Theory:Timeline - Ianto Jones

This page lists appearances of Ianto Jones in the order in which 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.

Working for Torchwood One

 * AUDIO: Blind Summit
 * In 2004, Ianto Jones is offered a position at Torchwood One by Yvonne Hartman, but he declines. He instead asked to have his job at Cardiff Museum returned and his memory of Torchwood wiped, which she assented.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Ianto met Yvonne once more when she arrived on his doorstep. He was to work on the excavation of a Viking ship which she alleged was a threat to the whole of South Wales and, as Torchwood Three had all gone missing, she sought his help. (AUDIO: Blind Summit) Ianto submitted his CV to Torchwood that month but Bev Stanley had no interest in hiring him. It was only when his CV crossed Yvonne's desk that he was hired in March 2005, as a junior researcher. (AUDIO: New Girl)


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Yvonne speaks to Ianto while she is dealing with Ovid sex dolls. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)


 * AUDIO: New Girl
 * Set in 2005.


 * AUDIO: Through the Ruins


 * AUDIO: Uprising


 * AUDIO: The Law Machines
 * Set in 2006.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Ianto helps reduce the hard drives from the Brett Archive to scrap. (AUDIO: Blind Summit)''


 * AUDIO: 9 to 5
 * Set in 2006.


 * ( REFERENCE )
 * Circa March 2006, Rupert Howarth, a mentor to Ianto and head of biochemical research at Torchwood One, is apparently killed in a fire after being threatened by pharmaceutical companies. (COMIC: The Legacy of Torchwood One!)


 * AUDIO: Retirement Plan


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


 * AUDIO: The Rockery
 * The Ghost Shifts have started.


 * ( FLASHBACKS )
 * Following the Battle of Canary Wharf, Ianto 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)

Early work with Torchwood Three

 * ( FLASHBACKS )
 * After the Battle of Canary Wharf, Ianto helps Jack Harkness fight a Weevil, and asks for a job with Torchwood Three. However, he is turned down. (TV: Fragments) The following day, he visits Baps for the first time and borrows a coffee mug, (AUDIO: Coffee) which he uses to make Jack a coffee, though he is turned down again. (TV: Fragments) He then returns the coffee mug to Baps. (AUDIO: Coffee) Ianto finally convinces Jack to let him join the team after helping him to catch a rogue Pterodactyl. (TV: Fragments)


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Ianto visits Baps whilst the rest of Torchwood Three deal with an incident involving blue fire at the Red Dragon Centre. (AUDIO: Coffee)

Gwen joins the team

 * TV: Everything Changes
 * Gwen Cooper is recruited after Suzie Costello kills herself to prevent her arrest for killing three people in her experiments with the Resurrection gauntlet and the Life Knife.


 * TV: Day One


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * At Baps, the owner, David, tells Ianto about the people "shagging in nightclub bogs, [and] bursting into flames". (AUDIO: Coffee)


 * TV: Ghost Machine
 * Set sixty-six years after 1941.


 * PROSE: Another Life
 * Set before Cyberwoman, as Ianto is being duplicitous about his business in the Hub's basement.


 * PROSE: Border Princes
 * Set circa October 2007.


 * PROSE: Slow Decay
 * Tosh finds Ianto acting strangely around a chamber in the Hub's basement, setting this before Cyberwoman.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Ianto tells the Baps barista, Kathy, that he has to stay at work late "tonight" so he can welcome a Japanese visitor. (AUDIO: Coffee)


 * TV: Cyberwoman
 * The Torchwood team learn that Ianto has been keeping his cyber-converted girlfriend, Lisa Hallett, in the basement of the Hub, and they kill her once she leaves herself vulnerable enough after her Cyberman personality takes hold of her.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Ianto visits Baps after Lisa's death and orders four coffees. (AUDIO: Coffee)


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Ianto first enters the Ferret the night after Lisa dies. A few days later, Jack takes Ianto out to hunt Weevils, and, when he returns to the Ferret, he is given advice by Mandy. (AUDIO: Broken)''


 * TV: Small Worlds


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * After he and Jack fight Scorchies at the Millennium Centre, Ianto opens up to Jack about his life before the Battle of Canary Wharf and how the loss of Lisa has affected him. Now understanding his pain, Jack invites Ianto on a mission to the Brecon Beacons. (AUDIO: Broken)

After Brynblaidd

 * TV: Countrycide
 * During a mission in the Brecon Beacons where Torchwood Three face the Brynblaidd cannibal, Owen and Ianto recall the recent events of Cyberwoman, specifically that their last kisses were with Gwen and Lisa, respectively.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Horrified by what he witnessed at Brynblaidd, Ianto attempts suicide before being talked down by Mandy.(AUDIO: Broken)


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * The morning after his suicide attempt, Ianto returns to work, where he helps Jack catalogue some alien goo and informs him of some missing people in the bay. Later that night, he returns to The Ferret and recounts his day to Mandy, telling her he will return to work again the next day. (AUDIO: Broken)


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Jack takes Ianto for a joyride in the SUV and they eat fish and chips. Gwen calls to inform them of another missing person. (AUDIO: Broken)


 * AUDIO: The Great Sontaran War
 * Ianto is described as feeling isolated, implying a setting shortly after Cyberwoman and Countrycide.


 * TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts
 * While using a telepathy pendant, Tosh hears how Ianto is still recovering from the events of Cyberwoman.


 * AUDIO: Broken
 * Set immediately after Greeks Bearing Gifts. Jack enters the Ferret investigating rift activity the same time Ianto is there. Ianto tries to take his revenge on Jack for the events of Cyberwoman, but decides against it.


 * AUDIO: Ex Machina
 * Set over a two week period. The events of Cyberwoman are still fresh on Ianto's mind.


 * ( REFERENCE )
 * Owen and the rest of Torchwood Three, sans Tosh, investigate activity in Brecon. (AUDIO: Drive)


 * TV: They Keep Killing Suzie
 * Set three months after Everything Changes. A sexual relationship is developing between Jack and Ianto.


 * AUDIO: Hidden
 * Torchwood Three don't know that Jack is immortal yet, setting this before End of Days, and Owen recalls the events of Ghost Machine. Jack and Ianto are beginning a relationship, setting this after Broken.


 * TV: Random Shoes
 * Apparently set 14 years after 1992, but this can be attributed to Eugene rounding out the years.


 * AUDIO: The Last Beacon
 * Ianto recalls the events of Cyberwoman, and feels he is being trusted again by the team. He and Jack are in a relationship.


 * AUDIO: Fall to Earth
 * Jack is currently away investigating the conspiracy, setting this between The Conspiracy and Uncanny Valley. Ianto feels as though he has had a tough time winning the trust of his colleagues back following the events of Cyberwoman.


 * ( FLASHBACK )
 * Ianto leads the shutdown of Milne Futures, inadvertently poisoning all its drug-enhanced employees with retcon. He uses retcon to keep Torchwood out of the subsequent inquest and erases his own memories of the incident. (AUDIO: The Office of Never Was)

Torchwood Three in crisis

 * TV: Out of Time
 * Set between 18 December and 26 December 2007.


 * AUDIO: The Grey Mare
 * Set during Out of Time, specifically on 24 and 25 December. Ianto says that there is "somebody" at work, implied to be Jack, that he has feelings for, but he does not know if they truly like him back.


 * TV: Combat


 * TV: Captain Jack Harkness
 * Due to the machinations of Bilis Manger, Jack and Tosh end up in 1941. In order to retrieve them, Owen opens the Rift, despite Ianto shooting his shoulder, setting up the events of End of Days.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * David and Kathy call in Ianto to show him a cybernetically augmented caveman that has appeared out of nowhere. (AUDIO: Coffee)


 * TV: End of Days
 * Bilis Manger prays on the vulnerabilities of Torchwood Three to get them to open the Rift further to free his master, Abaddon. During their coupe against him, Jack's immortality is revealed to Tosh, Owen and Ianto. After defeating Abaddon, Jack disappears from Torchwood.

Jack's disappearance

 * PROSE: Kaleidoscope
 * Set shortly after End of Days, with Torchwood Three arguing over who will take charge in Jack's absence. As the most senior Torchwood operative, Tosh is placed in charge, but she defers command to Gwen following exposure to an alien artifact.


 * AUDIO: Dinner and a Show
 * Set on St Valentine's Day. Jack is currently missing and the events of The Last Beacon were several months ago.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Prime Minister Harold Saxon sends Torchwood Three on a wild goose chase to Tibet shortly before 8 June 2008. (TV: The Sound of Drums) Upon their return, Ianto learns from David that "a fish keeps stealing his [friend's] sports cars". (AUDIO: Coffee)

Jack returns

 * TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
 * Jack returns to Torchwood Three, with the implication that he has only been gone a short time, and explains his disappearance as him having found "[his] Doctor". While confronting John Hart, a figure from Jack's past, Torchwood Three learn about the Time Agency. Jack asks Ianto out on a proper date for the first time.


 * COMIC: The Legacy of Torchwood One!
 * Ianto is in a reflective mood, with his anger at Rupert Howarth for faking his death for years implying a setting shortly after Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.


 * TV: Sleeper
 * Torchwood Three deals with an attack by Cell 114, and are made aware that other sleeper agents are still on Earth. Gwen is still planning her wedding, having not set a date yet.


 * AUDIO: Serenity
 * Set after Sleeper, with Jack and Ianto spend a period of some weeks undercover at Serenity Plaza to destroy the last of Cell 114.


 * TV: To the Last Man
 * Set on 20 June 2008, one-hundred-and-fourteen years after 1894 and ninety years after 1918. Gwen has her first and only encounter with Tommy Brockless, who has been annually defrosted from a cryogenic coma since 1894, setting this less than a year after Everything Changes. Tommy successfully closes the time shift he was destined to close, returning him back to 1918. Jack and Ianto are now in a relationship, with Jack implying he has fallen in love with Ianto.


 * PROSE: Something in the Water
 * Gwen and Tosh recall the recent time shift with 1918, setting this shortly after To the Last Man.


 * AUDIO: Everyone Says Hello


 * PROSE: Trace Memory
 * Gwen recalls the events of Slow Decay, while Owen recalls the events of Out of Time. Rhys does not appear to be aware of Torchwood, which would set this before Meat.

Torchwood Three grows closer

 * TV: Meat
 * Rhys uncovers the truth about Torchwood, and joins them on a mission. On Gwen's urging, Jack allows Rhys to keep his memories. All stories where Rhys knows about Torchwood take place after this one. Rhys implies that a year has passed since Everything Changes.


 * PROSE: Mend Me
 * Set on 4 July 2008. Also set between "Meat" and "Reset", with Rhys aware of Torchwood and Owen still alive.


 * AUDIO: The Office of Never Was
 * Ianto is lured back to the abandoned Milne Futures office block some months after his last visit.


 * AUDIO: In the Shadows


 * TV: Adam
 * Torchwood Three use retcon to erase two days of their memory to banish a memory-changing entity back into the Void.


 * COMIC: Jetsam


 * GAME: Torchwood Mission Game
 * The Pharm is in operation, setting this before Reset.


 * PROSE: Black Water
 * Set between "Meat" and "Reset", with Rhys aware of Torchwood and Owen still alive.


 * COMIC: Rift War!
 * Set between "Meat" and "Reset", with Rhys aware of Torchwood and Owen still alive.


 * PROSE: Unplugged


 * AUDIO: Tropical Beach Sounds and Other Relaxing Seascapes #4
 * Jack and Ianto are in a relationship, and Owen appears to be alive, setting this between To the Last Man and Reset.


 * PROSE: The Twilight Streets
 * Set circa August 2008, between "Meat" and "Reset", with Rhys aware of Torchwood and Owen still alive, though Bilis Manger frequently implies he will die soon. Owen recalls the emails he exchanged with Archie in The Torchwood Archive.


 * COMIC: The Return of the Vostok


 * PROSE: Harm's Way
 * Set between "Meat" and "Reset", with Rhys aware of Torchwood and Owen still alive. Rhys and Gwen's wedding is due to happen in only a few weeks' time, setting this before Something Borrowed.

After Owen's death

 * TV: Reset
 * Martha Jones visits Torchwood on loan from UNIT, and Jack introduces her to the rest of Torchwood Three. After Martha helps bring down the Pharm, Aaron Copley attempts to kill her, but Owen is shot protecting her, leading Jack to kill Copley. Despite Martha's efforts, Owen dies, leading directly into Dead Man Walking.


 * TV: Dead Man Walking
 * Owen is resurrected by a second resurrection gauntlet, but with no life signs, effectively becoming a reanimated corpse.


 * TV: A Day in the Death
 * Set three days after Reset. Martha returns to UNIT.


 * PROSE: Mrs Acres
 * Gwen has not yet married Rhys, setting this before Something Borrowed.


 * PROSE: The Beauty of Our Weapons


 * PROSE: The Book of Jahi
 * Set between "A Day in the Death" and Something Borrowed, with Gwen unmarried and Owen a reanimated corpse.


 * PROSE: Requiem
 * Set on 31 October 2008.


 * PROSE: Pack Animals
 * Begins on 31 October and continues into early November. Gwen and Rhys are finalising the plans for their wedding, setting this shortly before Something Borrowed.

A new normal

 * TV: Something Borrowed
 * Gwen and Rhys get married, despite a Nostrovite interrupting the ceremony.


 * PROSE: SkyPoint
 * Set two months after Reset and roughly two weeks after Something Borrowed. Gwen and Rhys return from their honeymoon in Cuba. Gwen has been with Torchwood for roughly a year, while two years have passed since Owen joined Torchwood.


 * PROSE: Plant Life
 * Set concurrently with SkyPoint.


 * TV: From Out of the Rain


 * TV: Adrift
 * 15-year-old Jonah Bevan was born in 1993, which would set this during 2008. Gwen and Tosh discover that the Cardiff Space-Time Rift is capable of stealing people, and that Jack was aware of it upon finding the hospital on Flat Holm Island, leading to Torchwood Three to begin questioning their trust in Jack.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * The Bad Penny arrives at Torchwood Three through the rift again, and is stored in the Torchwood Archive by lanto. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive)


 * AUDIO: Believe
 * Torchwood Three have not been able to trust Jack recently, setting this shortly after Adrift.


 * PROSE: Monster
 * Torchwood Three know that people can be taken away by the Rift, setting this after Adrift.


 * TV: Fragments
 * Set 21 months after the Battle of Canary Wharf, according to Ianto's flashback. Jack, Owen, Tosh and Ianto are caught in a trap set by John Hart, who reveals he has Jack's brother, Gray, as a hostage after Gwen and Rhys save them, leading directly into Exit Wounds.


 * TV: Exit Wounds
 * Upon confronting John, Jack leans that Gray is actually holding John hostage in a plan for revenge on his brother for losing him. Eventually, Jack is able to knock Gray out to be placed in suspended animation, but not before Gray kills Tosh, and Owen is atomized in a nuclear meltdown, effectively killing him.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Ianto visits Baps and accidentally orders five bacon baps before correcting it to just three. (AUDIO: Coffee)

Coping without Tosh and Owen

 * AUDIO: Expectant
 * Set very shortly after Exit Wounds, with Jack and Ianto left to run Torchwood alone while Gwen is holidaying in Tenerife.


 * AUDIO: Lost Souls
 * Torchwood Three are still grieving the deaths of Owen and Tosh, setting this shortly after Exit Wounds. Martha meets Jack for the first time since their funerals.


 * PROSE: Into the Silence
 * Torchwood Three are still grieving the deaths of Owen and Tosh, setting this shortly after Exit Wounds. They meet Nina Rogers for the first time.


 * PROSE: Bay of the Dead
 * Torchwood Three are still grieving the deaths of Owen and Tosh, setting this shortly after Exit Wounds.


 * PROSE: The House that Jack Built


 * PROSE: Who by Fire


 * PROSE: Almost Perfect


 * PROSE: Gordian


 * PROSE: They Keep Killing Andy
 * 1909 was "nearly one hundred years ago", setting this around 2008.


 * PROSE: Happy New Year
 * Torchwood Three celebrate their first New Year's Eve without Owen and Tosh.


 * COMIC: Ma and Par
 * It is still early in the New Year.

Fighting the Daleks

 * ( SEGMENT )
 * With nothing strange having happened in a while, Ianto visits Baps during the summer, and appears to have recovered from the loss of Tosh and Owen. (AUDIO: Coffee)


 * TV: The Stolen Earth
 * Set in 2009, between May and June. Jack, Gwen and Ianto join with Martha, Sarah Jane Smith and Harriet Jones on the Sub-Wave Network to summon the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble to Earth after it is moved to the Medusa Cascade by the New Dalek Empire. After Harriet is killed by the Daleks, Jack uses his vortex manipulator to join the Doctor for battle, while the Daleks begin an attack on the Hub with Gwen and Ianto still inside, leading directly into Journey's End.


 * TV: Journey's End
 * The Dalek attack on the Hub is prevented by a time lock Tosh had installed before her death, but also leaves Gwen and Ianto trapped inside. The time lock is destroyed with the Daleks when the Metacrisis Tenth Doctor destroys the Crucible. Torchwood Three then assist in returning the Earth to its proper location, and Jack returns with Martha and Mickey Smith.

After the Dalek invasion

 * AUDIO: The Sin Eaters
 * The Hub is still being rebuilt after the events of The Stolen Earth. Jack indicates the year is 2009.


 * PROSE: Virus


 * PROSE: Closing Time


 * AUDIO: Asylum


 * AUDIO: Golden Age


 * PROSE: Consequences


 * PROSE: The Wrong Hands


 * PROSE: Stakes on a Plane


 * PROSE: I May Be Some Time


 * COMIC: Broken


 * PROSE: Flotsam and Jetsam


 * COMIC: Fated to Pretend


 * PROSE: Photo Finish


 * PROSE: Reflections


 * PROSE: The Package


 * PROSE: Ashes to Ashes


 * PROSE: Lockdown


 * PROSE: Rare Earth


 * PROSE: Everything's True


 * PROSE: The Secret of Crow Island


 * PROSE: Red-Handed


 * PROSE: Cultural Firsts
 * Ianto has done Opera, setting this after Into the Silence.


 * PROSE: The Mind's Eye

Ianto's final missions

 * AUDIO: The Dead Line


 * PROSE: The Last Voyage of Osiris
 * Authorial intent places this prior to Risk Assessment.


 * PROSE: Risk Assessment


 * PROSE: The Undertaker's Gift


 * COMIC: Shrouded
 * After gaining a glimpse into his upcoming death, Ianto sends an email to his sister to get back in touch and uses retcon to erase the memories of his future.


 * COMIC: Hell House


 * AUDIO: Rhys & Ianto's Excellent Barbecue


 * AUDIO: Department X


 * AUDIO: Ghost Train


 * AUDIO: The Devil and Miss Carew


 * AUDIO: Submission


 * PROSE: We All Go Through


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * Whilst tracking a reconnaissance drone, Ianto runs into David and tries to convince him that not all aliens are evil. (AUDIO: Coffee)


 * AUDIO: Outbreak
 * Norton comments that Ianto will die soon, setting this shortly before Children of Earth.


 * ( SEGMENT )
 * An alien ambassador wanders into Baps, but is swiftly collected by Torchwood Three. Ianto tricks David into thinking he has been infected with an alien virus in order to prove a point. However, Kathy calls him out and he then apologises to David. (AUDIO: Coffee)

Death

 * TV: Children of Earth: Day One
 * Set in September 2009. Martha is on her honeymoon with Mickey Smith, and Ianto is still "new" in his relationship with Jack. The 456 announce their return by controlling the children of the Earth, as well as Clement McDonald. Jack makes contact with Lois Habiba shortly before the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, John Frobisher, and Prime Minister Brian Green order Torchwood to be destroyed to keep the 1965 incident hidden. The Hub is destroyed by a bomb planted in Jack by Dr. Rupesh Patanjali and Agent Johnson.


 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Two
 * Jack is captured by Johnson as he regrows himself, while Gwen and Ianto, having both managed to escape the Hub before the explosion, go into hiding. Ianto meets up with his sister, Rhiannon Davies, and uses her laptop to track Jack's body to Ashton Down, where he also finds Gwen and Rhys in his rescue of Jack. The 456 use to children to announce they shall return the next day.


 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Three
 * Torchwood Three sets up a base in an empty Torchwood One warehouse. Gwen convinces Lois to use the Eye-5 contact lenses to spy on the government for Torchwood, and brings Clem back to the warehouse after she finds him in hiding. With Lois acting as their eyes, Torchwood Three spy on Frobisher's meeting with the 456 ambassador at Thames House, and hear it demand 10% of the Earth's children. Clem reveals to Gwen and Ianto that Jack was involved in the 1965 incident.


 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Four
 * Through Lois, Torchwood Three see the government plan to give away underachieving children to the 456, and try to use the information to gain control of the situation, only to end up angering the 456's ambassador, who floods Thames House with a virus that kills almost everyone inside the building. Ianto dies in Jack's arms as he succumbs to the virus.

Afterlife

 * AUDIO: The House of the Dead
 * Six months after Children of Earth: Day Four, Ianto's ghost is summoned by Jack with a séance. Ianto closes the Cardiff Rift when he destroys the House of the Dead, sending him back into the afterlife.