premiership following this.
Alice Guppy, played by Amy Manson, was an employee of Torchwood Three during the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. She appears in flashback sequences in “Fragments” and “Exit Wounds”, in 1899 and 1901 respectively, both from Jack’s point of view. She holds the aggressive attitudes of Torchwood at the time, killing a Blowfish in cold blood in “Fragments”, her moral justification being that it was “a threat to the Empire”. She has a noticeable Scottish accent, despite being based in Torchwood Three (along with several English members and an American), which is in Cardiff. According to the Torchwood website, she is one of the notable employees whose bodies are stored in the cryogenics area. A diary extract on the website also expands on Guppy’s backstory: recruited by later partner Emily Holroyd, she had been put in jail for attacking another woman in a laundry room. Holroyd explained that Guppy had been selected because “the skills [she] had demonstrated as a thief would be put to better use in Espionage; not only [her] stealth, but [her] attitude towards violence.”
Lois Habiba, played by Cush Jumbo, appears in Children of Earth. Lois is a junior PA and assistant to Bridget Spears, who starts work at the Home Office, in John Frobisher’s office, on the day the 456 make contact. Bridget Spears gives Lois her username and password, but out of curiosity Lois uses it to find out about the Torchwood Institute and Captain Jack Harkness after she receives a phone call from him. Spears types an email of the names of four people to be killed, one of which is Captain Jack Harkness. Unbeknownst to her, Lois sees this email and starts to question her own loyalties. Lois soon decides to help Torchwood and after receiving a phone call from the fugitive Gwen Cooper, she decides to meet her. Although worried about committing treason on her second day, she gives Gwen and Rhys a way to access the prison facility where Jack is being held, and is pleased when Gwen offers her a job in the future. She also, after initially refusing, agrees to act as a spy for Torchwood, using contact lenses with integrated wireless cameras, as the seriousness of the situation has dawned on her. At this meeting she witnesses contact between Earth and the 456 and writes what the aliens were saying so Torchwood can cover the whole meeting.
She is then present when the 456 demand 10 percent of the Earth’s children and at a later cabinet meeting where she witnesses self-interested views from the cabinet over the criteria of which children should be taken by the 456 following a failed attempt at negotiation. Working on Gwen’s orders, she agrees to confront the cabinet by announcing that Torchwood have recordings of everything in order to force them not to comply with the demands of the 456. She was arrested in Day Five for espionage. From prison, she helps Bridget Spears use the Torchwood contact lenses to take down PM Brian Green’s administration, and it is later said she will be released from prison.
Lois’ character was created by Russell T Davies to replace Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) when they could not get her for the third series. He describes her as “kind of a Martha figure”, but one who lacks Martha’s experiences and is “out of her depth.”
Lisa Hallett, played by Caroline Chikezie, is a 26-year-old employee of Torchwood One in London and ex-girlfriend of Ianto Jones. During the “Battle of Canary Wharf” (“Army of Ghosts”/”Doomsday”), the Cybermen need more troops fast and begin directly converting people rather than transplanting their brains into Cyberman shells. Lisa is in the midst of this conversion when Ianto rescues her, taking her and part of a conversion unit as a support system to Torchwood Three where he keeps her in a basement until he can restore her humanity (“Cyberwoman”).
However, once freed from the unit, her Cyberman personality asserts itself and she attempts to take over the Hub in order to use it as a base for a new Cyberman army. Seeing how far Ianto has gone to protect her, she transplants her brain into the body of a pizza delivery girl so they can be together. Still claiming they could both be upgraded, her new body is shot and killed by the rest of the Torchwood team.
What appeared to be Lisa’s spirit reappears in “End of Days”, urging Ianto to open the Rift.
Beth Halloran, played by Nikki Amuka-Bird, appears in the series 2 episode “Sleeper”. She is one of four alien sleeper agents in Cardiff belonging to Cell 114, but is totally unaware of this. She and three others were created and given human lives and memories to learn all they could about humans before her alien programming was activated, to commence their attack of Earth. After helping the team to track down the final agent, she pretends to intend on killing Gwen to provoke Torchwood into suicide by cop so that she does not one day experience the dehumanisation of having her alien consciousness awoken. Like all sleepers of her species, Beth’s arm can transform into a blade-like weapon and can deploy explosive devices, in addition to this she possesses a tight-knit protective force field (which also projects false humanoid vitals) and superhuman strength. According to the Torchwood website, her body is stored in the cryogenics area.
Group Captain Jack Harkness, RAF, played by American actor Matt Rippy, is seen in the episode “Captain Jack Harkness”. When Torchwood’s Jack Harkness and Toshiko Sato fall back in time to 1941, they meet him, the real Captain Jack Harkness.
Captain Harkness is a young American serving as a Group Captain in a RAF Eagle Squadron, stationed in Cardiff. He is in a heterosexualrelationship, and is eventually revealed to be attracted to the Torchwood’s Jack (who adopts the assumed name of Captain James Harper after the real Harkness first introduces himself). During his time with Jack and Tosh, he is shown to be a compassionate man, backing up Jack’s story of Tosh working as a decoder for the government to protect her from the current anti-Japanese prejudice and bonding with Jack over their mutual grief over the responsibility of having to witness those they care for die while they survive. He is distressed at the idea that the woman he is dating while stationed in Cardiff is in love with him, unhappy to lead her on. After some indecision, and after Torchwood’s Jack hints that he would soon die, he eventually strikes up the courage to dance with Torchwood’s Jack in front of a party of servicemen and their guests. Before Torchwood’s Jack leaves to return to the present, the two kiss passionately, leaving both in tears. The next day, Captain Jack Harkness dies fighting German fighters. In the present day, Toshiko Sato comforts Torchwood’s Jack by telling him that 1941’s Captain Jack would be proud that he had taken his name, carrying it on as he saves the world.
Con man and former time agent Jack Harkness (birth name unknown) assumes the original Captain Harkness’ identity upon arrival in London shortly after the real Harkness’ 21 January 1941 death, sometime before the events of the Doctor Who episode “The Empty Child” taking place during the Blitz which ended 10 May of the same year. He alters Harkness’ records to administratively remove his death. At that point in his personal timeline, he has not met the original Jack nor joined the Torchwood Institute. Therefore, he knows of the original Jack’s fate before he meets him, but is not aware of who he actually was.
Captain John Hart, played by American actor James Marsters, is a rogue Time Agent of the now disbanded Time Agency and former partner of Jack Harkness, both professionally and sexually. He has been in rehab for drink, drugs, sex and murder. He first appears in the first episode of the second series, entitled “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”. Marsters also alludes to being willing to appear in a future series of Torchwood.
Captain John Hart appears through the Rift using a Vortex Manipulator and asks Jack Harkness for help in locating three radioactive cluster bombs, apparently scattered across Cardiff; Jack Harkness tells the team he cannot be trusted but agrees to help him. True to Jack’s word, Captain John is lying and seizes the containers, trying to kill Gwen using a paralyzing lip gloss, shooting Owen and pushing Jack off the top of a building, thinking he’s dead. However the containers, which are supposed to contain the location of an Arcadian diamond hidden by the lover he murdered, instead contain an explosive which latches on the DNA signature of her killer. Superficially altering his DNA using that of the Torchwood crew, Jack and Owen are able to save John’s life before banishing him. Spurned by his former lover, John leaves by means of his Vortex Manipulator.
In “Fragments”, Captain John returned in holographic form, stating that he is going to destroy Jack’s life, revealing a holographic image of Gray. Continuing in “Exit Wounds”, Captain John is revealed to have rescued Jack’s brother Gray from his old captors, only to learn too late that Gray had been driven insane over the years. Molecularly bonding a bomb to John’s wrist to force him to obey his orders, Gray had John set off multiple bombs throughout Cardiff before taking Jack back in time to 27AD, where he had Jack buried alive at the site that would become Cardiff in the future. However, John betrayed Gray by leaving a tracking device on Jack in the shape of a ring, thus allowing Jack to be recovered by the Torchwood Institute and frozen in the morgue, escaping at the right moment to stop his brother. Having frozen Gray incryopreservation, unwilling to witness any more death that day, Jack offers to help pinpoint another Rift event to allow John to leave, but John instead states his desire to travel the world, commenting that he’d like to learn what Jack finds so fascinating about this time period.Writer Chris Chibnall and actor James Marsters discuss the role of this episode in developing John’s character, and perhaps placing him on a redemptive path.
Head writer Chris Chibnall had originally conceived the idea of a “rogue Time Agent” character during the production of Torchwood series 1, but the idea never made it to TV screens. It was not until James Marsters got in touch with executive producer Russell T Davies about appearing in Torchwood that the character of “John Hart” began to take shape, and Chibnall immediately produced the script for “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” which introduced the character. The character shares many similarities with Marsters’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel character, Spike, with Marsters commenting “In a lot of ways, this role is very much like Spike was in my first three episodes of Buffy.” The Torchwood writers conceived John as a classical nemesis for Captain Jack, with Chibnall commenting, “In seeing John you see the way Jack could have gone, and probably did, for a little while.” James Marsters further discussed ways in which John is a doppelgänger or foil to Captain Jack: both are pansexual time travellers, with their key difference being that John never reformed. The character exaggerates many of Jack’s qualities, for example displaying zoophilic attraction to non-humanoids such as poodles, in addition to men and women. John and Jack’s intentional similarities extend to their penchant for period war clothing:
He’s got a jacket from fighting in the Napoleonic Wars; he’s got a snakeskin sword from Korea that I think he had to kill someone for; his boots are from Italy circa 1640 and he’s got gun holsters from the American West.”
Diane Holmes, played by Louise Delamere, first appears in “Out of Time”. She is a pilot and early feminist from 1953 who becomes stranded in 2007 due to the Cardiff Rift. She enters a relationship with Owen, and he falls in love with her. After staying with Owen for a short time, and admitting her own love for him, she says farewell to a distraught Owen. Diane flies off in her plane, feeling the Rift will open again for her and bring her somewhere new.
Diane is seen in flashback clips in “Combat”, ”Captain Jack Harkness”, and “A Day in the Death”. She reappears briefly to Owen as a vision created by Bilis in “End of Days”, insisting he do whatever he can to save her; the encounter leaves him in tears.
Alex Hopkins, portrayed by Julian Lewis Jones, is a former Torchwood Three leader, whose term ended on the turn of the year the second millennium (New Year’s Eve, 1999) when he murdered his entire team and committed suicide. Before killing himself, he made freelance agent Jack Harkness the head of Torchwood Three, rewarding him for a century of loyal service. Having been shown an image of the future, Alex felt his team was grossly unprepared to deal with what was to come. His last words prophesied that the world was not ready for the changes the 21st century was to undergo, and Jack has taken this warning to heart.
According to the Torchwood website, he is one of the notable employees whose bodies are stored in the cryogenics area, along with his entire team. The website also credits him in a letter with designing the Torchwood SUV; it had been his idea to have “TORCHWOOD” written across the side of it, despite concerns it would “compromise [Torchwood’s] status as a clandestine quasi-governmental organisation.”
Johnson, portrayed by Liz May Brice, appears in Children of Earth as the leader of a team of enforcers for the Government, assigned by John Frobisher to the job of dealing with Torchwood at the start of the 456 crisis. Ruthless and efficient, she has little time for social niceties and is determined to see her job done efficiently and successfully. After killing Captain Jack Harknessby shooting him in the back, knowing he would resurrect, she uses a laser cutter to plant a bomb inside him. She has no qualms about killing Dr Rupesh Patanjali, after refusing him a change of identity.
She detonates the bomb inside Jack, initiating the destruction of the Torchwood Hub with Jack,Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones still inside (although Gwen and Ianto escape with minor injuries). She later tracks down a fugitive Gwen, until Gwen shoots down her tyres. After Johnson’s team uncovers several parts of Jack’s severed body, she is surprised at his body still being able to regenerate, so she decides to detain him in a concrete-filled cell, from which he is later removed by Ianto in a fork-lift truck. She detains Alice and Steven Carter as insurance against Harkness going public with info on the 456. When confronted with recordings of what is actually going on, however, she arranges for the release of Harkness so he can fight the aliens.
Johnson appears cold and malevolent at the beginning of the serial. However, later she questions the nature of her job as she realises that her actions during the 456 crisis are not protecting the state in the way she was brought up to believe in. She allows Jack’s grandson to be sacrificed for the good of the world, although displays an uncharacteristic sadness upon his death.
Eugene Jones, played by Paul Chequer, appears in the Torchwood episode “Random Shoes”. When he was younger, his science teacher gave him an alien eye. As he got older, he started to get interested in aliens, approaching Torchwood a number of times. They paid no attention at all to him. He was described as a loser, a failure, a geek and an ordinary guy.
In the present, he is killed in a hit-and-run accident. When he discovers that he is still “hanging around” he stays with the team, particularly Gwen, as they investigate his life. Reminiscing on his past, Eugene recalls how, one day, he tried to sell the eye on eBay. The bidding flew up to £15,005.50, but two of his mates had actually set it up, making it go higher just to cheer him up; the previous bid was only 50p lower, and Eugene was convinced that the alien had been trying to get his eye back. When the eye is removed from his body, he briefly becomes solid and saves Gwen from an oncoming car, before disappearing in a bright light.
Dr Vera Juarez, played by Arlene Tur, is an attending surgeon in Washington D.C who appears in Torchwood: Miracle Day. In “The New World” she is the doctor who is called upon to treat Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer), who has been impaled through the chest by a metal pole. Rex survives, like every other patient in the hospital on the same night. Vera conveys this information to Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins), revealing that she initially held this to be coincidence, but after contacting several other friends in other hospitals realised that the problem is wide ranging. She is visibly aghast when Captain Jack Harkness (under the alias Owen Harper) suggests removing the head of a still animated suicide bomber, opining that it is unethical. The first episode also reveals that Vera was once married to a fellow Doctor and that the two remain on speaking terms.
In Rendition, Juarez realises that the hospitals cannot cope with what is happening and suggests overriding the orthodox triage system so that in the wake of “Miracle Day” those with less severe illnesses are treated first. However, despite being a surgeon ostensibly concerned first and foremost with health, she is seen smoking towards the end of this episode, and again more than once in the following episode, even standing immediately in front of a “No Smoking” sign. Juarez gradually becomes more and more disillusioned with the medical system and begins a sexual relationship with Rex Matheson. In Escape to L.A. her moral ideas cause her to be disgusted by the battle for popularity between Ellis Hartley Monroe and Oswald Danes which occurs on the gorunds of her hospitals. In The Categories of Life when the Washington medical panels are abandoned due to the opening of the overflow camps, Vera decides to go undercover as an inspector of the San Pedro camp to aid Torchwood in stopping the Miracle, against Rex’s wishes. Juarez argues with Camp Manager Colin Maloney and tells him how unethical and inhumane the camps are, threatening him with his comeuppance. Maloney shoots Juarez twice and drags her to one of the Overflow Camp’s ‘modules’ - which are revealed to be giant ovens for the purpose of incinerating human bodies. Vera is burnt alive whilst a horrified Rex watches on. Her final moments are captured on camcorder so that the treachery of the overflow camps can be exposed.
Press material describe Vera as “smart, fast talking and hard working” and underline that it is these characteristics which seconded her to being part of the government think-tanks.
Lauren Ambrose’s portrayal of the “ruthless” Jilly Kitzinger was generally well received by critics.
Jillian Alexander “Jilly” Kitzinger) played by American actress Lauren Ambrose, is a PR executive who works for Phicorp Industries. She becomes notorious in her own right after helping engineer Oswald Danes’ rise to power.
After the infamous convicted child murderer and pedophile Oswald Danes is released from prison and achieves national celebrity, Kitzinger courts him as a client, telling him that she can help him capitalise on his unique position. In addition to Danes, Kitzinger courts Dr. Vera Juarez, a prominent speaker at the Washington D.C medical panels as part of a ploy to get her advertising the concerns of Phicorp. Despite initial reluctance to affiliate himself with Kitzinger, a run in with vigilante police officers leaves Danes eventually agreeing to be represented by her. With Danes assured as a client, she sets out to sell his newfound celebrity status, and the public image of both Phicorp and Miracle Day itself. Juarez is less inclined than Danes to side with Kitzinger and agrees to help Torchwood gain access to her dressing room at a Miracle Day conference so that they can steal blueprints of a Phicorp building in Los Angeles. Kitzinger almost intercepts Gwen Cooper’s infiltration attempt but is distracted by a phonecall from Vera Juarez, wherein she asks for Kitzinger’s direct attention.
By “Escape to L.A.” Kitzinger has become Danes personal manager, under Phicorp’s instructions. In spite of her professional remit her communicated opinion of Danes is seen to fluctuate depending on his public reputation. When Danes public persona is briefly eclipsed by Ellis Hartley Monroe, she reveals her disgust towards him, stating that she cannot look at his hands after the crime he has committed. However, after Danes stages a stunt at a local Washington DC hospital Jilly shows visible glee. Unlike onlooker Juarez, who describes the scene as “disgusting” Kitzinger shows no moral scruples by squealing in excitement. Her reaction to Danes is increasingly enthusiastic when he starts trending on social networking site Twitter “like never before”. In “The Categories of Life” she and Danes argue after she is adamant that he sticks to a script dictated by Phicrop, including the key word “Revelation”. Whilst backstage at the Miracle Day rally at which Danes is speaking she is told by a mysterious blue eyed man that she has started to become noticed by “the right people” through her role as Danes publicist. After Jack Harkness attempts to connect with Danes and influence him to speak on behalf of Torchwood, Jilly manages to take a photograph of him. She is seen to observe Danes’ speech nervously, worried that he will stray too far from script. However, once he arrives at the word revelation and achieves rapturous applause, Jilly is seen smiling broadly at their accomplishment.
By “End of the Road” Jilly’s patience with Oswald appears to be waning. She is unsettled by both his desire to dance and his wish to procure a prostitute for the night. After Danes requests the prostitute, Kitzinger is approached by Shawnie Yamaguchi who tells her that she is her new intern. Kitzinger delegates the task of finding a prostitute and also her reading material to Yamaguchi. When Danes learns that he has been made “Category Zero” - someone entitled to be incinerated for moral reasons under emergency legislation Kitzingfer reveals coldheartedly that she knew this was going to happen, and that Oswald’s moment of fame had changed nothing for him. Danes attacks Kitzinger, who vows that Oswald’s notoriety as the most famous man on the planet will be the end of him and tells Yamaguchi to prepare a press release damning him. However, the mysterious blue eyed representative of the family approaches the pair and reveals Yamaguchi as a CIA spy and shoots her dead. He then offers Kitzinger a promotion working directly with the three families which she accepts.
After agreeing to work for The Families, Jilly spent the next two months working for the families, mistranslating things to hide the existence of the Blessing. Eventually, the blue-eyed man returns and instructs her that she was to go to Shanghai to see the Blessing, using the alias Lucy Statten Meredith. Upon arriving in Shanghai, Jilly met with another family member who informed her that they needed a storyteller and that it would be her job to tell history. Jilly then met The Mother, a leading member of The Families, and went to see the Blessing, which revealed to her the content of her soul, which did not faze her. She was present for the final confrontation between Torchwood and the Families, where she threw her allegiance behind the Families’ plan to create a perfect world order, using the Blessing to weed out the weak. After Torchwood put and end to the Miracle, and Oswald detonated himself, she escaped the Shanghai facility alive. After returning to the USA she again meets the Blue-eyed representative of The Families, who informs her that their work is not yet done and invites her to join in their Plan B which she eventually appears to accept.
Ambrose’s casting was announced on 13 January 2011, with her character Jilly Kitzinger initially being billed as “a sweet-talking PR genius with a heart of stone who’s just cornered the most important client of her career … and maybe of all time”. Prior to the casting of the role, the writers had already established several details relating to the character of Jilly with series writer Jane Espenson stating that “the high heels, the attitude, and the name were there from the beginning”. Ambrose stated in an interview with New York Magazine that part of the reason she was attracted to the role of Jilly was that it was completely different from any role she’d played previously. The BBC official website underlines Jilly’s ruthless and manipulative qualities stating that world she understands “how the world spins and instinctively knows how to manipulate her position in it”. Despite the character’s ruthless and ambitious nature, Ambrose feels that Jilly still has a soul explaining that the character has “a lot of good qualities [and] she’s just doing her job.” A Promotional character video released by Starz on the 9th June 2011 shows that Jilly will do whatever it takes to sell the Miracle, including “making a bargin with the devil himself”. Jilly inoccuous appearance masks her deeper concerns; Jane Espenson explains that Jilly is a “scene-stealer who uses her klutziness to both draw attention to herself and divert attention from her agenda”.
Reaction to the character has largely been positive. Kevin Fitzpatrick, writing for UGO networks online website describes her as “our favorite fiery redhead”, whilst Meredith Jacobs previewing episode five for Gather.com states that “Lauren Ambrose has excelled as Jilly Kitzinger on Torchwood: Miracle Day, and so far has shown that she was the right choice for the role”. Dan Martin, writing for the Guardian, describes the character as one of the highlights of the series stating that “Lauren Ambrose’s daffy, deliciously amoral Jilly Kitzinger owns every scene she’s in.” Ambivalent about Miracle Day as a whole, Todd VanDerWerff of the Los Angeles Times singles Jilly out as the “only new character worth writing home about”.Digital Spy’s Morgan Jeffrey was pleased that Jilly survived the fourth series intact, praising the performance of Ambrose and opining that the character has untapped potential.
Credited only as Little Girl, the mysterious fortune teller is a psychic, ageless tarot card reader, portrayed by child actress Skye Bennettin two episodes. Outwardly a little girl, she is seen in both the 19th and 21st centuries as appearing roughly the same age. In her first appearance, “Dead Man Walking”, she sends Jack to the disused St. Mary’s parish church, the location of the second Resurrection Gauntlet, but promises it will bring further complications. Appearing for a second time in a 19th century flashback, in the episode “Fragments”, she approaches Jack to read his cards and tells him he will have to wait a century before meeting The Doctor once again.Like Jack, she has not appeared to have aged.
In her first episode, “Dead Man Walking”, a legend is told of a little girl named Faith who died of the plague and whom St. Mary’s priest brought back to life - bringing death with her. Whether the seemingly immortal girl is Faith is not confirmed as of 2011.
Colin Maloney, played by American actor Marc Vann, appears as the bureaucratic, petty and misogynistic manager of the San Pedro overflow camp in California. Promoted out of his depth from a job in public housing, he believes that he must carry out the orders of his superiors, no matter what the moral cost.
Maloney is first encountered by agents Esther Drummond and Vera Juarez when they go undercover at the San Pedro overflow camp. Vera uses her medical panel credentials to pose as an inspector of the overflow camp, though because of her race Maloney mistakes her for some sort of hired help rather than a doctor. Despite Vera pointing out the harsh realities of the situation, Maloney appears to have no sympathy for the patients within the overflow camp, going as far to openly taunt a patient named George. His pettiness is underlined by his excitement over a visit from Hilary Duff (not Clinton, who Vera assumes to be the highly sought after visitor). After Vera realises the appalling cramped, and disease-ridden conditions the patients of the overflow camps are in, and discovers instances of miscategorization on Maloney’s watch, she threatens to prosecute him because of his gross negligence and the harm he is causing. After a heated argument, he takes the gun from one of the overflow camp guards, Ralph, and shoots Vera twice to preserve the reputation of the overflow camp. He covers up the shooting by masking it as the sound of a loud metal door clanging shut. Maloney disposes of Vera’s body by burning her alive in one of the Overflow camp modules, along with many Category one patients who are still physically alive but legally dead.
In “The Middle Men”, Maloney, racked with a sense of guilt and panic, continues to attempt to disguise his involvement in Vera’s death, attributing his change of shirt to a strenuous badminton match. Esther Drummond is alerted to some sort of wrongdoing on his part after his suspicious behaviour, but her attempts at gaining insight are thwarted by his dismissal of her approaches and the other bureaucrats within the camp. When Rex Matheson is captured by the military contingent of the camp, Maloney visits him to ascertain what he knows. After Rex explains what he saw to Maloney, Maloney reveals his part in the incident. When Rex, like Vera, attempts to threaten him with prosecution on the grounds of crimes against humanity, Maloney decides to get rid of Rex too. In the absence of any other weapon, he begins to probe into Rex’s open chest wound with an ordinary biro pen. When Esther checks up on Rex and Maloney and is made aware of the latter’s treachery, he aims to kill her in unarmed combat. However, Esther fights back by gouging his eyes and using several well placed blows to wind him before choking him to the point of strangulation. Later, when Esther goes to retrieve the keys, he recovers and attempts to strangle her once more. However, Ralph, appalled at Maloney’s actions, arrives in time to shoot Maloney, disabling him again and allowing Rex and Esther to escape the San Pedro camp. When the Miracle ends in “The Blood Line”, the injuries Maloney sustained in his fight with Esther and the gunshot wound from Ralph presumably resulted in his death.
Bilis Manger, played by English actor Murray Melvin, appears as the main antagonist of the first series.Bilis has the ability to walk through time and teleport at will, manipulating the Torchwood staff into a situation where they believe they have to completely open the Rift and release the deity he worships.
In “Captain Jack Harkness”, he is shown to be the manager of a 1941 dance hall, and in the present day remains its caretaker, ostensibly co-operating with Gwen when she visits the now derelict venue searching for Jack and Toshiko. However, he scuppered Toshiko’s plans back in 1941 to send the full second half of the equations needed to bring back her and Jack more safely, by scratching away the last part of the equation. He took photographs, though, to ensure that the team would locate them in the past and have to open the rift to rescue them. In “End of Days”, he reappears, first as an apparition to Gwen, then, in his shop, A Stitch in Time, where he reveals that he is able to travel between eras at will. He then infiltrates the Torchwood base, stabbing Rhys, spurring Gwen to once more open the rift to save everyone’s lives, however, this full opening unwittingly releases Abaddon. Moments later, Manger is found outside by the members of the team, telling them that his plan all along was to release Abaddon, who had been “chained under the rift”, before vanishing again.
The Torchwood website hints that Bilis had already been involved with the Torchwood Institute at least once, drugging Owen with sodium pentathol (a truth serum and sedative) and retcon in order to get information about the institute. Indeed, he was seen in the series with a file folder marked ‘Torchwood’ in his 1941 desk.
The character returns in the spin-off novel The Twilight Streets by Gary Russell, apparently sponsoring the advertisement of a newly developed area of Cardiff. During this encounter, it is revealed that not only is he on the staff of Torchwood despite lacking any employee information - his hand print is granted full access in all Torchwood bases, but there is no record of his employment or specific role in the Institute - but also that his actions in releasing Abaddon were fundamentally benevolent, as Abaddon was required to stop sentient particles known as ‘the Dark’ that would corrupt the Torchwood team and drive them to turn against Jack to find a way of using the Rift to gain access to advanced technology. With the aid of the Torchwood team, Manger manages to defeat the Dark, and is last seen leaving on a train with a box that apparently contains Abaddon’s ashes.
Clement MacDonald, played as an adult by Paul Copley and as a child by Gregory Ferguson, appears in Children of Earth. In 1965, Clement is one of the twelve children offered to the 456, but he is left behind and keeps a mental link to the 456 when they return forty years later. He has somehow acquired clairalience, a highly enhanced sense of smell, allowing him to detect the impending return of the 456 months before the events shown in the story, as well as other threats and also to determine that Gwen Cooper is pregnant and that Ianto Jones is “queer”. After spending much of his life in care under the name Timothy White, traumatised and wracked with tics, Clement comes to Torchwood’s attention when he is the only adult relaying the messages from the 456 in unison with the children. Escaping from the care home when the police arrives for him, he is initially arrested for causing an affray in his confused state, but is retrieved by Gwen Cooper. He then meets Jack Harkness, and recognises him as the man who escorted the twelve children to the 456 decades earlier. Clement is killed by the 456 when they transmit a resonance frequency that damages his brain; Harkness is later able to reverse this frequency and use it against the 456.
Further information: List of Torchwood monsters and aliens#Butterfly People
Mary (surname not given), portrayed by Daniela Denby-Ashe is featured in Greeks Bearing Gifts was a 19th century prostitute. After fleeing from one of her potential johns, a soldier, Mary encountered an alien (later to be discovered as an Arcateenian) in the woods. The alien took over Mary’s body and used it to live through the remainder of the 19th and 20h centuries. The Arcateenian later used Mary’s preserved body to seduce Toshiko Sato.
See also: The First Senior
“James Mayer” appears in the spin-off Torchwood novel, Border Princes by Dan Abnett.
James Mayer is an agent of The First Senior—an agency similar to Torchwood, based on a different planet at one of the Rift’s alternate anchor points. He was inserted into Torchwood with the aim of gathering intelligence about similar “Rift Guardians”. To aid with his integration, his memory was wiped and a false consciousness was implanted into both his mind and those of the team. During his stay, he strikes up an affair with Gwen when she temporarily split up with Rhys.
Holly Mokri, voiced by American actress Eliza Dushku, is the central protagonist of the animated “Torchwood: Miracle Day” online spin-off, entitled “Web of Lies”. Holly begins to investigate Miracle Day after her brother Miles is shot following his posting of a blog which drew theory’s on there being a conspiracy behind Miracle Day. Holly is also affected personally by the Miracle as because of the Blessing’s morphic field Holly is no longer at risk of dying from cancer, because cancer cells have ceased to be undying. Holly sacrifices her personal interests for the good of humanity and eventually helps ensure that the events of Miracle Day will not be repeated by destroying a vat of Jack Harkness’s blood held in reserve by the Families.
Ellis Hartley Monroe, portrayed by Mare Winningham, is a fictional American politician and Tea Party movement Republican who appears in the episode “Escape to L.A.” as a rival to the publicity machine of Oswald Danes and Jilly Kitzinger. Monroe is described by medical professional Vera Juarez as a small town mayor connected to the Tea Party who was “trying to make a name for herself”. She does this by launching the controversial “Dead is Dead” movement, which believes that those who should have died during Miracle Day are no better than corpses and her strong views and personality soon propel her to national attention. She momentarily eclipses Danes’ public notoriety, stealing one of his engagements. In retaliation, Danes launches a publicity stunt at the hospital at which he was supposed to speak, which deflects attention from Monroe. She is later kidnapped by the forces behind Miracle Day, who inform her that they already have Danes and don’t need her; she is trapped inside a crushed car and abandoned in a car lot, still alive within the wreckage of the car due to the effects of the Miracle. After her “death”, a statement went out on TV advising the public that Monroe would not be available to comment on the latest developments. When the Miracle ends in “The Blood Line”, Monroe presumably dies.
The Mother, portrayed by British actress Frances Fisher, appears as high ranking member of the Families, the main antagonists of Miracle Day. She operates the Shanghai site of the Blessing, a giant fissure running through the centre of the Earth between Shanghai and Buenos Aires.
In “The Gathering”, the Mother meets with the Families’ newest recruit, Jilly Kitzinger, after she arrives in Shanghai, and introduces her to the Blessing. She tells Jilly that the Blessing will make her feel uncomfortable as she approaches it, as it is believed that the Blessing “shows you to yourself”. The Mother theorises that this feeling is the Blessing’s attempt to communicate with mankind and states that she has seen it drive some who look upon it to commit suicide as a result. She enquires as to what Jilly sees in the Blessing, and appears impressed when Jilly sees only self-conviction.
In “The Blood Line”, the Mother reveals to Jilly that the Families intend to destroy the Blessing sites in Shanghai and Buenos Aires in order to prevent anyone else from interfering with it, and dictates orders to soldiers in Mandarin Chinese to have explosives placed all around the site. However, Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Oswald Danes are able to infiltrate the Shanghai site before they can carry this act out. The Mother appears to be slightly unsettled by Oswald, who is wearing an explosive vest and threatening to blow up the site immediately if the Families attempt to subdue them. The Mother explains that Jack’s blood is attracted to the Blessing as a result of the Families having fed his blood to it, and that this, in combination with humanity’s morphic field, caused the entirety of the human race to become immortal. The Mother then explains the motives of the Families, who are intent on destabilising the human race so that they can take control and create a new world order. Realising that releasing his now mortal blood into the Blessing will reverse the Miracle, Jack threatens to do so, but the Mother laughs at this effort and explains that his blood would have to enter the Blessing from both ends for it to be effective. However, her triumph is cut short when Rex Matheson, who has infiltrated the Buenos Aires site, reveals that Esther Drummond had transfused him full of Jack’s blood. As Rex and Jack reverse the Miracle by releasing the blood into the Blessing, the site begins to quake, prompting the Families to evacuate. While Gwen, Jilly and the once again immortal Jack escape in a cargo lift, the Mother attempts to flee, but Oswald grabs onto her to prevent her escape before detonating his explosive vest, bringing the whole site crashing down on top of them.
Further information: List of UNIT personnel#Colonel Oduya
Colonel Oduya is the UNIT representative who oversees the 456 Crisis in Children of Earth.
Henry Parker was an avid collector of alien artifacts from the series 2 episode “A Day in the Death”. He is played by Richard Briers. He owned something called the Pulse, which he believed was keeping him alive. Torchwood believed it was a form of bomb, because it was giving off strange energy readings. Henry Parker is filed under the ‘Mostly Harmless’ category, and is compared to Howard Hughes.
Rupesh Patanjali, played by British actor Rik Makarem was a Doctor at St. Helen’s Hospital in Cardiff, although he was originally from Chesterfield. He first encounters Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones when they arrive at the hospital to remove an alien hitchhiker from a recently deceased patient. His interest in Torchwood piqued, Rupesh makes his way to the Cardiff Hub. Gwen Cooper, noting a parallel between Torchwood’s treatment of Rupesh and their initial treatment of her, promotes herself to recruitment officer and meets with Patanjali for a coffee to discuss the possibility of a job with Torchwood.
However, Patanjali’s interest in the job is later revealed to be a facade. After luring Harkness back to St. Helen’s hospital with a report of another weird death, turns on the immortal agent and unexpectedly shoots him in the back, “killing” him. It is later revealed that Patanjali was working on the orders of Johnson who decided to plant a bomb in Harkness to wipe out the Torchwood operation. Johnson rebuked Patanjali when he expressed discomfort over Harkness’ apparent death by pointing out that he himself had killed a patient in order to facilitate the ruse which led Harkness back to the hospital. After enquiring what was to become of him after realising that his cover had ben blown, Patanjali realises that Johnson plans to dispose of him. As he attempts to flee, he is shot in the back by Johnson after she yells to members of her team “Sides!”.
His body was then taken to an MI5 compound until his family requested its release. In order to rescue Jack Harkness, Gwen and her husband Rhys pose as undertakers, and before finding Jack’s body encounter Rupesh’ instead.
Dr Alicia Patel, portrayed by British born actress Lena Kaur, appears in the series four episode “The Middle Men” as a medical doctor seconded to the Cowbridge overlow camp in South Wales after the implementation of the categories of life. She is confronted by Gwen Cooper in regards to her dying father and the operations of the overflow camp in general. She initially tells Gwen to wait because she is busy and then explains that she cannot help Geraint because of the necessity of keeping to Government orders. She denies culpability for the burning of living patients because she doesn’t make the rules and chooses to views the burning of legally dead individuals as a necessity considering the public healthcare system has broken down. Gwen dresses Patel down over her acceptance of what is to all intents and purposes a concentration camp and tells her that she should be ashamed to call herself a Doctor.
Lyn Peterfield, portrayed by Australian and Nepalese actress Dichen Lachman, was a CIA agent and served as an antagonist to the Torchwood team in the fourth series episode “Rendition”. It is revealed through exposition that she once had a sexual affair with Rex Matheson prior to the events of Miracle Day. Lyn is sent to help collect Jack and Gwen from Heathrow after they have been arrested by Matheson. Under the orders of Brian Friedkin, Peterfield attempts to assassinate the now mortal Jack Harkness by slipping arsenic into his cola. However, her plan is foiled when Jack identifies the poison and Gwen and Rex source an andidote. She is knocked unconscious by Gwen Cooper after insulting her capabilities and mistaking her for an English woman. Once on US soil she attempts to defeat Rex in hand to hand combat once he realises the treachery of the CIA. However, he gains the upper hand and breaks her neck. Due to the effect of Miracle Day she is left still alive but with her head now on back to front. When the Miracle ends in “The Blood Line”, Lyn presumably dies.
Phicorp is introduced in Miracle Day as a multinational drug company that produced painkillers without narcotic side effects. After discovering a massive stockpile of drugs within a Phicorp warehouse, Jack and Rex theorise that Phicorp must have had pre-knowledge of the Miracle. One of Phicorp’s representatives, Jilly Kitzinger, recruited Oswald Danes to speak for the company in favour allowing all drugs to be available without prescription. Rex Matheson theorised that this would increase the profits of the company a hundredfold. Jack managed to track down Janet Rae (Ciera Payton) a junior associate within the company and through revealing a few home truths about COO Stuart Owens’ (Ernie Hudson) real intentions towards her, gained her assistance in his ploy to meet with Owens and keep his attention. Here it was revealed that whilst PhiCorp managed to profit off the Miracle, they were in the dark as to its origin. Stuart Owens had launched investigations of his own, but the only investigator who had learned anything, Zheng Yibao (Eric Steinberg), chose to jump from a tall building after seeing the Blessing in Shanghai.
Denise Riley, portrayed by Deborah Findlay, is Home Secretary in the Cabinet of Brian Green in series three, Children of Earth. In episode “Day Four”, during the Cabinet Office Briefing Room meeting, she argues against selecting the children to be sacrificed to the 456 through a lottery and suggests sending pupils from the schools at the bottom of the league tables instead, arguing that they are the least likely to become productive members of society. Her proposal is accepted. In “Day Five”, Riley co-ordinates operations to snatch the children with US General Pierce. After Bridget Spears reveals to the Prime Minister that she has recorded him gloating that he felt “lucky” with the conclusion of events, and threatens to make the footage public, Riley says that she “will be taking charge of many things in the days to come”, and promises to have Lois Habiba freed.
Nina Rogers is a student at Cardiff University who first appeared in the novel Into the Silence. She made a second appearance in Bay of the Dead as a victim of the zombie siege at the hospital, and also inquired about Jackson Leaves house as a student accommodation at the end of The House That Jack Built. She goes on to make an appearance in Risk Assessment as a customer in a toy shop, and is involved in a news report in the ‘Virus’ section of Consequences, as well as becoming the protagonist of the ‘Consequences’ chapter. Though she does not make a physical appearance in The Undertaker’s Gift, she is mentioned as being a friend of another character that appears in this novel.
Allen Shapiro (John de Lancie) is introduced in the Miracle Day episode “End of the Road” as a senior CIA official. After Rex Matheson frames a rebel contigent of the CIA led by Brian Friedkin through use of the Torchwood contact lenses, Shapiro puts them under arrest along with Olivia Colasanto. He is enraged after Friedkin escapes questioning by blowing himself and the other captors to pieces. Though he pardons Rex and Esther, he remains suspicious of Jack and Gwen, and deports the latter, whilst trying to find out the secrets of a piece of Torchwood technology Jack wants to remain secret. Esther and Jack later escape, whilst Matheson reunites with Shapiro at the CIA central office in Washington.
Two months after “End of the Road , Shapiro is still working with Rex to try and discover the secrets behind the Miracle. Despite identifying some traitors within the organisation, Shapiro remains oblivious to the identity of a further mole within the organisation, namely analyst Charlotte Wills, who is covertly working for the Families against the investigation. Shapiro authorises Rex to head to Argentina to invesigate what, after getting in Torchwood, he believes to be an antipodal geological connection between Shanghai and Buenos Aires. Shapiro them tells his CIA colleagues to support Rex from Washington. However, Charlotte gets in touch with the Argetinian armed forces and they cause an explosion which Shapiro believes has killed Rex and colleague Esther. Furious, he orders Noah Vickers to rush through a use of new programming which can detect the presence of a mole by unscrambling all communications. Just as they discover Charlotte’s duplicity, Shapiro, along with Noah is blown up by a bomb Charlotte had placed to hide her duplicity.
“Adam Smith”, an alien who feeds and survives off memories, appears in the episode “Adam”, played by Bryan Dick. Previously trapped in the extradimensional Void, Adam is drawn to the Torchwood team due to the team’s unique memories and manages to escape The Void through the Rift. In less than 48 hours he is able to plant false memories in the team, posing as a three-year member of Torchwood. It is this belief in him that allows him to survive.
Accompanying the survival instinct, Adam also shows a tendency to use his powers recreationally and maliciously. He provides a drastic role-reversal for both Toshiko, now a promiscuous extrovert who shares a passionate relationship with Adam, and Owen, now a shy geek with unrequited feelings for Toshiko. Adam also provides Jack with a resurgence of the repressed memories of the last pleasant memories of his family before his father’s death and his brother’s disappearance. Side effects of an increase in memories, however, forces others out, leading Gwen to totally forget Rhys.
When Adam is found out after Ianto looks over his diary for information about an alien artifact and discovers absolutely no reference to Adam, he attempts to escape by torturing Ianto with the guilt of memories of a serial killer lifestyle, only for Jack to see through the lie thanks to his knowledge of Ianto’s personality and subsequently capture Adam. Although Adam tries to threaten Jack by altering his few happy memories of his childhood, Jack nevertheless deals with Adam’s existence by giving everyone in the team 48 hour amnesia pills. Forgetting Adam causes his death and leaves the team puzzling the loss of the last 48 hours, with only a bunch of flowers geek-Owen sent Tosh as an apology remaining as a slight clue.
Bridget Spears, played by Susan Brown, appears in Children of Earth and is the personal assistant to Home Office Permanent SecretaryJohn Frobisher and immensely devoted to him - having worked together for thirty years. She gives Lois Habiba her username and password, so Lois can assist with the overwhelming number of people calling in, but out of curiosity Lois uses it to find out about the Torchwood Instituteand Jack Harkness. After Frobisher tells Bridget about the 456, he hands her a file of a blank piece of paper. Bridget understands what this means and types up the names of four people to be killed, one of whom is the immortal Captain Jack Harkness. Unbeknownst to Bridget, Lois sees this email and starts to question her own loyalties. After Frobisher’s particularly troubling meeting with the Prime Minister, Frobisher directs Bridget to sign for “Requisition 31” and bring it to him; the metal box contains a sidearm and a loaded magazine. At the same time, Bridget signs for the Torchwood contact lenses confiscated from Lois when the latter is arrested for working with Torchwood. Bridget pays Lois a visit in her police custody cell to tell her that John Frobisher was a good man and that this should be remembered in the aftermath of what is about to happen. Later, after the 456 are defeated and the Prime Minister is ready to blame the Americans for the whole incident, Bridget reveals that Lois had told her how the Torchwood contact lenses worked, and that she had recorded everything the Prime Minister had said. Disgusted by his assertion that they were lucky to have someone else to blame for the incident, Bridget informs the Prime Minister that she is ready to reveal to the public what had exactly been going on. It is implied that this will be used to force Green from office.
Noah Vickers, played by American actor Paul James, is a CIA watch analyst colleague of Esther Drummond who appears alongside her whilst investigating the social effects Miracle Day has had on the populace. When Esther’s newly found discovery of the history of Torchwood is erased from her memory it is Noah’s work in retrieving the last Torchwood file which triggers them. In “Rendiiton” Noah is seen to be entertained by watching footage of Oswald Danes execution of a video hosting social networking site. Esther later misdirects him when she is attmepting to escape the CIA headquarters where they both work.
Noah later appears in “End of the Road” where he makes contact with Esther and Rex Matheson who have now been pardoned by the CIA following the ousting of several traitors. He informs the pair that Oswald Danes is now one of the most popular men on the planet. In “The Blood Line”, Noah initiates a trace software package that can uncover the identity of the remaining mole within the CIA. However, just as Noah, along with Allen Shapiro, discovers Charlotte’s duplicity, they are killed by a bomb she left on their desk. Rex later uses a passcode derived from where he and Noah used to have donuts together to retrieve the information on the CIA mole once the necessary software has been retrieved.
The pair of Noah and Charlotte has attracted comparisons to Rex and Esther. Writing for TV.com, Tim Surette describes Noah as “bizarroRex” and Charlotte as “bizarro Esther”.
Anwen Williams is the daughter of Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams who makes her first television appearance in Torchwood: Miracle Day. Anwen is conceived three weeks prior to the events of Children of Earth, and it’s the events of that serial which prompt her parents to retreat from their lives in the city. Anwen consequently spends the early months of her life in hiding in the wilds of South Wales with her parents. She becomes part of a chase when assassins call on her parent’s house, and Gwen is forced to fight with Anwen also in her arms. In Immortal Sins, Anwen is captured along with Rhys and Mary and used as leverage for Gwen to turn in Jack Harkness. However, the infant is later rescued by the intervention of a South Wales attack force, led by sergeant Andy Davidson. A scene in Gareth David Lloyd’sShrouded had previously depicted Gwen cradling an unnamed and ungendered baby in her arms, whilst the novel First Born, also set prior to Miracle Day, features a storyline where Anwen draws unwanted attention. With all spin-off media, the canonicity of these events is unclear.
According to writer Jane Espenson, the production team originally planned to call Gwen’s daughter Emily, but changed to Anwen, as the name is more Welsh. For Espenson, the infant portraying Anwen provides “some of the finest acting I’ve ever seen done by a baby” commenting that her “enthusiasm for action actually seems to speak to Gwen’s own character”.
In an alternate timeline witnessed in the novel The Twilight Streets, Gwen and Rhys’s first child was a boy, who they named Jack Ianto Geriant Williams after Jack and Ianto sacrificed themselves to save the world from alien particles that had corrupted the rest of the Torchwood team.
Barry and Brenda Williams
Barry and Brenda Williams are the parents of Rhys Williams, and the parents-in-law of Gwen Cooper, who appear in Something Borrowed. Whilst Brenda is portrayed as more abrasive and outgoing than her husband, both call into question Rhys’ marriage to Gwen after her surprise ‘pregnancy’ ruffles feathers. At the wedding, Brenda makes snide remarks about Gwen’s mother Mary and insinuates that Gwen is having an affair with Jack Harkness. Jack later calls Brenda an ‘ugly bitch’ after mistaking her for the alien nostrovite, but Gwen is able to deduce that Brenda is not alien by her distinctive perfume. The shapeshifter masquerading as Brenda is eventually defeated and Barry and Brenda have their memories of the wedding removed by Torchwood.
Charlotte Wills, portrayed by American actress Marina Benedict, is introduced in the fourth series as a Watch Analyst colleague of Esther Drummond. In contrast to the curious Esther, Wills is shown to be uninterested in information pertaining to Torchwood and tells Esther that all Torchwood information is to go through Brian Friedkin. In “Rendition” she expresses disapproval of the media reception to Danes and when Esther gives a non-committal response Charlotte tells her that in life, she can’t set on the fence. After Esther’s investigations render her a wanted woman she manages to escape the CIA compound after taking Charlotte’s identity card and assuming her identity.
In “End of the Road” Wills returns and talks to Rex and Esther over video link, discussing latest developments with the Miracle. It is later revealed that she is working as a double agent, also having contact with a mysterious blue eyed man who represents The Families. In “The Gathering”, Charlotte continues to act as a mole for the Families when Rex uncovers a lead; she tries to put him off researching a pulp short story apparently based on the Little Italy incident, and tells him that a DNA test that could find descendants of the author was unsuccessful. Later, she tracks Rex to Buenos Aires — a location connected to the Blessing behind Miracle Day — when he is on a secret mission for Torchwood, and contacts the Families. She detonates a bomb in CIA headquarters just as they discover that she is the mole for the Families; the explosion kills Shapiro and Noah. Despite her efforts to sabotage the mission, Jack and Rex successfully end the Miracle. While attending Esther’s funeral, Rex receives word from the CIA about Noah’s trace information that revealed Charlotte was the mole. Charlotte turns and shoots Rex, and is in turn gunned down by CIA agents.
The pair of Noah and Charlotte has attracted comparisons to Rex and Esther. Writing for TV.com, Tim Surette describes Noah as “bizarro Rex” and Charlotte as “bizarro Esther”. In Miracle Day episode “The Gathering”, Charlotte refers to a recent break-up with an ex-girlfriend. Writing for the lesbian blogging site AfterEllen, Heather Hogan describes this additional piece of characterisation as effective in reminding the audience that the Three Families are ordinary people, living alongside us.
