Thomas "Tommy" Pierce (also known as Old Tommy) was Head of Alien Acquisitions at Torchwood One.
Biography
Early life
By 2005, Tommy was known as one of the old guard, having worked there before the move to Canary Wharf Tower and being rather old-fashioned. He was a recovering alcoholic and was given counselling by Pippa. In 2005, his personal assistant resigned, with Guleraana Arbid later claiming that he could not handle Tommy.
He did not vote for Fiona McAndrew in the mayoral election. (AUDIO: The Law Machines)
Rachel's takeover
Yvonne Hartman hired Rachel Allan as Tommy's new assistant. He looked at the transmat that Kenny and his team retrieved from Royal Hope Hospital. During a meeting with Miladar of the Korvax First Brood, Rachel caused a fight between Tommy and Kieran Frost by telling them that Patrick had told her that Yvonne planned to fire Tommy and replace him with Kieran.
Rachel got Tommy drunk by giving him coffee laced with alcohol before suggesting he test out the transmat on Moira, sending her to a ship in the North Sea. She then planted retcon on him, which everybody saw as an obvious framing. Nonetheless, Tommy was suspended and Rachel was given his job. This had the effect of sowing distrust amongst Torchwood. Yvonne ensured that he was given help for his alcoholism.
Rachel called Tommy to ask if there was any evidence of who had framed him. He told her that CCTV had been down and refused to meet, not wanting her to risk her job. He told her to watch out. (AUDIO: New Girl)
Tommy returned to Torchwood after Yvonne was framed for the death of Dean and Pippa appointed Rachel as director. Like the others, he believed that Yvonne had indeed killed Dean. He joked about Pippa's reliance on alternative medicine after she died on a Torchwood Away Day. Over the month of Rachel's directorship, Tommy and the others had to do compulsory overtime, meaning that he stayed far later than he would normally have done were he not drunk. Yvonne was later reinstated and Rachel exposed and retconned. (AUDIO: Uprising)
The Law Machines
When the Law Machines were activated, Tommy attempted to deactivate them with the master switch at Torchwood Tower. However, it did not work and he instead took to the streets with the other weapons-trained agents to destroy them when Code Black was called. Yvonne called him and he told her that Lawrence had been killed and that no help could come to her. A large amount of his team died.
Tommy arranged to meet Yvonne and Ianto in the Docklands where he set up a mobile incident room. He met Fiona McAndrew, who he was attracted to. The four took the train to Torchwood Tower, where McAndrew was killed by a Law Machine. Whilst Yvonne went with Julian Delaware as "Annie Jones", Tommy and Ianto avoided falling under WOTAN's control by putting cotton in their ears. The two stopped WOTAN's signal. (AUDIO: The Law Machines)
Personality
Tommy was a genius, but was very much a member of "old Torchwood" and was misogynistic. He resented going to meetings and, like the other heads of department, neglected to prepare for them. He was a recovering alcoholic. (AUDIO: New Girl)
Tommy was attracted to women in power, namely Fiona McAndrew. (AUDIO: The Law Machines)