Theory:Timeline - Torchwood One

This page lists appearances of Torchwood One in chronological order. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories. From these observations we have attempted to build a concise timeline. It is assumed that for each novel, comic, audio or television series, their published, broadcast or numbered order is the order they occur in.

The layout of this timeline is in part based on the observations on Torchwood Reference Guide and Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, as well as Lance Parkin's AHistory and other sources that allow us to make observations, such as Doctor Who Reviews, The Discontinuity Guide and Clive Banks databanks. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Early years of the Institute

 * TV: Tooth and Claw
 * Queen Victoria founds the Torchwood Institute in 1879 after witnessing the Tenth Doctor vanquish the Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform.


 * COMIC: The Time Machination
 * Set in 1889. A group of Torchwood operatives attempt to capture the Tenth Doctor in London.


 * AUDIO: Fortitude
 * Set in 1893.


 * SEGMENT
 * On 25 December 1897, Archie begins the Torchwood Archive. He has been working with Torchwood for six months. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)


 * AUDIO: Save Our Souls
 * Set in 1898.


 * AUDIO: The Crown
 * Set on Christmas Eve.


 * AUDIO: The Victorian Age
 * Set in 17 May 1899. Jack Harkness is temporarily seconded to Torchwood One.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive (segment)
 * Later the same day as The Victorian Age and after completing her annual tour of Torchwood, Queen Victoria records a 20th anniversary speech of the Torchwood Institute.

Operations in the 20th century

 * In 1900, Nicholas I causes the creation of the Committee. He gifts Object 1 to Victoria who enters it into the Torchwood Archive. Later that year, she gives it to Jack to dispose of, who takes it to Cardiff where he plans to wait for the Doctor. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)


 * Set on 10 March 1908. Archie uses the knowledge sponge to record information on various objects recovered by Torchwood. He recalls the events of The Victorian Age. Archie retires from Torchwood One and forms Torchwood Two. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)


 * COMIC: Overture
 * Set on 7 August 1941.


 * AUDIO: Curios
 * Set "during World War Two", Jill Anderson has been sent by Lizbeth Hayhoe to catalogue the Torchwood Archive. There, she meets Bilis Manger.


 * AUDIO: The Dying Room
 * During the Nazi occupation of Paris, LeDuc investigates Project Hermod on behalf of Torchwood.

Post-War Torchwood

 * (REFERENCE)
 * In the 1950s, Torchwood Three begins to document Weevils and their activity properly. (TV: Everything Changes)


 * AUDIO: Ghost Mission
 * On a mission for the Committee, Norton Folgate uses a pharadyne projector to travel forwards in time to 2016 from 1953 as a hologram. He recovers Object One.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * In 1953, Norton Folgate is interrogated by a group of mobsters. He plants Object One on the Mandrake Association, on a mission for the Committee. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)


 * ( FLASHBACK )
 * In 1953, before the coronation of Elizabeth II, Lizbeth Hayhoe, working on behalf of Torchwood One, kidnaps those whose faces had been stolen by the Wire. Unbeknownst to her, the Wire would later be defeated by the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler, and the faces of the victims returned. (AUDIO: Parasite, TV: The Idiot's Lantern'')


 * AUDIO: Goodbye Piccadilly
 * Norton attempts to seize control of Torchwood One.


 * ( FLASHBACK )
 * Following the events of Goodbye Piccadilly, Norton is sent to work with Lizbeth Hayhoe in Room 13, after his attempted takeover of Torchwood One fails. (AUDIO: Parasite'')


 * AUDIO: Madam, I’m
 * Norton is working with Lizbeth Hayhoe in Room 13, setting this between Goodbye Piccadilly and Parasite.


 * ( FLASHBACK )
 * Norton and Lizbeth are working for Room 13 under the leadership of Reginald Rigsby, setting this before Parasite. They visit Ashenden for the first time. (AUDIO: Ashenden: Rivers of Blood)


 * AUDIO: Parasite
 * Norton and Andy recall the events of Goodbye Piccadilly. Torchwood is aware of the defeat of the Fumifugium of 1952 by the Tenth Doctor. By the end of these events, Norton Folgate and Gideon Lyme take control of Torchwood, with Lizbeth and Rigsby dead.


 * AUDIO: Ashenden
 * Set after the events of Parasite. Norton summons Andy from the future and Lizbeth from the past after Gideon is possessed by aliens in Ashenden.


 * AUDIO: Outbreak
 * ''In 1955, via soft light projection, Norton is brought to Torchwood Three by Ianto Jones in 2009, to provide answers in regards to his involvement in the Good Thinking virus. At some point prior, Folgate was instrumental in its trial on American deathrow inmates. After Jack Harkness breaks the projector, Folgate is returned to 1955.


 * In 1957, Norton boards Flight 405 to recover the lens for the Committee. However the plane becomes trapped in a time loop leaving him stuck for sixty years. Norton stays in 2017 and works with Torchwood Three for several weeks before returning. (AUDIO: Eye of the Storm)


 * AUDIO: The Dollhouse
 * Set in the 1970s, Marlow Sweet, Charley Du Bujeau and Gabi Martinez work for Torchwood Los Angeles, which is deemed by Torchwood One as the last vestiges of the British Empire. At the end of this adventure, they sever ties with Torchwood One and refuse all calls from Mr Beamish, their former liaison and recruitment officer.


 * AUDIO: Damaged Goods
 * Set on 26 July 1987, Dr James Greco investigates Gabriel Tyler and his psychic powers on behalf of Torchwood and/or the Brotherhood of the Immanent Flesh. The Seventh Doctor briefly hears the word "Torchwood" before dismissing it.

The 21st century begins

 * 2003 - AUDIO: Locker 15 (Yvonne flashback)


 * In 2004, Ianto Jones joins Torchwood One. (AUDIO: Blind Summit)


 * In 2004, Suzie Costello calls Yvonne Hartman to inform her about the Ovid sex dolls. Suzie and Jack plan to get rid of Object 1 by passing it on to Torchwood One. Yvonne speaks to Ianto, setting this after the Blind Summit flashback. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)


 * AUDIO: One Rule
 * Set on 26 March 2005. Torchwood Three consists of Jack Harkness, Suzie Costello and Toshiko Sato. Rajesh Singh is monitoring the Void Ship and Ianto is working for Torchwood One.


 * AUDIO: New Girl
 * Set in 2005, a few months after One Rule.


 * AUDIO: Through the Ruins


 * AUDIO: Uprising


 * AUDIO: The Law Machines
 * Set in 2006.


 * AUDIO: Blind Summit (framing narrative)
 * Set in 2006.


 * AUDIO: 9 to 5
 * Set in 2006.


 * Circa March 2006, Rupert Howarth, a mentor of Ianto Jones and head of biochemical research at Torchwood One, burns down his laboratory and fakes his own death after being threatened by pharmaceutical companies. (COMIC: The Legacy of Torchwood One!)


 * TV: The Christmas Invasion
 * Set 25 December 2006. Torchwood One provides the Prime Minister, Harriet Jones, with the means to blow up the invading Sycorax ship.


 * 2007 - AUDIO: Infamy of the Zaross
 * After the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler solve the attempted Zaross enslavement of the people of Norwich, Torchwood One cleans up the mess left behind.


 * AUDIO: Retirement Plan


 * AUDIO: Locker 15
 * Ianto has worked at Torchwood One for three years, setting this in 2007.

The fall of Torchwood One

 * AUDIO: The Rockery
 * The Ghost Shifts have started, setting this after Infamy of the Zaross.


 * WC: Tardisode 12
 * The Ghost shifts have already started, setting this shortly before Army of Ghosts. A journalist investigates the history of Torchwood, only to be apprehended by them before he can reveal their existence to the public.


 * TV: Army of Ghosts
 * The Tenth Doctor investigates the Ghost shifts caused by Torchwood One. The Void Ship opens to reveal the Daleks inside. Ending leads directly into Doomsday.


 * WC: Tardisode 13
 * A Newsreader reports on the Cyberman Invasion as it happens, but is quickly cut off by a Dalek attack.


 * TV: Doomsday
 * Most of Torchwood One is wiped out during the Battle of Canary Wharf including Yvonne Hartman, who is converted into a Cyberman.


 * Ianto Jones searches for Lisa Hallett in the wreckage of Torchwood One. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive) He finds her partially cyber-converted and pulls her from the wreckage. (TV: Cyberwoman)