List of Torchwood characters
This is a list of characters from the British science fiction television programme Torchwood, created by Russell T Davies. This list includes main characters, recurring characters and important guest characters. The main characters typically function as a team, defending the planet from alien and nefarious human threats. The series operated with a "monster of the week" format for its first two series before adopting a serial-based format for its third and fourth series, which feature an extended recurring cast of supporting characters.
Main characters
Jack Harkness
Jack Harkness, played by Scottish-American actor John Barrowman, is 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 meeting the Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who, Jack reformed and changed his ways, and after a stint as the Doctor's time travelling companion found his way to Torchwood in the 19th century. Cursed with immortality following his previous adventure with the Doctor, Jack served Torchwood on-and-off for centuries, eventually becoming its leader at the start of the 21st century, and handpicking a new team for himself thereafter. As a result of his immortality, Jack has lived a long life, in which he has seen the loss of his brother [|Gray], his grandson Stephen, and numerous lovers, both male and female. Including Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones.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 in her own mind, after taking control 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. Jack still has feelings towards Gwen, when he comes back he finds out that Gwen is married and gets disappointed. 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 has lived in Wales for generations, and it is suggested by the Doctor and Rose Tyler that Gwen is related to the Gwyneth whom they met in Cardiff in 1869 in "The Unquiet Dead", due to spatial genetic multiplicity.
Owen Harper
Doctor Owen Harper, played by American-born English actor Burn Gorman, is Torchwood Three's medical officer. After he loses his fiancée to an alien parasite, Owen's genius and determination are recognized by Captain Jack and he is recruited into the institute. Owen has many short-lived sexual relationships with women such as Suzie Costello and Gwen Cooper but remains 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 proves short-lived, as Owen is seemingly vaporised in a surge of radiation in the series 2 finale, "Exit Wounds".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.Ianto Jones
Ianto Jones, played by Welsh actor Gareth David-Lloyd, is Torchwood Three's support man. His 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, Ianto at first has the main motivation of simply housing his partially cyber-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, characterizes him as Jack's "part time shag". Ianto never received full security in his relationship with Jack or with his sexuality; shortly after he became secure with their being labelled a "couple", he was killed by a virus in episode four of the 2009 serial Children of Earth.Rhys Williams
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.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 organization 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 teammates, particularly 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.Esther Drummond
Esther Drummond, played by American actress Alexa Havins, is an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency 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.Oswald Danes
Oswald Danes, played by American actor Bill Pullman, is a former schoolteacher; in 2006, he was convicted and sentenced to death in Kentucky 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, Danes does not die thanks to Miracle Day. 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. After she offers him protection and exposure Danes accepts an offer of representation from Jilly Kitzinger and enjoys a brief media career. Danes ultimately kills himself with a bomb at the climax of Miracle Day.Supporting characters introduced by series
Series one (2006–07)
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, 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 the Resurrection Gauntlet 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".Suzie has a leading role in the novel Long Time Dead, a prequel to Torchwood: Miracle Day.