Gwen Cooper

Gwen Cooper From TARDIS Index File, the free Doctor Who reference. Jump to: navigation, search Torchwood character

Gwen Cooper Affiliated with Cardiff Police Torchwood Institute Race Human Home planet Earth Home era Early 21st century First appearance Everything Changes Last appearance Ongoing Portrayed by Eve Myles Gwen Cooper is a fictional character in the BBC television series Torchwood, a spin-off from the long-running series Doctor Who. Gwen Cooper is a former police officer recruited into the Torchwood Institute. She is played by Eve Myles, who previously appeared as Gwyneth in the Doctor Who episode The Unquiet Dead.[1] It remains to be seen if Myles's two similarly named characters are linked in any way.

Contents [hide] 1 Character history 2 Personality 3 Episodes 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Character history Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. Gwen Cooper is introduced in Everything Changes a police constable in Cardiff. Much like the character of Rose Tyler in Rose, she serves to introduce the audience to the concepts of the show as her character discovers them. In the first scene of the pilot, Gwen is called in on a murder scene only to encounter a mysterious team of individuals known only as "Torchwood". To satisfy her own curiousity (especially after witnessing the killing of a hospital porter by a Weevil), she tracks down the team and discovers the truth behind the organisation.

Despite having her memory wiped by the team leader, Jack Harkness, Gwen manages to leave a reminder to herself to remember and ends up exposing the murderer, Suzie Costello, Jack's second-in-command. When Suzie commits suicide, Jack offers Gwen a position with Torchwood and she accepts. Gwen believes that the team has been working with aliens and alien technology for so long that they have become hardened and have lost touch with humanity. She acts as the moral centre of the team, reminding them that they are in a position to help people, not just to scavenge technology.

Unlike her colleagues who have let their professional lives consume them, Gwen maintains a life outside the Institute. She lives with her boyfriend, Rhys Williams, who is a transport manager. He believes any alleged alien interference with Earth over the past two years are actually mass hallucinations caused by terrorists putting psychotropic drugs in the water supply, a theory that when put to Jack by Gwen makes him deride her boyfriend as stupid.

Before she dated Rhys, she was going out with a Bruce, and Owen speculates she simply settled for Rhys.[2] It has also been confirmed in an interview with the The Times that Gwen will have an affair with a member of the Torchwood team, as she cannot share her experiences at Torchwood with Rhys even though she does care for him.[3]

In Ghost Machine she is taught to use guns by Jack, and there appeared to be some sexual tension. In Cyberwoman she and Owen kissed passionately when hiding from a Cyberman.

[edit] Personality Commenting in The Western Mail, Myles describes her character:

"Gwen starts off as a police officer in Cardiff and then gets involved in the Torchwood team. She's a very down-to-earth girl, kind and generous, but extremely ambitious, feisty, intelligent and witty. But she's also very human — she's really the girl next door. Because I'm playing her, I put a lot of me into it and I take a lot of my own characteristics."[4] Russell T. Davies wrote part of Gwen in Torchwood specially for Eve Myles "So it's a good thing she said yes! Eve and John Barrowman have already met up, and the combination is going to be electrifying." [5]

On the interactive Torchwood website, she is described by Owen Harper in a psych evaluation as "socially responsible and empathetic" and possessing a lot of "unfulfilled potential". [6]