Yvonne Hartman
Yvonne Hartman was the administrator of Torchwood in 2007, prior to the Battle of Canary Wharf. She presided over the long-awaited capture of the Tenth Doctor.
Biography
Hartman oversaw the projects that included the investigation of the Void Ship, as well as the ghost shift experiments that resulted in the invasion by the Cybermen from an alternate universe. She was not personally hostile to the Doctor, yet she was confident in the righteousness of Torchwood's actions to the point of fault, ignoring his recommendations and warnings. Hartman was fiercely patriotic, and believed that Torchwood's work was vital to the survival of the "British Empire" and was certain that their work would in fact lead to the restoration of the United Kingdom to the status of world power. Only when the end was near did she attempt to stop the experiments, only to find that the Cybermen had already taken control over key members of her staff. The controlled staff proceeded to override her orders and allow the Cybermen to continue their invasion. (DW: Army of Ghosts)
Yvonne, along with Jackie Tyler, was taken to be upgraded. Yvonne stated that she did her duty for queen and country, and walked into the conversion chamber, where she was then painfully upgraded.
However, Yvonne somehow managed to gain control over her new metallic body and performed one last known service, fending off the Cybermen approaching the top offices long enough for the Doctor and Rose Tyler to seal the breach between worlds. While fighting against the Cybermen she continued to utter the phrase "I did my duty for queen and country" while weeping oil. Her actions bought the Doctor and Rose the time they needed to banish the Daleks and Cybermen to the Void. (DW: Doomsday)
Her ultimate fate is unconfirmed: she may have been killed or been sucked into the Void with the rest of the Cybermen or remain hidden on Earth, depending on whether or not the material used to Cyberconvert her came from Pete's World or the Doctor's. (WEB: Torchwood website)
Personality
Yvonne Hartman was a well meaning but arrogant woman who was always convinced that everything Torchwood did was for the good of the country. An example of her arrogance was that she stated that anything that was alien belonged to Torchwood. This included the Doctor's TARDIS despite the Doctor protests. Despite her arrogance, Hartman was not a bad person and genuinely cared about her country, even managing to overcome the programming of the Cybermen due to her devotion to Britain. She somehow found a way to escape before the Cybermen could erase her emotions and in her metal body she appeared to be crying as she stated that she'd done her duty for queen and country.
Although she admitted that the Doctor was a prisoner, Hartman did try to make the Time Lord comfortable and treated him like a guest rather than a prisoner. She also liked to call her employees by their first names, saying that she was a "people person".
Behind the scenes
Yvonne Hartman's name is similar to the character of Yvonne Hartley from Spare Parts, the Big Finish story that Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel was inspired by.
