Rhys Williams

Rhys Alun Williams was Gwen Cooper's husband. Although originally he did not believe in the existence of aliens, or know that his partner worked for Torchwood he would later come to accept both facts, and himself become a notable associate of Torchwood Three.

Biography
Rhys was the son of Barry and Brenda Williams, who was born and raised in Wales. As a child, he was a member of the British Boy Scouts. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Three) Rhys would often have stories told to him by his great uncle Bryn, though he never paid much attention, to his later regret. (BBCR: The Devil and Miss Carew) Around the age of twelve Rhys enjoyed an attraction to a girl named Cerys Morgan. It is unknown whether this attraction led to any kind of reciprocal relationship, though Rhys did not fall in love with anyone between this attraction to Cerys and his first encounter with Gwen. (TW: Something Borrowed) After leaving secondary school, Rhys enrolled in college. (TW: Adam)

Relationship with Gwen
Rhys and Gwen met in college and Rhys fancied her as soon as he saw her because of her nice personality and her good looks. Rhys often went into a tirade when inconvenienced in a queue, driving, or one the phone to an automated voice; Gwen referred to him as "Rhys the Rant" at these times. Their first kiss took place in a supermarket, after Rhys had become angry and irritated with the customer service agent. (TW: Adam) After Gwen and Rhys had moved in together and Gwen qualified as a police officer, Rhys helped her celebrate with champagne, declaring himself to be "so proud" of her. On another occasion, Rhys attended the 60th Birthday party of Mary Cooper. His zip malfunctioned, resulting in Gwen chasing him around the flat in an attempt to staple his trousers shut. (TW: Ghost Machine)

Although Rhys was aware of the stories about alien invasions, he did not believe that these were genuine, speculating that they were instead a result of mass hallucinations induced by terrorists putting psychotropic drugs in the water supply. (TW: Everything Changes) When Gwen began working for the Torchwood institute, she kept the nature of her job secret, letting him believe that she worked for nothing more exciting than generic "special ops". However, after Gwen became more involved with Torchwood, Rhys showed increasing irritation with Gwen's evasiveness and long hours. Gwen broke off an engagement to go bowling with him in order to answer an urgent call to investigate a meteorite fall with the team. (TW: Day One) After he and Gwen had another slight argument when she missed dinner due to her work at Torchwood, Gwen used the Ghost Machine to relive happy memories of the time when the two had a close relationship. (TW: Ghost Machine) On another occasion, Rhys becomes angry and afraid for their safety when Fairies vandalised their house. Rhys becomes angry with Gwen when he discovered that she has been lying to him about the nature of Emma-Louise Cowell, who she had taken in as part of her Torchwood work. He stated displeasure at Gwen's ease and readiness to lie to him. (TW: Out of Time)

Unknown to Rhys, Gwen had a brief sexually charged encounter with the alien which had possessed Carys Fletcher (TW: Day One) and had established a sexual relationship with Owen Harper to help herself deal with her two lives at home and at work (TW: Countrycide). She confessed the affair to him but also slipped Rhys retcon so he would not remember her confession. (TW: Combat)

As part of a strategy designed to manipulate the Torchwood team into opening the Rift, Bilis Manger transferred to Gwen a vision of Rhys lying stabbed to death on the floor of their apartment. Following this, Gwen used a stun gun on him and transferred him unconscious to a holding cell in the Hub. There, Manger freed him and then stabbed Rhys to death himself. When Torchwood opened the rift, Rhys vanished from the table in the autopsy room and re-appeared alive back at his apartment, unaware anything had happened. (TW: End of Days)

After Jack Harkness left Earth and Torchwood, Gwen and Rhys become engaged. Rhys was going to get down on one knee to propose but this didn't quite work out due to an inconvenient back twinge. Shortly after Jack returned to Earth, Rhys became manager of Harwood's Haulage. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)

Becoming Aware of Torchwood
Some time later, one of Rhys's company's lorries crashed and Torchwood investigated, finding that an alien meat was in the lorry. Gwen became suspicious of it and Rhys became suspicious of Gwen. He followed Torchwood to a factory where the meat was being processed and found out that Gwen had been lying to him about her work with Torchwood, also suspecting her of having an affair with Jack Harkness. He argued with Gwen over this but she eventually came clean about the true nature of her job, which Rhys eventually accepted.

Rhys then became involved in a mission to uncover and destroy an alien meat-trading racket, and ended up taking a bullet to protect Gwen's life. Jack insisted that Gwen retcon Rhys after this event, but because Gwen enjoyed finally being able to be honest with Rhys, she couldn't bring herself to drug him for a second time, and so demanded that Jack allow Rhys keep his memories of Torchwood. (TW: Meat)

When Gwen's memories were corrupted by Adam Smith she forgots about Rhys, and upon returning to her flat she believed him to be a stalker. However, Rhys enlightened her about their relationship and she came to accept his version of events. Gwen's full memories of her relationship were presumably restored once Adam Smith was defeated. (TW: Adam)

Wedding and Aftermath
A few weeks after that was his eventful marriage to Gwen. On the morning of his wedding day Gwen phoned him to tell him that she had been impregnated by a Nostrovite. Rhys was furious at this turn in events and argued that Gwen needed to postpone the wedding. However, Gwen insisted that the wedding went ahead, only for the mother Nostrovite to arrive, taking the form of the guests. When Jack accused Rhys's mother of being the Nostrovite, he punched Jack in the face. Rhys was eventually able to remove the Nostrovite fetus from Gwen using the Singularity Scalpel and tried to kill the mother with a chainsaw, but Jack killed her instead. Gwen and Rhys eventually married at the altar, although the memories of all the wedding guests were erased. (TW: Something Borrowed) After the wedding, Gwen and Rhys would honeymooned in Paris. (TW: From Out of the Rain) Upon returning from their honeymoon Rhys suggested that Gwen and himself start a family, but Gwen stated that it wouldn't be possible with her job. This caused Rhys to become angry that her work with Torchwood had removed her from real life. Gwen realised that she had to share more of her job with Rhys, and he was there to comfort her after she recounted to him the story of Jonah Bevan. (TW: Adrift)

After the Torchwood team were trapped in a warehouse explosion set by Captain John Hart, Rhys helped Gwen rescue her colleagues from the rubble. He would later work with Gwen's former colleague Andy Davidson to keep a crowd of angry Weevils contained and off the streets. (TW: Fragments / Exit Wounds) Although never given official status with Torchwood 3, Gwen did at one point identify her husband as a member of Torchwood (BBCR: The Dead Line) On another occasion, Rhys rescued Gwen from the malevolent Miss Joanna Carew after she investigated events around the death of his great uncle Bryn Williams at the Ivydale Nursing Home. After rescuing Gwen, Rhys asked if this made him an official member of Torchwood, to which Gwen replied that he wouldn't want to be. (BBCR: The Devil and Miss Carew)

The 456
Rhys was a major member of the renegade Torchwood team after the destruction of the Hub. Assisting in Gwen's escape to London, he then acted as a helmsman for the team, cooking them food and assisting Ianto with setting up the base. During their escape in a lorry, Rhys found out that Gwen was pregnant. Rhys also went with Gwen to free Jack, who had recently reconstituted after the Hub's destruction, disguised as an undertaker. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Two)

The renegade team later came across the abandoned Torchwood One facility, where Jack had been in hiding a few years prior, and Rhys helped the team in gathering more supplies. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Three) Rhys was entrusted with the footage of the government's deal by Gwen as part of a plan to hold the government to ransom. Rhys took the images, stored on a laptop to a secret location outside the Houses of Parliament, and waited for Gwen to give him the order to release the files to the public. However, after Jack and Ianto confronted the 456, refusing to surrender a single child to them, Ianto and Clement MacDonald died, and Gwen informed Rhys that their plan was over. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Four)

With Jack in custody, Frobisher arranged for Gwen and Rhys to be flown back to Cardiff via a helicopter, and they were greeted by Andy on arriving. It was at this moment that Gwen considered aborting her pregnancy, much to Rhys' surprise and shock. They then arrived at the house of Ianto's sister, with the intent of saving his niece and nephew, and Rhys led the children staying there to an abandoned warehouse to hide when the army arrived to secure the last of the ten per cent of the children for the 456. After the 456 were defeated by Jack, Rhys and Gwen emerged unharmed, with Ianto's niece and nephew saved. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Five)

After the Fall of Torchwood
Rhys, along with Gwen, were declared dead as a result of the 456 Regulation. (TW: The New World)

Six months later, Rhys was seen still at Gwen's side, expecting their child. He comforted her as Jack ran away from on Earth. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Five) After the fall of Torchwood, and with Gwen being a mother to their new baby, John Hart was forced to team up with Rhys on a time travel mission involving Ianto's timeline. (TWM: Shrouded)

After Anwen Williams was born, Rhys and Gwen lived in an isolated part of Wales. Rhys attempted to have a normal life, trying to stop Gwen from thinking of her work with Torchwood. When they went to visit Rhys' father at the hospital and learned of Miracle Day, he tried to stop her from investigating it. Rhys was later swept up when Rex Matheson came to find them and they were attacked by unknown agents. (TW: The New World) However, Rhys' lack of official membership in Torchwood meant that Rex had no interest in him, and Rhys was left behind in Wales with Anwen, to Gwen's horror. (TW: Rendition)

Personality
In common with most of Earth's population, he initially believed that alien interference with Earth in the 2000s was actually mass hallucinations induced by terrorists putting psychotropic drugs in the water supply. When Gwen put this theory to Jack he derided Rhys as stupid. (TW: Everything Changes)

Rhys was easy-going, amiable and straight-forward. Rhys had a cheeky sense of humor, without any embarrassment, such as when he was seen naked by a complete stranger. (TW: Out of Time) He knew how to charm Gwen out of her moods. He would on occasion, joke with Gwen about her "Secret Squirrel" job. However, with time, his relationship with Gwen began to fall apart and a note of anger and suspicion began to emerge into his side of the partnership. However, he appeared to have come to terms with things, and later was quite capable of mixing talk about buying a house and Torchwood business with ease.

Known Family

 * Gwen Cooper - Wife
 * Anwen Williams - Daughter
 * Brenda Williams- Mother
 * Barry Williams - Father
 * Mary Cooper - Mother-in-law
 * Geraint Cooper - Father-in- law
 * Bryn Williams - Great Uncle (BBCR: The Devil and Miss Carew)
 * In an alternate timeline, Gwen and Rhys instead had a son named Jack Ianto Geraint Williams. (TWN: The Twilight Streets)

Behind the scenes

 * The Production team had originally intended Rhys to die at the end of season one but this was overruled by Russell T Davies, who felt that without Rhys, the show's main link to the real world would be lost.
 * Although Rhys plays a recurring role in the first two series, actor Kai Owen was not given star billing until the third series.
 * Torchwood Writer John Fay states that Rhys is his favourite character.
 * In SJA: The Day of the Clown, a paper with the name Rhys Williams written on it is seen the noticeboard in Luke, Clyde and Rani's classroom.