Archie Bell

Archie Bell (AUDIO: Regrets) was a Scottish man who worked for the Torchwood Institute in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Due to an alien attack and subsequent recovery, he did not visibly age, and appeared to be around 80 years old for over a century. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)

History
Archie was born around 1861.

The last thing Gideon Tarry said before he died in 1881 was that he was going to try and escape the "Scottish Torchwood guy." (PROSE: The Twilight Streets)

In 1897, he lived (AUDIO: Apex) and worked at Torchwood House and started cataloguing the Torchwood Archive of alien artefacts, beginning with Object 1.

He was the director of the Torchwood Institute's London branch in 1899. On 17 May that year, he was rendered incapacitated when he was rapidly aged by the Life-stealer, leaving the position of Torchwood London leader vacant. (AUDIO: The Victorian Age) He eventually recovered, but never got his looks back. However, as a result, his appearance also did not change for over a century.

He celebrated his 100th birthday at a party thrown at Torchwood House. He was tasked with developing the Archive of Torchwood using a knowledge sponge. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)

Archie was still alive in the early 21st century and ran Torchwood Two from its base above a bank in Glasgow. (PROSE: The Twilight Streets) He was still inputting information into the Archive when Owen Harper worked for Torchwood Three. He was in charge of placing the objects into the Archives across the Country. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)

Though the British Government believed that Torchwood Three was the only operational branch of Torchwood left as of 2009, (TV: Children of Earth: Day Two) in 2023 Archie was still working for Torchwood in a sound studio in Glasgow. (AUDIO: Apex) He kept up some level of contact with the curator at Torchwood House, Morag Stewart, who was aware he was “from the Institute". (AUDIO: Regrets) At this time Archie was attacked by alien which forced itself inside his throat and was found catatonic in a Lidl, being taken to hospital. He was visited by Abby McPhail and Shawna Thompson, who were investigating Torchwood, which caused the alien to leave his body to attack them. The pair stole his bag, which held his keys to Torchwood’s sound studio, and left him in the hospital. (AUDIO: Apex)

Personality
Archie was, according to Jack Harkness, a "very strange man". (TV: Everything Changes) Given his age, he referred to himself as a "dinosaur" by the second half of the 20th century. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive) Called "Old Tartan Archie" by his colleagues, he did not have the hang of computers, and exchanged bizarre emails with Owen Harper. The words used were "interesting and not always used in the right context," and he referred to himself in the third person, which Owen attributed to either eccentricity or whisky. His ineptitude with email caused him to send a picture of the Loch Ness Monster to the Glasgow Herald. (PROSE: The Twilight Streets)

Behind the scenes
Jack Harkness first mentioned Archie (not by name) in the television story Everything Changes. John Barrowman has suggested at a public appearance that if he ever appeared on-screen, David Tennant should play him in heavy make-up.

In his first audio appearance in The Victorian Age, Archie was portrayed by either Youssef Kerkour or Aaron Neil – the credits did not specify which of the two actors played which roles.