List of Torchwood characters
The following is a list of minor characters in the BBC science fiction television series Torchwood, including supporting characters, and important human villains.
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Tommy Brockless
Thomas "Tommy" Reginald Brockless, portrayed by Anthony Lewis appears in the episode "To the Last Man". A shell-shocked World War I soldier, born in the year 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 the future of 1918, fragments of 1918 and the present will bleed together, potentially destroying the world. Hence, once every year, Torchwood awaken 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 shock victims executed for cowardice.
C
Gerald Carter
Gerald Carter, portrayed by Roderic Culver, appears in flashback sequences of the episode "To the Last Man" where his backstory is also briefly given. Trained in military intelligence, he joined the 1910's Torchwood Institute and would later assume the position of leadership at Torchwood Three in Cardiff.
Aaron Copley
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. After Martha is eventually saved by the team, and the Pharm's computer records are wiped and the aliens euthanised, 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, Captain Jack shoots Copley straight in the head.
Suzie Costello
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, Suzie expresses how much she loves her job, how nothing could ever measure up to what she has been doing, and her regret at having to run, as well as her frustration at how Earth never seems to attract anything more than the 'shit' of the universe. She is about to shoot Gwen in order to cover up her crimes when Jack Harkness, the team leader, arrives. Suzie shoots Jack in the head- allegedly able to penetrate the perception filter around the lift because she had become so obsessed with the glove-, 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. Jack places Suzie's body in the cold storage facility in the Torchwood Hub, in a drawer labelled "006".
In "They Keep Killing Suzie", the Torchwood team brings her back to life using the Resurrection 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 with Owen 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".
D
PC Andy Davidson
PC Andy Davidson (credited in the episodes as PC Andy), played by Tom Price, is Gwen Cooper's former police partner, first appearing in "Everything Changes". Although the surname does not appear in the programme credits, the surname "Davidson" has been used on the BBC website in an audio message recorded by Tom Price and also appears in a spin-off novel.
After Gwen joins Torchwood, she meets Davidson again outside a nightclub where a man has been killed by a "sex monster"-possessed host ("Day One"). Like Gwen's boyfriend Rhys, he initlally believes that she has been promoted to "Special Ops". Davidson later reappears to begrudgingly assist Gwen in "End of Days" and "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang". Andy comes to understand that Gwen's work for Torchwood involves "spooky", likely extraterrestrial situations, and later asserts his jealousy for her special ops position.
In "Adrift", Davidson calls Gwen to investigate sudden disappearances in Cardiff. During this, he reveals his affection for her and jealousy toward Rhys, which Gwen discovers to be his excuse for not attending her wedding. It is revealed he still has a soft spot for Gwen and has a childish crush on her.
Gwen and Andy meet in the novel Another Life at the scene of Guy Wildman's death. He also features in a flashback in the novel Trace Memory.
Harriet Derbyshire
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.
G
Gray
Gray (surname unknown) portrayed by child actor Ethan Brooke in "Adam" and as an adult by Lachlan Nieboer in "Fragments" and "Exit Wounds", is Captain Jack's younger brother. First mentioned in series two premiere "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" the character first appeared onscreen in the episode "Adam", in flashback sequences.
In "Adam", Jack's memories of his brother are brought to the surface by an alien who is meddling with the teams' memories. Jack recalls letting go of his brother's hand during an alien invasion in their homeplace of the Boeshane Peninsula and losing track of Gray, an action that he still regards as the worst thing he ever did. Young Jack (portrayed by Jack Montgomery) searches for Gray but is never able to find him, his grief made even 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, indicating they had been lost or repressed prior to their recent resurgence. In "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", Jack's former partner John Hart states that he "found Gray", implying that Gray may be alive.
In "Fragments", Captain John returned, with Gray seemingly in tow, with Captain John showing Jack a hologram of a person he claims to be Gray. This is depicted in the image above.
H
Lisa Hallett
Lisa Hallett, played by Caroline Chikezie, is a 26-year-old employee of Torchwood One in London and 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
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.
Captain Jack Harkness
Captain Jack Harkness, played by American actor Matt Rippy, is seen in the episode "Captain Jack Harkness". When Torchwood's Jack Harkness falls back in time to 1941 he meets him, the real Captain Jack Harkness.
Captain Jack is a young American serving as an RAF Group Captain stationed in Cardiff. He is in a heterosexual relationship, and is eventually revealed to be attracted to the Torchwood's Jack (who adopts the assumed name of Captain James Harper after Captain Jack 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 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 Jack Harkness (birth name unknown), who had served during World War II, had assumed the original Captain Jack's identity after his death, prior to his first appearance in the Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child". At that point in his personal timeline, he has not met the original Jack or joined the Torchwood Institute. Therefore, he knows of the original Jack's fate before he meets him, but is not aware of what he looked like.
Captain John Hart
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".[1] Marsters also alludes to being willing to appear in a series 3 of Torchwood.[2]
Captain John Hart appears through the the Rift and asks Jack Harkness for help in locating three radioactive cluster bombs, apparently scattered across Cardiff; Jack Harkness tells the team he can't 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 forcing him back through the Rift.
In "Fragments", Captain John returned in holographic form, stating that he is going to destroy Jack's life, revealing a holographic image of Gray.
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 wasn't until James Marsters got in touch with executive producer Russel 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 was conceived 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."[3] 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.[4] 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."
— James Marsters, RadioTimes Interview (January 2008)[4]
Diane Holmes
Diane Holmes, played by Louise Delamere is a character who 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.
J
Janet
Janet is a Weevil who is held captive in the Torchwood Hub. Named by Captain Jack, Janet is often used to interrogate suspects in the Hub and to further study the Weevils. Janet appears in many episodes, and it is through her the Torchwood team have come to better understand the Weevils, for example learning that Weevils are telepathic, empathetic, time-sensitive and adapt readily to toxins. Like all the Weevils in Torchwood, Janet is portrayed by Paul Kasey in costume.
Eugene Jones
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.
Later on, he was killed in a hit-and-run accident. When he discovered that he was still "hanging around" he stayed with the team, particularly Gwen, as they investigated his life. Reminiscing on the events of his past, Eugene recalled how, one day, he tried to sell the eye online. The bidding flew up to £15,005.50, but two of his mates 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 was removed from his body, he became solid briefly, saving Gwen from an oncoming car, before disappearing in a bright light.
Martha Jones
Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman is a returning Doctor Who character that first appears in Torchwood 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 international extraterrestrial response agency U.N.I.T., and is drafted into Torchwood by Jack to assist 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 own medic, Owen Harper in the episodes "Dead Man Walking" and "A Day in the Death".
L
Little Girl
Credited only as Little Girl, the mysterious fortune teller is a psychic, ageless tarot card reader; portrayed by child actress, Skye Bennett in 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 leads Jack to the location of the second Resurrection Gauntlet but promised it would 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.
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Bilis Manger
Bilis Manger, played by English actor Murray Melvin, appears in the episodes "Captain Jack Harkness" and "End of Days". Bilis has the ability to walk through time and teleport at will, manipulating the Torchwood staff into a situation where they would 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, which 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.[5] 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 gratned full access in all Torchwood bases- 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.[6]
"James Mayer"
- See also: The First Senior
"James Mayer" appears in the spin-off Torchwood novel, Border Princes by Dan Abnett.
James Mayer (real name, The Principal) 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.
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"Adam Smith"
"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, 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.
Another character, James Mayer, implants himself within the team's memories in the spin-off Torchwood novel, "Border Princes" by Dan Abnett.
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Rhys Williams
Rhys Alun Williams, played by Kai Owen, is Gwen's live-in boyfriend and later her husband. He is a transport manager and initially unaware of the nature of Gwen's job at the Torchwood Institute, believing she is working in "Special Ops" and that any alleged alien interference with Earth over the past two years were actually mass hallucinations induced by terrorists putting psychotropic drugs in the water supply. When Gwen puts this theory to Jack he derides Rhys as stupid. Before she dated Rhys, Gwen was going out with someone named Bruce, and Owen speculates that she simply settled for Rhys.[7] He and Gwen marry in "Something Borrowed", in which his parents Barry and Brenda Williams are introduced.
Over the course of the first series Rhys shows increasing irritation with Gwen's evasiveness and long hours. In "Ghost Machine" he and Gwen have a slight argument when she misses dinner due to her work at Torchwood, and in "Out of Time" he becomes angry with Gwen when he discovers that she has been lying to him about the nature of a girl who she took in and was actually related to her job at the Institute. He states displeasure at Gwen's ease and readiness to lie to him.
Unknown to Rhys, Gwen establishes a sexual relationship with Owen at the end of "Countrycide" to help herself deal with her two lives at home and at work. She confesses the affair after it ends in "Combat" but also slips Rhys an amnesia pill so he will not remember her confession. In "End of Days" Rhys is stabbed by Bilis Manger and dies, however when the Torchwood Team open the Rift this event is erased from history, bringing Rhys back to life again with no memory of the incident.
In "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" Rhys rings Gwen to announce his success in getting the new job he had been longing for. It is also revealed that he proposed to Gwen sometime between the two series.
In "Meat" Gwen reveals to Rhys the truth about her alter-life at Torchwood. Rhys then becomes involved in a mission to uncover and destroy an alien meat-trading racket, a mission in which he takes a bullet for Gwen. Once the relatively successful operation is over and Rhys is treated for his wounds by Owen, Jack orders Gwen to drug Rhys to make him forget the recent past. After hearing of Rhys' fascination with this whole new world of extraterrestrials and time travellers, Gwen cannot bring herself to drug him. Jack allows this with reluctance.
After Adam Smith rewrites Gwen's memories in "Adam" she forgets Rhys, much to Rhys's distress and to Jack's bewilderment. Her memories begin to return over the course of the episode however Gwen admits she loves Rhys, but 'not in the same way' as she loves Jack. She forgets she made this statement when she takes an amnesia pill in order to forget about Adam Smith.
When Rhys and Gwen's wedding finally arrives in "Something Borrowed", the wedding is nearly jeopardised when Gwen is infected with a Nostrovite egg, thus giving her the appearance of being pregnant. Although they initially try to conceal the truth by claiming that Gwen is naturally pregnant, the attack of the female Nostrovite forces Gwen and Rhys to reveal the truth to their families. While Jack keeps the Nostrovite occupied, Rhys uses the Singularity Scalpel to remove the egg from Gwen (Owen was uncertain about his ability to use it due to his permanently damaged left hand). At the wedding reception, Jack slips Retcon into the champagne to erase the memory of the nostrovite attack, but Gwen and Rhys decline the offer of further pills for themselves. To date, their marriage appears to be happy, although it is strained by Gwen's refusal to have children as she feels she would be unable to commit to them and Torchwood.
In the spin-off novel The Twilight Streets, an alternate future is shown where Toshiko, Owen and Gwen are corrupted by the sentient particles known as 'the Dark, driving them to imprison Jack and use the energies released when he dies as a means of controlling the Rift to gather advanced technology. Knowing that Gwen is under alien control, but unable to do anything himself, Rhys helps Ianto gain access to the new Torchwood facility while Gwen gives birth, Ianto and Jack subsequently sacrificing themselves to stop the Dark. With Gwen now freed from the Dark's influence, Rhys suggests that the two of them start a new Torchwood to make a safe world for their new son, whom he names Jack Ianto Geriant Williams. As with all spin-off media, the canonicity of these events is unclear.
References
- ^ "BBC - Press Office - Network TV Programme Information Week 3 Unplaced 2008" (Press release). BBC Press Office. 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
- ^ "James Marsters ('Torchwood')". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
- ^ "Chris Chibnall talks 'Torchwood', 'L&O: London'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
- ^ a b "James Marsters Interview (January 2008)". Radio Times. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
- ^ Emails from Owen, Torchwood Institute. URL accessed 2006-02-01
- ^ "Torchwood: The Twilight Streets - Bilis Manger's presence". Random House. 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
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