Theory:Timeline - Torchwood

This page lists appearances of Captain Jack Harkness in the order he experienced them. 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.

Limiting factors
Any story with the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler must be after DW: The Doctor Dances and before DW: Bad Wolf. Any story with Jack waiting on 19th and 20th century Earth must be after DW: The Parting of the Ways and before TW: Everything Changes. Any story with Gwen, Ianto, Owen and Tosh must be after TW: Everything Changes and before TW: End of Days or after TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and before TW: Exit Wounds. Any story where Owen is dead, but still mobile must be set after TW: Dead Man Walking and before TW: Exit Wounds. Any story where Gwen is married to Rhys must be after TW: Something Borrowed. Any story with Gwen and Ianto must be after TW: Exit Wounds and before TW: Children of Earth: Day One.

Overview
Captain Jack Harkness was briefly an original to Doctor Who television companion of the Ninth Doctor, travelling with him through time and space. After being trapped with a broken vortex manipulator in 1869, with few opportunities to time travel over the next century, he later joins Torchwood Three, though the majority of his stories told are set after Gwen Cooper's recruitment to Torchwood in 2007 in the premiere episode of Torchwood, with remaining stories or scenes set before then occurring in flashback.

His adventures with 21st century Torchwood Three and the related Torchwood team in America that was formed after the destruction of the Hub can be categorised as these original to Torchwood television lineups:


 * With Gwen, Owen, Ianto and Tosh in Torchwood Three
 * With Gwen and Ianto in Torchwood Three
 * With Gwen, Ianto and associate Rhys Williams following the Torchwood Hub's destruction
 * With Gwen, Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond as part of a new team codenamed Torchwood

Timeline

 * DW: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances
 * NSA: The Deviant Strain
 * NSA: Only Human
 * Takes place before Boom Town due to Jack mentioning he has not visited the Ninth Doctor's companion Rose Tyler's era (the 21st century).


 * DW: Boom Town
 * NSA: The Stealers of Dreams
 * Rose phones her mother Jackie and tells her about the events of Boom Town


 * DW: Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways
 * Jack is left behind on Satellite 5.


 * TW: Fragments (flashback with Alice and Emily)
 * Set in the late 19th century.


 * TW: Small Worlds (flashback)
 * Set in 1909.


 * TW: Immortal Sins (flashback)
 * Set in 1927 and 1928.


 * TW: Children of Earth: Day Four (flashback)
 * Set in 1965.


 * TW: Fragments (flashbacks with Alex Hopkins and Jack's 2007-era Torchwood associates)
 * Set over the course of the late 20th and early 21st century before Gwen Cooper is recruited to Torchwood Three


 * TW: Everything Changes
 * Gwen is recruited.


 * TW: Day One
 * Gwen's first day on the job.


 * TW: Ghost Machine
 * Gwen is still inexperienced with weapons.


 * TW: Cyberwoman
 * TW: Small Worlds
 * TW: Countrycide
 * Several references are made to the events of Cyberwoman.


 * TW: Greeks Bearing Gifts
 * TW: They Keep Killing Suzie
 * Set three months after Everything Changes.


 * TW: Random Shoes
 * TW: Out of Time
 * TW: Combat
 * Owen is visibly upset by the events of Out of Time in this story. He calls off his affair with Gwen.


 * TW: Captain Jack Harkness
 * TW: End of Days
 * Continues where Captain Jack Harkness left off. Jack disappears from Torchwood.


 * DW: Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords
 * NSA: The Story of Martha
 * Set during the events of Last of the Time Lords.


 * TW: Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang
 * Gwen has started taking charge more in Jack's absence, in comparison to Captain Jack Harkness, where Owen was said to be second-in-command. Gwen is now engaged to Rhys.


 * TW: Sleeper
 * TW: To the Last Man
 * TW: Adam
 * TW: Reset
 * TW: Dead Man Walking
 * Continues where Reset left off. Owen is resurrected, but with no lifesigns.


 * TW: A Day in the Death
 * Set three days after Reset.


 * TW: Something Borrowed
 * TW: From Out of the Rain
 * TW: Adrift
 * TW: Fragments
 * TW: Exit Wounds
 * Continues where Fragments left off. Owen and Tosh die.


 * BBCR: Lost Souls
 * Martha meets Jack for the first time since Owen and Tosh's funeral.


 * DW: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End


 * BBCR: Asylum
 * BBCR: Golden Age
 * BBCR: The Dead Line
 * BBCR: The Devil and Miss Carew
 * BBCR: Submission


 * TW: Children of Earth: Day One
 * TW: Children of Earth: Day Two
 * TW: Children of Earth: Day Three
 * TW: Children of Earth: Day Four
 * TW: Children of Earth: Day Five
 * TM: Shrouded
 * BBCR: The House of the Dead
 * Shrouded and The House of the Dead are set in the six-month gap at the end of Children of Earth: Day Five. Shrouded takes place at Ianto's funeral after Ianto dies in Day Four. Jack leaves Earth at the end of Children of Earth: Day Five. Days One through Five flow into one another.


 * DW: The End of Time
 * TW: The New World
 * Jack returns to Earth.


 * TW: Rendition
 * Jack and Gwen are taken to America.


 * TW: Dead of Night
 * TW: Escape to LA
 * TW: The Categories of Life
 * TW: The Middle Men
 * TW: Immortal Sins
 * TW: End of the Road
 * Jack and Gwen return to the UK, along with Esther after End of the Road. The New World through End of the Road flow into one another.


 * TW: The Gathering
 * Takes place a few months after End of the Road.


 * TW: The Blood Line
 * Continues where The Gathering left off.


 * TWA: Red Skies
 * TWA: Mr Invincible

Unplaced

 * TWN: Another Life
 * TWN: Border Princess
 * TWN: Slow Decay
 * TWN: Trace Memory
 * TWN: The Twilight Streets
 * TWN: Something in the Water
 * TWN: Pack Animals
 * TWN: SkyPoint
 * TWN: Almost Perfect
 * TWN: Into the Silence
 * TWN: Bay of the Dead
 * TWN: The House That Jack Built
 * TWN: Risk Assessment
 * TWN: The Undertaker's Gift
 * TWN: Consequences
 * TWN: First Born (flashback)
 * TWN: Long Time Dead (flashback)
 * TM: The Legacy of Torchwood One!
 * TM: Jetsam
 * TM: Rift War! Part One
 * TM: Rift War! Part Two
 * TM: Rift War! Part Three: Funhouse
 * TM: Rift War! Part Four: Dino Crisis
 * TM: Rift War! Part Five: Dark Times
 * TM: Harm's Way
 * TM: Black Water
 * TM: Mrs Acres
 * TM: The Beauty of Our Weapons
 * TM: Plant Life
 * TM: Monster
 * TM: Rift War! Part Six: Circles
 * TM: Rift War! Part Seven: The Man Who Fell to Earth
 * TM: ''Rift War! Part Eight: The Enemy of my Enemy...
 * TM: The Book of Jahi
 * TM: Rift War! Part Nine: The Calm Before
 * TM: Rift War! Part Ten: The Storm
 * TM: Captain Jack and the Selkie
 * TM: Who by Fire
 * TM: Gordian
 * TM: Broken
 * TM: Fated to Pretend


 * DWF: Best Friends
 * TWA: Hidden
 * TWA: Everyone Says Hello
 * TWA: In the Shadows
 * TWA: The Sin Eaters
 * TWA: Department X
 * TWA: Ghost Train
 * TW: Web of Lies