Reginald Rigsby
Professor Reginald "Reggie" Rigsby was director of Torchwood One in the 1950s following the Vicar's death.
Biography
Early life
Reginald Rigsby had a nanny when he was growing up. He attended Eton College, where he was head boy, and Norton Folgate would later joke that his fag must have been begging for the cane every time he burnt the toast. Rigsby went on to work in the Special Operations Executive during World War II and married a woman whom he nicknamed Mrs R. He became a professor. (AUDIO: Parasite)
Head of Alien Acquisitions
Rigsby became Head of Alien Acquisitions at Torchwood One and worked closely with the Head of Research, Lizbeth Hayhoe.
In 1945, he and Lizbeth were sent to Berlin by Winston Churchill to complete the inventory of Project Hermod and assess which assets belonged to the Crown. When he visited on his own, he learnt of the experiments on children and decided to feign illness and send Lizbeth later so as to avoid the specimens. He scolded Lizbeth when she blew up Project Hermod, an action which caused Rigsby to lose favour with the Americans and Russians, something he never forgave her for.
The two Heads of Department continued to cooperate in the years after World War II, but Rigsby reassigned the Torchwood One Research Unit when Rogers and Clyde came close to their breakthrough, hoping to receive credit for the achievement. Lizbeth was angered by this and, by 1951, believed that he thought he was above associating with her, instead sending Norton Folgate to deal with her.
In 1953, Rigsby attended Queen Elizabeth II's coronation at Westminster Abbey with the Vicar and Norton whilst Lizbeth dealt with the Wire's victims on the streets of London. (AUDIO: Parasite)
Director of Torchwood
Following the Vicar's death, Rigsby became the director of Torchwood and reassigned Norton to work with Lizbeth in Room 13. (AUDIO: Parasite) His office resembled that of an unsuccessful headmaster.
In the mid-1950s, when Adam Smith infiltrated Torchwood using his memory manipulation abilities, he replaced Rigsby as leader by convincing everyone that Rigsby was responsible for cleaning the toilets, something that he did not do very well. After Adam was sent into the Void by the Kernaz, Rigsby was reinstated. (AUDIO: Madam, I'm)
When Torchwood was looking into Ashenden, Rigsby spoke with Professor Sidney Ornadel and was, the professor believed, more receptive to him than Lizbeth and Norton were. (AUDIO: Ashenden)
Rigsby was angry with Norton when he tried to intercept a package at Margate Pier and was initially dismissive of Room 13's mission until Lizbeth made him aware of the Project Hermod insignia on the packages. He supplied them with additional resources and took an interest in their plan to intercept the package bound for 53 Landsmeer Terrace. (AUDIO: Parasite)
Death
Rigsby went to Torchwood One's bunker with the rest of Torchwood's staff when the alarm was sounded after Lizbeth opened the package and became infected by the spores within. He told Lizbeth that she was a stupid woman when he found out what she had done and was convinced that they would receive help before they all died. This help never came and Rigsby died next to Lizbeth, having asked her to wake him when help came and having called her "nanny". (AUDIO: Parasite)
Personality
Coming from a privileged background, Rigsby was pretentious and prone to showing off, often mentioning having dinner at Chequers and namedropping people such as the Lord Chancellor, which Norton and Lizbeth found obnoxious. (AUDIO: Parasite) Lizbeth told Isla Satterthwaite that Rigsby was taking credit from his staff when he was not belittling them or firing them and she was of the belief that he would be better off running a boys' school into the ground. (AUDIO: Ashenden)
Rigsby went through a phase of being obsessed with golf (AUDIO: Madam, I'm) and had a taste for fine food. (AUDIO: Parasite)
