John Frobisher

"John Frobisher's a good man, and better than that, he's expandable."

John Frobisher was the Permanent Secretary to the Home Office and Torchwood 3's liaison to the British government. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Two) He was later appointed informal ambassador to the 456. Passionate and driven, his job became increasingly difficult when all around him began to shirk any responsibility for the disaster that was unfolding.

Earlier career
John Frobisher started working for the Civil Service in 1970, according to his service biography; he worked in various departments before he joined the Home Office in the 90's; he was previously Director of Crime Control Policy before he was promoted to become Permanent Secretary to the Home Office in 2003.

Personal life
Frobisher had a wife named Anna and two daughters, Holly and Lily. (TW: Children of Earth: Day One) His assistant Bridget Spears seemed to imply that he had extramarital affairs, though she may possibly have spoken untruthfully. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Three)

456 incident
As a civil servant, he followed the Prime Minister's orders. In 2009, then-Prime Minister, Brian Green considered Frobisher a tool to use to absolve himself of personal blame should it become known of the British government's past dealings with the 456. He considered Frobisher "expendable" and made no secret of his lack of concern for his well-being.

Based on his comments made to UNIT's Colonel Oduya, Frobisher had prior experience with aliens; comments made by Gwen Cooper also suggest that Frobisher, or his office, exercised a form of oversight over Torchwood 3 and Jack Harkness attemped to contact him in the early hours of the 456 incident (TW: Children of Earth: Day One). In order to keep secret the 1965 deal with the 456, Frobisher ordered a "blank page" assassination order against everyone involved with the deal, including Jack Harkness. This led to the bombing of the Hub situated under Cardiff Bay by Johnson and her team. Several other individuals were also murdered, and at least two people (one of whom appears to have been collateral damage) were killed in the process of implanting a bomb into Harkness. (TW: Children of Earth: Day One)


 * The British government believed, at that time, incorrectly, that the Hub somehow enabled Jack to die and come back to life. Therefore, they thought that they must destroy the Hub in order to deal with him.

Brian Green persuaded representatives to allow Frobisher (a unelected civil servant) to serve as Earth's representative to the 456. (Green wanted a scapegoat in case events went badly.) (TW: Children of Earth: Day Two) Frobisher witnessed the 456 coming to Earth in Thames House along with Dekker.

During an emergency meeting of COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) to determine the handover of 10% of British children, Green gave Frobisher the task of the selection and transport for the children, although the method by which children were selected was decided by the Cabinet. Frobisher invented the cover story suggesting the children would be inoculated against 456 control while the government in fact took them to hand over to the 456. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Four)

The next day, he was informed by the Prime Minister to publicly defend his children over for 'inoculation,' in an attempt by the government to portray themselves as victims in order to reassure the public regarding their cover story and to implicate the 456 as the true villains. Frobisher threatened to reveal to the press the true nature of the inoculations. Green persuaded him against this, noting that Frobisher's children would then know their fate. Knowing this, he decided to murder his family and commit suicide. He kissed his ever-loyal PA Bridget Spears on the cheek as they met for the final time. Spears, realising Frobisher's intentions, made clear to Lois Habiba, that "John Frobisher was a good man," and that, "It wasn't his fault." Spears then proceeded to record incriminating evidence against Green. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Five )

Behind the scenes

 * In the edition of Torchwood Declassified related to Children of Earth, Russell T Davies suggested that, since they are played by the same actor, Frobisher may be a descendant of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus (DW: The Fires of Pompeii) and goes on to note that, in a sense, Frobisher's killing of his family brings closure to the saving of Caecilius' family in the earlier episode.
 * The Doctor once had a shapeshifting companion also named Frobisher. (DWM comic strip, et al).