Gwen Cooper
Gwen Elizabeth Cooper was a member of Torchwood Three in the 2000s and 2010s.
Leaving her job as a police officer, Gwen accepted Jack's offer to join Torchwood and eventually rose to second-in-command and, for a short while, leader of the group. She had an affair with Owen for a time before her marriage to Rhys and mourned him Tosh and Ianto after their deaths. She eventually chose to restart Torchwood, rebuilding the Hub and working with Jack and Colchester.
Gwen left to start a new life with Rhys and Anwen after her possession by Ng, having totally lost control and killed her mother and slept with Jack.
Biography
Childhood
Gwen was born in Cardiff (AUDIO: Night of the Fendahl) on either 5 May or 16 August 1978 to Geraint and Mary Cooper. (TV: Something Borrowed, Children of Earth: Day One, The New World) Her birth was influenced by the Fendahl to be the perfect host, (AUDIO: Night of the Fendahl) also looking identical to her ancestor, Gwyneth, due to spatial genetic multiplicity. (TV: Journey's End)
When Gwen was a girl, she gave her father £2.50 after he was accused of stealing money from his workplace, but he told her that his problem was with people thinking that he was dishonest. (TV: The Blood Line) Her grandmother gave her a toy monkey that she named Bonzo after the famous gorilla. (PROSE: Bay of the Dead) She suffered from car sickness and felt nauseous in the back of an old Vauxhall Royale on a family day-trip to Carmarthen. (PROSE: Border Princes)
Gwen had a friend called Janice, whose brother had a pet rat called Fang. (AUDIO: Love Rat) She once did a school project on the Cottingley fairy photos as a child. (TV: Small Worlds)
As a police officer
Gwen went to college where she met Rhys Williams, a fellow student who fancied her from the moment that they met. (TV: Adam) The two began dating and Rhys took her for a picnic on their first date to a beach which he did not realise was a nudist beach. (AUDIO: The Sin Eaters) She first kissed him in a supermarket after nicknaming him "Rhys the Rant" due to him wittering about sharing a kiss after eating garlic. (TV: Adam)
Gwen attended Hendon where she trained to become a police officer, (PROSE: Slow Decay) joining South Wales Police. (TV: Everything Changes) As a junior police officer, she stood in the doorway of a house in Butetown to stop anybody but the police and coroner from entering the scene of an old man's suicide. She remembered the metallic smell of blood coming from inside, along with the sounds of her colleagues attempting to unstick the man's body from the bath. Soon after, she had a nosebleed after being hit in the face by a doped-up young man at a squat in Ely. (PROSE: Slow Decay)
By March 2005, Gwen was partnered with Andy Davidson. (AUDIO: One Rule) Andy fancied Gwen, although she spurred his advances and thought of him only as a friend, and he often criticised Rhys for his weight. (TV: Adrift) She was also partnered with Jimmy Mitchell on late night patrols, (PROSE: Another Life) with whom she would often share chips at three in the morning. (PROSE: Slow Decay)
She lived with Rhys in a flat in Riverside (TV: Everything Changes) whilst her parents lived in Swansea. (TV: Something Borrowed) She did not believe in aliens, with Rhys explaining away alien incursions by saying that they were the work of terrorists and psychotropic drugs in the water supply. (TV: Everything Changes)
Career at Torchwood
Joining Torchwood
At John Tucker's murder scene, Gwen witnessed Torchwood's use of a resurrection gauntlet on the victim and was later saved from a Weevil by the group. Jack Harkness gave her a tour of the Hub before retconning her, although her memories began to return after she saw an artist's rendering of the life knife that she had seen in the Hub. Returning to Roald Dahl Plass, she encountered Suzie Costello and witnessed Jack's resurrection and Suzie's death.
With a spot in Torchwood vacant, Jack offered her a job, which she accepted. (TV: Everything Changes) She told Rhys and her parents that she was working with special ops, mostly doing admin such as filing, (TV: Day One) and received gun-training from Jack. (TV: Day One, Ghost Machine)
Early career
On her first day at Torchwood, Gwen accidentally released the Sex Gas from a meteor and felt personally responsible after it entered Carys Fletcher to feed on the male orgasm. She willingly offered herself to the gas as she thought that she could fight it better than she could, allowing Jack to trap it in a portable prison cell where it died. (TV: Day One) She retrieved the quantum transducer from Bernie Harris and saw her future self saying "Owen" with her hands covered in blood, later stopping Owen from killing Ed Morgan only for him to impale himself on the knife she was holding. (TV: Ghost Machine) Gwen and Owen passionately kissed whilst hiding from Lisa Hallett, whom they both helped kill. (TV: Cyberwoman)
Gwen tried and failed to stop Jack from handing Jasmine Pierce to the Fairies as their "Chosen One". (TV: Small Worlds) She and Owen went to Newton House to investigate an archaeological dig (AUDIO: Hidden) and kissed again near Brynblaidd, where she was shocked by the the cannibals' motivations. She began an affair with Owen (TV: Countrycide) as she could not share her extraterrestrial experiences with Rhys. Tosh learnt of the affair through the telepathy pendant. (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts)
Three months after joining Torchwood, Gwen used the resurrection gauntlet to bring back Suzie to solve a series of murders and, unknown to her, her life force began transferring to Suzie. She was close to death when Tosh destroyed the gauntlet, breaking the link and saving her. (TV: They Keep Killing Suzie) She was the only one to hear Eugene Jones's ghost and, with his help, found out why he died and was, as his last act before moving on, saved from an oncoming car by him. (TV: Random Shoes) She helped Emma-Louise Cowell adjust to life in 2008, letting her stay at her flat and causing tension with Rhys, (TV: Out of Time) and finally called off her affair with Owen, confessing her indiscretions to Rhys before retconning him. (TV: Combat)
Gwen discovered half of Tosh's equation to open the Rift after Tosh and Jack were trapped in 1941 (TV: Captain Jack Harkness) and was convinced to open the Rift further after Bilis Manger killed Rhys. She stayed beside Jack's body after he was killed by Abaddon, kissing his dead lips before he was finally resurrected. Soon after his recovery, Jack vanished, (TV: End of Days) leaving the team behind to chase after the Doctor's TARDIS. (TV: Utopia)
Jack's absence
Torchwood continued to operate in Jack's absence, with Gwen becoming leader after Tosh, the longest-serving member, deferred command to her following exposure to an alien artefact. (PROSE: Kaleidoscope) Gwen, Owen, Tosh and Ianto were sent on a "wild goose chase" to the Himalayas by Harold Saxon to keep them from being a threat to his plans. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
Gwen and Rhys went out for Valentine's Day. (AUDIO: Dinner and a Show) He proposed to her and she accepted, later saying that she did so because nobody else would have her. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)
After Jack's return
Jack rejoined Torchwood during an altercation with a Blowfish. Whilst Gwen was pleased, she was angry with him for leaving them. She went looking for a canister with John Hart and was twice put in danger by him; firstly with paralysing lip gloss and secondly by handcuffing her whilst he was threatened by a DNA bomb. She had a message for Jack when she thought she was going to die, but she was saved before relaying it. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)
Gwen was sympathetic towards Beth Halloran and realised that she faked being taken over so that Torchwood would shoot her. (TV: Sleeper) She saw ghosts at St Teilo's Hospital and realised that Tommy Brockless had to return to 1918 to close the time shifts. (TV: To the Last Man) She was also almost killed by Vic Royce, who was under the influence of an alien computer. (AUDIO: Everyone Says Hello)
Having reason to believe that he was working with Vic and Dale and profiting from the Cash Cow, Gwen finally told Rhys about Torchwood. She was hesitant to allow him to help Torchwood, not wanting to put him in danger, and later refused to retcon him and take the experience away from him. (TV: Meat) She forgot about Rhys due to Adam Smith's memory manipulation but was able to rediscover her feelings for him. Despite this, she told Jack, before taking retcon, that she did not love Rhys the same way that she loved Jack. (TV: Adam)
Gwen met and befriended Martha Jones when she joined the team in investigating the Pharm. She and Ianto captured the assassin Billy Davis and infiltrated the Pharm, where she saw the Mayflies and witnessed Owen being shot and killed by Aaron Copley. (TV: Reset) She looked into Death and learnt about its previous manifestation in the 15th century (TV: Dead Man Walking) and helped investigate Henry Parker. She apologised to Tosh for not making her a bridesmaid. (TV: A Day in the Death)
On Gwen's hen night, she was impregnated by a Nostrovite and tried to call off the wedding, but Rhys refused, later using the singularity scalpel to kill the creature within her. She almost kissed who she believed to be Jack before learning it was the Nostrovite mother and, after the service, seemed to find closure with him. Due to the Nostrovite, Torchwood retconned the guests. (TV: Something Borrowed) She and Rhys went on a ten day honeymoon to Cuba and chose to keep her maiden name. (PROSE: Skypoint)
Gwen helped with Owen's Church of the Outsiders project by finding Andromeda Ross, daughter of Steve and Val Ross, who manipulated her into taking her to the Hub where she could open the Rift, and took her to Whitecliff afterwards. (AUDIO: Believe) She helped defeat the Night Travellers (TV: From Out of the Rain) and later embarked on her own project after learning of the disappearances that included Jonah Bevan. She located Jack's facility on Flat Holm and took Nikki Bevan there to be reunited with her son, but chose not to do so for anybody else due to the effect that it had on Nikki. (TV: Adrift)
Whilst Jack, Tosh, Owen and Ianto were caught in an explosion, Gwen was delayed and was thus able to help them with Rhys. (TV: Fragments) With Rift activity detected around Cardiff, Gwen went to police headquarters where she directed them to deal with Gray and John Hart's mass bombings, also helping subdue the Weevils. She was trapped by Gray before being rescued by Jack, too late to save Tosh who had been shot and Owen who was destroyed in Turnmill Nuclear Power Station. (TV: Exit Wounds)
After the loss
The deaths of Toshiko and Owen had a profound impact on Gwen, to the point where she questioned whether it was worth Torchwood continuing. (TV: Exit Wounds) She had plenty of nightmares in the weeks and months which followed. (PROSE: Bay of the Dead) She was still emotionally unsteady regarding the loss several months later. (AUDIO: Lost Souls) Perhaps, to help her cope, she took to placing a photograph of Owen and Tosh next to her workstation in the Hub. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One) During this time, Gwen visited Tenerife, where according to Ianto, she was "up to her neck in piña coladas". (AUDIO: Expectant)
The Medusa Cascade incident
Gwen was present at the Hub when Earth was moved to the Medusa Cascade and invaded by the Daleks and helped out with contacting the Tenth Doctor. Upon first seeing the Doctor, she said, "Ooh, he's a bit nice. I thought he'd be older." After Jack left to help the Doctor, Ianto and Gwen tried to hold off a Dalek invading the Hub with conventional weaponry, even though she knew they wouldn't work, telling Ianto, "I'm going down fighting, like Owen, like Tosh. How about you?" (TV: The Stolen Earth) They survived thanks to Tosh's time lock defence system, which froze the Dalek in time before it could get beyond the threshold of the Hub's entrance, although this also trapped Ianto and Gwen inside. She was able to help the Doctor use the Rift to return the Earth to its original position; she and Ianto opened up the Rift Manipulator to allow the Doctor to use it as a "towrope" to move Earth back to its proper place.
During the incident, she experienced a moment of puzzlement when the Doctor and Rose Tyler shared an in-joke at her resemblance to someone from the 19th century. (TV: Journey's End)
The Torchwood three
On the night of the All-Night Zombie Horror Show, Gwen was awoken by a scream from outside her flat. She and Rhys investigated and found a tramp eating their neighbour's cat. When he looked up, Gwen and Rhys realised he was in fact a walking corpse and retreated inside to call Jack. The pair attempted to drive to the Hub, but Rhys crashed the Saab when he swerved to avoid a zombie. Calling Jack to report her situation, Gwen decided to change her plan and travel on foot to Cardiff's Police HQ where she could organise a police operation. After attempting to "borrow" a car, Gwen and Rhys found themselves trapped in a house on Lloyd George Avenue with the car's owner - Keith Samuels - and his family. Rhys called his friend, Nobby, who saved them from the roof with a Coastguard helicopter. Gwen and Rhys met with Jack and Ianto at St Helen's Hospital, where they found that Leet - a Dellacoi - had created the zombies to search for his life-shell and control over the creatures had passed to Oscar Phillips, a coma patient. When Oscar awoke from his coma, Gwen attempted to save him as he jumped from the hospital window, but was held back by Jack. Following Oscar's funeral, Gwen and Jack took snowdrops and placed them on Oscar's grave. (PROSE: Bay of the Dead)
Whilst dealing with a giant alien octopus, Gwen was called by Andy. She agreed to meet with Luke Palmer, who had asked to speak with Torchwood. This made Torchwood aware of the Good Thinking virus, which Gwen later contracted, making her shoot Rhys. She took Rhys to Cardiff Castle hoping that he would be safe and riled the people to gain access to the Provictus vaccine, unaware of its true purpose. Gwen was later cured and Frances Godalming and the minister thwarted. (AUDIO: Outbreak)
The 456 incident
In September 2009, Gwen discovered a man called Clement McDonald in an East Grinstead Psychiatric Hospital who displayed the same signs as the children that were possessed by the 456. When she met him, he said he could smell that she was pregnant, which was confirmed by the Hub's medical scanner. Jack ran in and after seeing this placed his hand on hers, which was still on the Hub's medical scanner. The picture then switched to reveal the bomb hidden inside Jack's body, forcing Ianto and Gwen to abandon the Hub as it was destroyed. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One)
After escaping the explosion, Gwen was attacked by two government agents masquerading as paramedics but managed to fight them off with a fire extinguisher, steal their weapons and then flee the scene. She returned home to collect Rhys, realising that if someone was trying to kill her then her husband was next on the list. They were able to escape when Gwen delayed the government hit squad by shooting their tyres out.
The two fled to London where they made contact with Lois Habiba, who informed them of the government's plans and eventually became a spy for them. Lois told them the location of the captured Jack and told them they needed to disguise themselves as funeral workers in order to gain access. Gwen and Rhys sneaked into the base but were cornered by Johnson outside Jack's cell. They were saved by Ianto, who created a path using a forklift and the group, Jack included, escaped. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Two)
The team relocated to an old Torchwood One storage facility and witnessed the return of the 456. Gwen went to visit Lois again and convinced her to take a pair of Eye-5 contact lenses that would allow Torchwood to monitor the situation inside Thames House. Later on, Gwen convinced Andy Davidson to allow Clem to be released from prison and took him back to the storage base for his safety.
She later witnessed the 456 demand one-tenth of the Earth's children and convinced Lois to stand up to the government, who were planning to give them the children, and blackmail them to allow Jack and Ianto access to talk to the 456. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three, Children of Earth: Day Four)
With Rhys in a hidden location with the recordings that could destroy the government, Gwen purposefully led Johnson and her team to the base and revealed to them what the government were doing, gaining their support. While talking with Johnson, the 456 became angry while dealing with Jack and killed Clem, along with many MI5 staff when it flooded the building with a virus, leading to Ianto's death. Gwen rushed to the building once it was safe and wept by the body of her friend while Jack was reborn again. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Four)
Having failed to stop the government from activating the plan to take the bottom ten percent of school children, Gwen, along with Rhys and Andy, went to fulfil a promise to Jack — protect Ianto's niece and nephew. En route, Gwen, upset over Ianto's death, strongly implied to Rhys that she was considering aborting the pregnancy, due to the dangerous world they now lived in. She later recanted her statement and told Rhys she never seriously considered the option. Arriving just as the army did to take the children, the group gathered as many children as they could and ran, along with Ianto's sister and her husband, to a nearby disused building, but were soon discovered. Running from the army proved fruitless and soon only Gwen and a single child were left uncaptured and running, but she was saved when Jack destroyed the 456 and she happily embraced the children. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five)
Gwen was declared dead as a result of the 456 Regulation. (TV: The New World)
Aftermath
In March 2010, Gwen and Rhys went to meet Jack on a hill, seeing him for the first time since he left to travel the world in the wake of the death of his grandson. Now heavily pregnant, Gwen tried to convince Jack not to leave her and Torchwood, but he left, teleporting into space. Gwen was left sobbing in Rhys's arms. With Jack gone, the other members dead and Gwen heavily pregnant, the future of Torchwood Three was left in limbo. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five) She later gave birth to a healthy baby, Anwen Williams. (COMIC: Shrouded) Gwen, Rhys, and Anwen then went into hiding for the next year. (TV: The New World)
Miracle Day
On Miracle Day, Gwen's father Geraint was brought to the hospital, so Gwen and her family were forced to return to Cardiff. Upon arriving there, Andy informed Gwen of the Miracle, and the two of them began investigating online. Shortly after they returned home, Rex Matheson arrived at their secret home, which was shortly attacked by helicopter. With Jack's help they escaped to Roald Dahl Plass, where Matheson extradited them all to America. (TV: The New World)
While her husband and child were sent back home, Gwen was still forced to board the America-bound plane. Onboard, Gwen was handcuffed to her seat next to Jack. She spent her time making fun of one of the workers and Rex repeatedly ignored her. Rex was focused on being professional about his job, prompting Gwen to give a harsh remark about his attitude. During this time, Gwen learnt that Jack lost his ability to keep coming back to life. Jack was poisoned by the other CIA agent onboard, Lyn Peterfield and Gwen freed herself to keep Lyn at bay while Rex put together an antidote for Jack using tips from Dr Vera Juarez over the phone. Upon having her ancestry insulted by Lyn, Gwen knocked her out and handcuffed her before being returned to her seat by Rex with a recovered Jack. Upon landing in America, Gwen was freed by Rex as the CIA turned on him. Gwen boarded Rex's fellow ex-CIA colleague Esther Drummond's car and fled. (TV: Rendition)
Along with Jack, Gwen took charge of the ex-CIA agents to form a new Torchwood team while stealing supplies (yet again) to make a suitable base of operations. The team soon acquired the phone of the CIA's director Brian Friedkin, who had given out orders to kill her and Jack to keep Torchwood disbanded. Later, Gwen accompanied the rest of the team to a warehouse owned by a pharmaceutical company known as PhiCorp, which stockpiled a large amount of painkillers. This led them to believe that PhiCorp may have had a hand in "Miracle Day" occurring. (TV: Dead of Night)
Gwen, along with the rest of the new Torchwood team, went to Los Angeles to infiltrate a PhiCorp installation there. Unknown to her, they were followed by an assassin. While in LA, Gwen called Rhys and asked him to take her father out of the hospital. Gwen tricked Nicolas Frumkin into giving her his voice print, palm print, and retinal print, which she needed to access PhiCorp. Jack and Gwen both broke into the PhiCorp building, and were followed by the assassin. The assassin tied up both Jack and Gwen, putting a knife to Gwen's throat. He threatened to cut Gwen's throat if Jack refused to answer his questions. Gwen persuaded the assassin to tell her who he was working for, but before the assassin had a chance to speak, Rex arrived and shot him in the throat. The three stole the information they needed from PhiCorp and escaped the building. Gwen then received a phone call from Rhys, and was informed that her father had been taken to one of PhiCorp's overflow camps. (TV: Escape to LA)
Using the alias Yvonne Pallister, Gwen returned to Wales. She was reunited with her husband, daughter, and mother, and began planning to take her father out of the Cowbridge Overflow Camp. She went to the camp with Rhys and Andy Davidson, and tried to persuade the employees at the camp to let her see her father. Unfortunately, no visitors were allowed, and even Andy's position as a police officer did not persuade them to change their minds. Gwen and Rhys decided to break into the camp to free Geraint. Gwen went undercover as a nurse, and Rhys brought Gwen into the camp in his truck. Gwen found Geraint, and she and Rhys tried to bring him to the truck. Geraint had another heart attack and became unconscious. He was then reclassified as category one. After Rhys informed Gwen that the modules were for "burn victims", Gwen realised that the true purpose of the modules were to cremate category one individuals. (TV: The Categories of Life)
Gwen then attempted to persuade a doctor at the camp that her father was actually in category 2. However, the doctor refused to reexamine Geraint, as that would mean she would be obligated to reexamine all category 1s. Gwen and Rhys decided to try to break Geraint out of the camp again, and succeeded. Rhys took Geraint out of the camp in his truck, while Gwen used the Eye-5 contact lenses to contact Captain Jack. Jack then recorded Gwen blowing up the modules. Gwen returned to America, and received a phone call at the airport, saying simply "lenses." Gwen went to the bathroom and put the contact lenses on, where she received text messages saying, "We have your mother," "We have your husband," and "We have your child." Gwen asked them what they wanted, and the text responded, "Bring us Jack." (TV: The Middle Men)
Gwen then returned to Torchwood's base in LA, stunning Jack and tying him up in the car. She told Jack that her family had been kidnapped and that she had to trade Jack for them. Gwen ignored Jack's attempts to trick her into letting him go, and brought him where her contact lenses told her to. She even admitted to Jack that in a sickening way she was glad the other members of the old team were dead because now that so few knew the truth it made her feel more important. During their journey, she and Jack learned more about each other. After Gwen stated that she could see Jack killed in front of her to save her daughter, Jack responded by saying that he would rip the skin from her skull before he let Gwen take his life. Despite their hostilities, Gwen began to feel guilty for driving her best friend to his death, and asked him to tell her about his life. When they arrived Olivia Colasanto and her men were there waiting for them. Rex and Esther followed them and threatened to shoot Colasanto's people. Andy simultaneously managed to free Gwen's family. (TV: Immortal Sins)
Torchwood then agreed to go with Olivia to see her grandfather Angelo Colasanto who knew what had caused the Miracle. Upon arriving at the Colasanto residence, Olivia explained that Angelo had been kept alive on life support, and that the Three Families were responsible for the Miracle. Before long, Friedkin arrived, and captured Torchwood, Olivia, and her employees. Friedkin then took Rex to another room in order to take revenge on him, but Rex recorded him admitting that he worked for the families with the Torchwood contact lenses. Allen Shapiro soon arrived and arrested Friedkin and Olivia. After Angelo became the first person to die since Miracle Day, Gwen spoke with Rhys on the phone while Jack was sulking. Esther then found a null field generator under the floor, Gwen was deported back to Wales when Jack refused to explain to Shapiro what it was. (TV: End of the Road)
Gwen spent the next two months at home with her family, robbing pharmacies in order to obtain medicine for her father. Geraint was forced to live in the basement, as he would be sent back to an overflow camp to be burned if he was found. Gwen's house had been searched, but the police did not find Geraint. Meanwhile, Gwen's house was being watched by a man who was likely working for the Families. His goal seemed to be to find Jack Harkness, and he seemed to be hoping that Jack would try to come meet with Gwen. Gwen's family had their groceries delivered to them, and one day the delivery man happened to be convicted paedophile Oswald Danes. Upon entering Gwen's house, Oswald picked up Anwen, which Gwen was not happy about. Gwen and Rhys proceeded to beat up Oswald, until he explained that he had information about the Miracle and wanted to speak to Jack. Gwen asked Jack to returnn to Wales, and Jack arrived at Gwen's house, after he retconned the man who was watching Gwen's house. Using the leads that Oswald had given them, Torchwood realised that the Blessing was at antipodes in Shanghai and Buenos Aires. The police soon returned to Gwen's house, and used a new app to find Gwen's father. Gwen begged them not to take Geraint, pointing out that he was still warm. The man who was taking him comforted Gwen by pointing out that he was about to get a lot warmer where he was going. Gwen then went to Shanghai with Jack and Oswald in an attempt to find the Blessing, while Rex and Esther went to Buenos Aires. Upon arriving in Shanghai, Jack's gunshot wound began to hurt him again, so Gwen helped him with this bandage. However, drops of Jack's blood then began to move towards the Blessing. (TV: The Gathering)
Based on the direction in which Jack's blood was moving, Gwen was able to locate the Shanghai end of the Blessing. Upon finding it, Gwen called Jack and Oswald and asked them to come, and then spoke to Rhys who was planning to visit her father in the overflow camp with Andy. Gwen told Rhys that she wasn't sure if she wanted to end the Miracle since it would mean her father's death, but Rhys told her that she should just let him die if necessary. When Jack and Oswald arrived, the three broke into the facility that housed the Blessing. They found some explosives inside which they strapped to Oswald. Oswald threatened to blow himself and the facility up if the families tried to stop them. A family member revealed that in order to end the Miracle, mortal blood would have to be put into both sides of the Blessing. Rex had transfused Jack's blood into himself, and he was at the Buenos Aires end. Gwen decided that she would shoot Jack as she didn't want him to have to kill himself. One of the family members in Buenos Aires then shot Esther, so that ending the Miracle would mean allowing Esther to die. Jack and Rex were unsure of what to do, but Gwen, having already accepted that ending the Miracle would mean killing her father, decided that it would be better to end the Miracle and let Esther die. Gwen shot Jack while Rex removed his bandage, and both of their blood was sucked into the Blessing, ending the Miracle. Gwen attempted to escape in a lift with Jilly Kitzinger while Oswald blew up the facility and a family member, but Jack soon came back to life as his immortality was restored when the Miracle ended. Gwen attempted to bring Jack into the lift with them, but Jilly was not willing to wait to escape, so the two of them got into a physical fight. Upon beating Jilly up, Gwen helped Jack into the lift and the three escaped.
Jack, Gwen and Rex returned to America where they attended Esther's funeral. After the funeral, Gwen watched as Rex was shot by Charlotte Wills, and was shocked when he, having somehow gained Jack's immortality, came back to life. (TV: The Blood Line)
Rebuilding Torchwood
Info from Army of One, Fallout, World Without End and Station Zero needs to be added
Gwen and Rhys spent a brief period following the Miracle based in Washington DC. (AUDIO: Army of One, Fallout)
By 2012 they had returned to Wales with their daughter Anwen. Gwen began to miss her life with Torchwood and, unbeknownst to her, the Helix Intelligence within the Earth was amplifying these feelings, causing her to develop a psychosis. Jack returned to deal with the crisis, and took Gwen aboard the Ice Maiden. Gwen refused to be left out of the mission, and accompanied Jack to a mountain in Peru where he planned to sacrifice himself to heal the Helix Intelligence. Gwen took his place, and was pulled into the mountain. Gwen was on board the Ice Maiden two weeks later where she was reunited with Jack. (PROSE: Exodus Code)
In 2015, she received a phone call from Bryn Offa Nursing Home warning her about Jack. She travelled up to North Wales where she met with Griffith who knew who Gwen and Rhys. Jack was in the body of Griffith. Jack told her that they needed to go to an old Torchwood base in Wrexham to get a piece of alien technology. Instead of getting Jack back they found out that instead Ceri was there. She asked Gary where the alien drugs where and what he had done to Jack. Jack came back but shortly afterwards she discovered that Elunedd had Anwen's mind. (AUDIO: Forgotten Lives)
By 2017, Gwen returned to service as part of Torchwood in order to deal with temporary holes in space-time which brought through new alien phenomena in Cardiff despite the apparent closing of the Rift years prior, which they weren't sure was a sign of the Rift reopening or simply the position in Cardiff being vulnerable, with assistance from PC Andy while Rhys looked after Anwen. Gwen approached Roger Pugh, Planning Officer for Cardiff City Council, in order to establish a new Torchwood Cardiff facility which would replace the long-gone Hub. After Gwen showed Roger a day of her work first hand, he gave her his support. (AUDIO: More Than This)
Gwen travelled to Talmouth after no one had heard from the town, suspecting alien involvement. She heard a tape saying that Talmouth was dying. She heard voices when investigating which told her not to look. Thinking the place was empty she chased after James. He told her that the town had been decimated in three days. She saw James die on the waltzers. This was the second time she saw the Darkness. She found Rhodes, who was the last person alive as she was blind. The Darkness tried to attack her first with cars then with seagulls. She tried to work out what the Darkness was. She was taunted by hearing Rhodes sewing bodies together but after dismissing this she managed to get back to promenade. She opened her eyes when Rhys arrived. (AUDIO: Made You Look)
After escaping a cataclysm, they travelled back home before the babysitter clocked off. Rhys argued with her about how much she enjoyed Torchwood. She started to be sarcastic in their argument. She started to worry when Rhys went blind and hoped that they could get to Llanelli. She later thought that Rhys had lost track of time. She thought she was experiencing Deja Vu. When Rhys asked her how many people she had killed, and she told him how she compartmentalised her memories so that she could forget this most of the time. She tried to figure out what was putting them in a loop so she could find a way out of it. She worked out that something was stopping them remembering. She managed to fight against something in the back seat of the car. She crashed the car to try and kill it. (AUDIO: We Always Get Out Alive)
Gwen became the acting head of Torchwood Cardiff. She and Rhys planned a weekend away in Newport, staying in a caravan. On the beach Gwen was reunited with Hollis, who had travelled from the Ice Maiden to bring her to Jack. On the boat taking them to the Ice Maiden, Gwen and Hollis came under attack from ninjas on jet-skis. (COMIC: World Without End)
Possession
Jack was dumped by the Ice Maiden and St John Colchester joined Torchwood. (AUDIO: Changes Everything) At some point, Gwen was possessed by Ng and when Mary noticed that something was off with her, Ng shot her. (AUDIO: Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy) Rhys was concerned by Gwen’s lack of mourning. (AUDIO: Orr)
After splitting from Ng, Gwen decided to leave Torchwood and start a new life with Rhys and Anwen. (AUDIO: Herald of the Dawn) However, she first attended Colchester's funeral. (AUDIO: Future Pain)
Alternate realities
In an alternate timeline in which John Hart took control of the Torchwood Institute and became King of the British Empire, he personally recruited Gwen Cooper to replace the late Toshiko Sato at Torchwood Cardiff. She was killed on a mission when John threw her into the path of a man-eating alien. Her husband, Rhys Williams, confronted John and threatened to expose his disregard for human life to the press, only to be murdered by the king. (AUDIO: The Death of Captain Jack)
Donna's World
In an alternate reality, Gwen and Ianto, working as a part of the Torchwood team, sacrificed their lives to save the Earth from the Sontarans' plan involving ATMOS. (TV: Turn Left)
Personality
As a Torchwood operative she provided an essential foil to Captain Jack, although her personal agenda sometimes interfered with her duties. Her actions and decisions were sometimes guided by her desire to protect her live-in boyfriend, and later husband, Rhys. She had a brief, disruptive affair with another operative, Owen Harper, and according to him was capable of sexual techniques which at first caused him extreme pleasure, but later bored him. (TV: Countrycide, Combat) She also shared sexual tension with Jack, but in the end remained true to Rhys. (TV: Something Borrowed)
Gwen had a strong will- she suffered an awful lot during the events of Miracle Day, the most obvious being her father falling into a vegetative state and kept alive only by the Miracle, but despite this she remained determined to bring death back to the world. Her will was especially shown when, after Esther was shot, she remained unflinching and still ended the Miracle, having already accepted that her father would die. However, she was clearly saddened by Esther's death, judging by the fact that she attended her funeral. (TV: The Categories of Life, The Blood Line) She was also fiercely proud of her Welsh heritage; when a CIA agent insulted her for being English, she retorted that she was Welsh and punched her out cold. (TV: Rendition)
She was always friendly and related well to people, a trait that she had picked up as a police officer, and the one that caused Jack Harkness to recruit her to Torchwood. (TV: Everything Changes) Unlike other members of the team, she was sympathetic towards the victims of alien incursions and did her best to ease the pain felt by their families. She would sometimes go so far as to reveal Torchwood secrets. (PROSE: Another Life, Slow Decay, TV: Adrift)
Gwen was aware that she was often overprotective of Rhys and even treated him like a child on occasion. She put this down to the fact that he hadn't had the same number of life-threatening experiences as she had and was therefore more likely to make mistakes. (PROSE: Bay of the Dead)
Gwen was fond of lasagne (AUDIO: Everyone Says Hello) but hated the taste of peaches. (PROSE: Exodus Code)
Gwen believed that flying was two moments of terror and hours of boredom. (AUDIO: Fall to Earth)
She had poor knowledge of the Welsh language. She, however, knew the translation of the Welsh text on Wales Millennium Centre, knew one or two words which her nan had taught her and was capable of pronouncing Welsh place names, such as Ystradgynlais. (AUDIO: Forgotten Lives, PROSE: Another Life)
Behind the scenes
- Eve Myles initially appeared on Doctor Who as Gwyneth in the 2005 episode The Unquiet Dead. When she was later cast as Gwen Cooper, Russell T Davies denied that the two characters were related, just that they had similar names and the same actress — in fact, he didn't consider the names Gwen and Gwyneth similar. In the fourth season finale, Journey's End, the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler notice the resemblance between Gwen and Gwyneth. Gwen states her family roots in Cardiff date back to the 19th century. Russell T Davies explains, "It's not familial as we understand it. There's no blood tie. Spatial genetic multiplicity means an echo and repetition of physical traits across a Time Rift." This means that although Gwen may be a physical "copy" of Gwyneth, she isn't the same person.
External links
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