- For the television show, see Torchwood
The Torchwood Institute was founded in or about the year 1879 by royal decree from Queen Victoria, in response to an encounter with the Doctor and a cult of monks who were harboring a werewolf. While she was grateful for the Doctor and Rose's assistance in defeating the werewolf, the incident also made her aware of otherworldly threats to the British Empire, and thus ordered that Torchwood be established in order to defend against them -- specifically from the Doctor. Seeing his power and knowledge, the Queen was wary of any possible threat he could cause to the Empire. The name of the Institute was drawn from the Torchwood Estate, where most of the adventure took place. (DW: Tooth and Claw)
Over time, the Institute accumulated much alien technology, reverse-engineering it and applying it to secret military projects within the British army. Within Torchwood an unofficial slogan evolved: "If it's alien, it's ours."
Hiding out in the open, what most of the British populace believed was a tower of banking offices was in fact Torchwood Tower, built to more readily access a weak point in spacetime. The Torchwood Tower was itself only part of a much larger plan involving free energy that backfired horribly, and resulted in the deaths of millions. According to the Torchwood website, this cell of the Institute was abandoned after the events of this story. (DW: Army of Ghosts)
Torchwood operates in cells, London being Torchwood 1, and Cardiff being the home to Torchwood 3, the maverick organisation led by Capt. Jack Harkness.
The organisation considers itself above both Government and Police, existing under a Royal Charter. However, Torchwood does not operate autonomously and often refers to the British Cabinet and to UNIT in both an advisory and operational capacity. (TW: Everything Changes)
History
19th century
Torchwood have been known to have been using alien cryogenics technology since "Victorian times" according to Captain Jack. (TW: To the Last Man)
20th century
In 1918, Torchwood 3 investigated ghost sightings in a hospital in Cardiff. As present and future blended, they caught glimpses of 2009. At this time they had a team of 5, the leader being a man called Gerald Carter and, based on a photo, were very possibly already based out of the Hub. They already had equipment capable of detecting disturbances in Time. (TW: To the Last Man)
Circa 1919, Harriet Derbyshire, one of the investigators of the hospital sightings and in only her mid-20's, died in action. (TW: To the Last Man)
By 1953 the London branch was influential enough that London Police feared its involvement when investigating the strange occurrences provoked by the activities of an alien entity known as The Wire (DW: The Idiot's Lantern)
Circa 1996, Torchwood recovered a Jathaa sunglider and reverse-engineered weaponry from it. (DW: Army of Ghosts)
21st century
On Christmas, circa 2006, the alien Sycorax attempted an invasion of Earth using blood control and a ship built out of an asteroid which hovered over London. (DW: The Christmas Invasion) Torchwood was preparing a weapon for just such a contingency, based on alien technology that they had scavenged approximately ten years before. (DW: Army of Ghosts) The weapon came online as the Sycorax retreated, and the Prime Minister, Harriet Jones, ordered it to fire, much to the ire of the Doctor. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)
At the same time, in Torchwood Tower, the Institute examined the Void Ship (though they did not call it by that name), to them an obviously alien aretfact which they struggled to understand. Meanwhile, it was discovered that tapping into the resonance around it could provide massive amounts of what they believed was free energy. A side-effect of these experiments was the appearance of millions of "ghosts" all over the world; humanoid figures that seemed to glow with an unearthly light. (DW: Army of Ghosts)
It was at this point that the Doctor became involved, and explained to the then-administrator Yvonne Hartman that their experiments were in fact weakening the barrier between dimensions, which would eventually lead to dramatic problems in their own world, perhaps even resulting in the collapse of their dimension altogether. His warnings were not heeded, and the experiments continued. As a result, a massive invasion force from another dimension came through the 'hole', allowing the Earth to be conquered by the Cybermen for approximately an hour.
At the same time, the Void Ship opened, revealing a hidden cadre of Daleks. Four Daleks, members of the secret Cult of Skaro, had come to Earth to help restore the Dalek race using a stolen piece of Time Lord technology called the Genesis Ark. They promptly killed a Torchwood technician while stealing his knowledge of current events, and seeing the Cybermen as an impediment to their own return, they began a war against them, despite an offer from the Cyber-Leader to form an alliance.
The 'hole' in spacetime created by the Void Ship also allowed a resistance army from another dimension to cross over, initially with the intention of stopping the Cybermen. However with the advance of the Daleks, a rather sudden and uneasy truce began, with Torchwood militia men, the Preachers, and the Cybermen all fighting together against the Daleks. This turned the Torchwood Tower into a battleground, and the fighting did not stop until The Doctor found a way to intervene, reversing Torchwood's power machinery and sending the Daleks and Cybermen into the Void. (DW: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)
With the vast majority of the Torchwood administration stationed in London and thus killed or 'upgraded' by the Cybermen, the organisation was severely weakened. Jack Harkness stepped in and tried to reform the Cardiff branch in a more humane organisation. (TW: Everything Changes,DW: The Sound of Drums)
In 2008 a major event occurred with the opening of the Cardiff rift, resulting in massive temporal displacements and the release of the demon Abaddon. (TW: End of Days) Shortly thereafter team leader Captain Jack Harkness mysteriously disappeared. (DW: Utopia) Subsequently, The Master under the guise of Harold Saxon the crew of Torchwood three was sent on a wild goose chase in the Himalayas in order to look for him. Actually, the Master just wanted them out of the way. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
After a few months had passed for Torchwood 3 (and about a year for Jack, who had lived through the Year That Never Was), Jack returned to Torchwood 3. In the meantime, Gwen Cooper had taken charge. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)
Torchwood became public knowledge by 2012, most likely due to their influence during alien invasions. (DW: Fear Her)
Later events
The Great Cobalt Pyramid was built on the ruins of Torchwood. (DW: Bad Wolf)
- It is unknown what the relation is between Torchwood and the Torchwood Archives from the year 43K2.1
Unknown date
By the early 21st century, when Gwen Cooper joined, Torchwood 4 disappeared. (TW: Everything Changes)
Administrators and Staff
Yvonne Hartman was the administrator of Torchwood during the Cybermen incursion and the Dalek conflict. (DW: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday)
Ianto Jones was a key member in the administration of Torchwood's London facility. (TW: Cyberwoman) Adeola Oshodi, cousin to the Doctor's companion Martha Jones, also worked at Torchwood 1 prior to her death. (DW: Army of Ghosts,Smith and Jones)
List of known members
Torchwood 1 - (Closed)
- Yvonne Hartman Former Director of the Torchwood Institute (deceased)
- Doctor Rajesh Singh (deceased)
- Adeola Oshodi (deceased)
- Vivien Rook (deceased)
- Matt (deceased)
- Gareth (deceased)
- Lisa Hallett (underwent partial cyber-conversion, later deceased)
- Ianto Jones (transferred to Torchwood 3 following the Battle of Canary Wharf)
Torchwood 3
- Gerald Carter (leader circa 1918)
- Harriet Derbyshire (physicist; died circa 1919)
- Douglas Caldwell (active circa 1918)
- Lydia Childs (active circa 1918)
- Charles Quinn (active circa 1918)
- Jack Harkness (leader of Torchwood; de facto leader of Torchwood Institute following the Battle of Canary Wharf)
- Owen Harper, (medical doctor, second in command; biologicaly dead but active)
- Toshiko Sato, (computer specialist, reverse engineering of alien artifacts)
- Ianto Jones, (administrator and general support)
- Gwen Cooper, (liaison with regular police, temporary leader during Jack's absence)
- Suzie Costello (weapons specialist, second-in-command prior to death)
- Martha Jones (medical officer, temporary)
- Alex (deceased), a contemporary of Captain Jack, killed all members of Torchwood 3 except Jack before committing suicide on New Years Eve 1999.
Torchwood branches
The Torchwood Institute is known to have four denominations across Britain:
- Torchwood 1, in Canary Wharf, destroyed during the battle with the Cybermen, and consequently abandoned,
- Torchwood 2, run from above a bank in Glasgow by a "very strange man",
- Torchwood 3, in Cardiff, set above the Cardiff rift,
- Torchwood 4, lost, but, in the words of Captain Jack Harkness, "we'll find it someday".
Torchwood also had a base under the Thames Barrier and owns the security firm "H.C. Clements" used to recreate Huon particles. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
Behind the Scenes
'Torchwood' was a code name for the new series of Doctor Who when it was in production, partly to keep it secret, partly to keep people from absconding with tapes of it before it was produced. The word 'Torchwood' itself is an anagram of 'Doctor Who'.
'Torchwood' is also the name of a spin-off series from the BBC set in Cardiff in the Doctor Who universe.
See also Torchwood.