Lisa Hallett worked in Acquisitions at Torchwood One. She was partially upgraded during the Battle of Canary Wharf and was eventually killed.
Biography
With Torchwood One
Lisa signed the Official Secrets Act during her interview for a job at Torchwood. Upon getting the job, she spent her first month feeling freaked out. (PROSE: Trace Memory) She worked in Acquisitions. (AUDIO: Uprising)
Lisa and Ianto got to know each other within Ianto's first two weeks at Torchwood. She met him near the fountains in Cabot Square before his shift started. (PROSE: Trace Memory) On 26 March 2005, Yvonne Hartman advised Ianto Jones to ask Lisa out. (AUDIO: One Rule)
Ianto asked Lisa out on a date and took her to watch a James Bond film and to eat Chinese, neither of which she liked. Ianto believed that she was too trendy for him and that the relationship had not worked out. (AUDIO: New Girl)
By the time that Rachel Allan was working in Admin, Lisa and Ianto were going out. (AUDIO: Uprising) They often went to a Greek restaurant together. (AUDIO: Lost Souls)
As a Cyberwoman
Like many other Torchwood staff, Lisa was taken to be upgraded into a Cyberman. However, the Cyber-conversion process was not completed, leaving her mostly human, but with numerous cybernetic implants. Ianto helped her escape the ruins of Torchwood One and took her to Cardiff, (TV: Cyberwoman) where he talked Jack Harkness into hiring him at Torchwood Three. (TV: Fragments)
Taking advantage of Torchwood's cavernous Hub headquarters in Cardiff Bay, Ianto found a remote room where he kept Lisa while he surreptitiously tried to restore her full humanity. (TV: Cyberwoman) He hid her in the Archive, in a chamber originally set aside for the remnants of Operation Goldenrod. (PROSE: Slow Decay)
Dr Tanizaki, a cybernetics expert, was brought in by Ianto to attempt to help remove the Cyber-implants. Unfortunately, his efforts instead caused the implants to become fully active, largely suppressing Lisa's original personality and causing her to embark on the Cybermen's mission to upgrade humanity.
Lisa unwittingly killed Tanizaki while trying to Cyber-convert him, and then told Ianto that her desire was to become superior, just like the Cybermen. Ultimately, she escaped her chamber in the Hub and Jack and the others learned of her existence.
She killed Annie Botchwell, a Jubilee Pizza delivery girl, and transplanted her brain into Annie's body in a last-ditch attempt at balancing humanity with Cyber-perfection. When it became clear that Lisa's original personality had been irreparably corrupted and destroyed, she was killed by the other Torchwood Three personnel. (TV: Cyberwoman)
Legacy
Lisa reappeared as a "spirit" who urged Ianto to open the Rift. This was merely an illusion projected to Ianto by Bilis Manger. (TV: End of Days) Later, Ianto had to endure another impersonation of Lisa during the incident at CERN in Switzerland. (AUDIO: Lost Souls)
After Jack, Gwen, Tosh and Owen were erased by the life-optimisation engine, Ianto forgot who killed Lisa and attempted to find out who it was. He remembered once they were restored. (AUDIO: Ex Machina)
Syriath, through an illusion of Ianto Jones' father, claimed she would resurrect Torchwood Three comrades and loved ones who had died, such as Lisa. (AUDIO: The House of the Dead)
Abilities
Lisa was able to electrocute people with her hands and used a wrist-mounted blaster, much like a fully converted Cyberman. She was also much stronger than a normal human being, being able to effortlessly lift someone off the ground by the throat, throw them several feet away and even hold her own against an attacking Pterodactyl. Her armour plates granted her bulletproof durability, causing projectiles to simply ricochet.
However, the exposed parts of her body were still vulnerable to being shot or stabbed with a sufficiently sharp object. (TV: Cyberwoman)
Will throw away meat when creating cybermen, since cyberwoman is a vegan. The same can be said of all cybermans.
Behind the scenes
- In Torchwood Magazine, it is suggested in an interview with Gareth David-Lloyd that Lisa is the reason Ianto Jones wears suits rather than the casual clothes he did the first time he met Jack. David-Lloyd states that Ianto wears his suits as a way of masking his true personality, and his intentions to find a cure for Lisa. However, once the death of Lisa comes about, David-Lloyd explains that Ianto becomes much more comfortable in both his suits, and his team.
- SciFiCollecter released a Lisa Hallett figure as part of their line of Torchwood action figures.