Theory:Timeline - Torchwood

This page lists appearances of the Torchwood Institute and Torchwood Three in chronological order. 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.

Limiting factors
Any story with Gwen, Ianto, Owen and Tosh must be after TV: Everything Changes and before TV: End of Days or after TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and before TV: Exit Wounds. Any story where Owen is dead, but still mobile must be set after TV: Dead Man Walking and before TV: Exit Wounds. Any story where Gwen is married to Rhys must be after TV: Something Borrowed. Any story with Gwen and Ianto must be after TV: Exit Wounds and before TV: Children of Earth: Day One.

Overview
The adventures of Torchwood Three and the related Torchwood team in America that was formed after the destruction of the Hub can be categorised as these original to Torchwood television lineups:


 * Jack Harkness, Gwen, Owen, Ianto and Tosh in Torchwood Three
 * Jack Harkness, Gwen and Ianto in Torchwood Three
 * Jack Harkness, Gwen, Ianto and associate Rhys Williams following the Torchwood Hub's destruction
 * Jack Harkness, Gwen, Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond as part of a new team codenamed Torchwood

1879
Victoria founds the Torchwood Institute.
 * TV: Tooth and Claw

1899

 * TV: Fragments (flashback with Alice and Emily)
 * Set in the late 19th century.


 * PROSE: Consequences: The Baby Farmers
 * Features Alice and Emily after Jack joined their team.


 * AUDIO: The Victorian Age

1901

 * TV: Exit Wounds (flashback with Alice and Charles finding future Jack)

1909

 * TV: Small Worlds (flashback)

1927

 * TV: Immortal Sins (flashback)

1940

 * AUDIO: The Dying Room

1950s

 * AUDIO: Goodbye Piccadilly

1965

 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Four (flashback)

1970s

 * AUDIO: The Dollhouse

1987

 * PROSE: Damaged Goods / AUDIO: Damaged Goods

1999

 * TV: Fragments (Alex Hopkins flashback)

2000

 * AUDIO: Blind Summit
 * AUDIO: The Law Machines
 * AUDIO: 9 to 5

2004

 * TV: Fragments (Toshiko Sato flashback)

2005

 * AUDIO: One Rule
 * TV: Fragments (Owen Harper flashback)
 * AUDIO: New Girl
 * AUDIO: Through the Ruins
 * AUDIO: Uprising

2006

 * AUDIO: Moving Target
 * Suzie's alive, set during 29th November.


 * TV: The Christmas Invasion

2007

 * AUDIO: Infamy of the Zaross
 * TV: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
 * TV: Fragments (Ianto Jones flashback)
 * After the fall of Torchwood One.


 * TV: Everything Changes
 * Gwen is recruited.


 * TV: Day One
 * Gwen's first day on the job.


 * TV: Ghost Machine
 * Gwen is still inexperienced with weapons. Set 66 years after 1941.


 * PROSE: Another Life
 * Rhys mentions a co-worker called Lucy who has been on a diet recently, foreshadowing Slow Decay.


 * PROSE: Border Princes
 * Set in October 2007.


 * PROSE: Slow Decay
 * Ianto keeps something secret in the hub.


 * TV: Cyberwoman
 * AUDIO: Broken
 * TV: Small Worlds
 * AUDIO: Hidden
 * TV: Countrycide
 * Several references are made to the events of Cyberwoman.
 * TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts
 * Several stories take place during the course of Broken.


 * TV: They Keep Killing Suzie
 * Set three months after Everything Changes.


 * TV: Random Shoes
 * Set 14 years after 1992, can be attributed to rounding.


 * TV: Out of Time
 * Captain Jack Harkness places this story in the week ending December 24th.

2008

 * TV: Combat
 * Owen is visibly upset by the events of Out of Time in this story. He calls off his affair with Gwen.


 * TV: Captain Jack Harkness
 * TV: End of Days
 * Continues where Captain Jack Harkness left off. Jack disappears from Torchwood.


 * PROSE: Consequences: Kaleidoscope
 * TV: Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords
 * Jack spends time with the Doctor. The Sound of Drums is said to be 18 months after Harrier Jones' demise, setting this in June or July.


 * TV: Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang
 * Gwen has started taking charge more in Jack's absence, in comparison to Captain Jack Harkness, where Owen was said to be second-in-command. Gwen is now engaged to Rhys.


 * AUDIO: The Conspiracy
 * Jack has left Torchwood before.


 * AUDIO: Fall to Earth
 * AUDIO: Uncanny Valley
 * TV: Sleeper
 * TV: To the Last Man
 * Occurs on Friday 20th of June, 114 years after 1894.


 * PROSE: Something in the Water
 * Tosh recalls To the Last Man but Rhys does not yet know about Torchwood.


 * PROSE: Trace Memory
 * AUDIO: Everyone Says Hello
 * TV: Meat
 * PROSE: The Twilight Streets
 * Set between Meat and Adam.


 * TV: Adam
 * TV: Reset
 * TV: Dead Man Walking
 * Continues where Reset left off. Owen is resurrected, but with no lifesigns.

2009

 * TV: A Day in the Death
 * Set three days after Reset.


 * AUDIO: Corpse Day
 * AUDIO: In the Shadows
 * PROSE: Pack Animals
 * Set in October and after Owen's undeath but before Gwen's wedding.


 * TV: Something Borrowed
 * PROSE: Skypoint
 * Set in September. Gwen and Rhys have just returned from their honeymoon.


 * PROSE: Plant Life
 * Set during the first day after Gwen’s return from honeymoon.


 * AUDIO: Believe
 * Gwen mentions the Nostrovite, placing this story after Something Borrowed.


 * TV: From Out of the Rain
 * TV: Adrift
 * PROSE: Monster
 * Set in 2009, before Exit Wounds.


 * AUDIO: Zone 10
 * Toshiko is working on the Time lock.


 * AUDIO: torchwood_cascade_CDRIP.tor
 * TV: Fragments
 * TV: Exit Wounds
 * Continues where Fragments left off. Owen and Tosh die.


 * AUDIO: In the Shadows (introduction)
 * Gwen attempts to send a message to Owen and Tosh in the afterlife.


 * AUDIO: Lost Souls
 * Martha meets Jack for the first time since Owen and Tosh's funeral.


 * TV: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End


 * PROSE: Almost Perfect
 * AUDIO: The Sin Eaters
 * The door to the Hub is still damaged from the Dalek attack.


 * PROSE: Bay of the Dead
 * PROSE: Into the Silence
 * PROSE: The House That Jack Built
 * PROSE: Risk Assessment
 * PROSE: The Undertaker's Gift
 * PROSE: Consequences: The Wrong Hands
 * PROSE: Consequences: Virus
 * AUDIO: Department X
 * AUDIO: Ghost Train
 * AUDIO: Asylum
 * AUDIO: Golden Age
 * AUDIO: The Dead Line
 * PROSE: Consequences: Consequences
 * AUDIO: The Devil and Miss Carew
 * AUDIO: Submission


 * AUDIO: Outbreak
 * Norton Folgate is aware that Ianto will die soon.


 * TV: Children of Earth: Day One
 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Two
 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Three
 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Four
 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Five
 * COMIC: Shrouded
 * AUDIO: The House of the Dead
 * Shrouded and The House of the Dead are set in the six-month gap at the end of Children of Earth: Day Five. Shrouded takes place at Ianto's funeral after Ianto dies in Day Four. Jack leaves Earth at the end of Children of Earth: Day Five. Days One through Five flow into one another.


 * PROSE: Long Time Dead (flashback)
 * Sequel to Children of Earth and prequel to Miracle Day.


 * PROSE: First Born

2010

 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Five (epilogue)
 * 6 months later, Jack leaves Earth.

2011

 * PROSE: The Men Who Sold the World
 * Prequel to The New World.


 * TV: The New World
 * Jack returns to Earth.


 * TV: Rendition
 * Jack and Gwen are taken to America.


 * TV: Dead of Night
 * TV: Escape to LA
 * TV: The Categories of Life
 * TV: The Middle Men
 * TV: Immortal Sins
 * TV: End of the Road
 * Jack and Gwen return to the UK, along with Esther after End of the Road. The New World through End of the Road flow into one another.


 * TV: The Gathering
 * Takes place a few months after End of the Road.


 * TV: The Blood Line
 * Continues where The Gathering left off.

2012

 * AUDIO: Army of One
 * AUDIO: Fallout
 * AUDIO: Red Skies
 * AUDIO: Mr Invincible
 * PROSE: Exodus Code

2015

 * AUDIO: Forgotten Lives

2017

 * AUDIO: More Than This
 * 10 years have passed since Day One.


 * AUDIO: Ghost Mission
 * 10 years have passed since Gwen Cooper joined Torchwood and she has recently arranged for Torchwood to set up operations in Cardiff again.


 * AUDIO: Made You Look


 * COMIC: World Without End
 * Gwen is acting-head of Torchwood Three, while Jack is serving with the crew of the Ice Maiden. Ending leads directly into Station Zero.


 * COMIC: Station Zero
 * Ending leads directly into The Culling.


 * COMIC: The Culling
 * Jack and Gwen part ways once again after defeating the Vervoids.


 * AUDIO: Visiting Hours
 * AUDIO: Changes Everything
 * Having been "dumped" by the crew of the Ice Maiden, Jack has returned to duty at Torchwood Cardiff.


 * AUDIO: Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy
 * AUDIO: Orr
 * AUDIO: Superiority Complex
 * AUDIO: Love Rat
 * AUDIO: A Kill to a View
 * AUDIO: Zero Hour
 * AUDIO: The Empty Hand
 * AUDIO: Poker Face
 * AUDIO: Tagged
 * AUDIO: Escape Room
 * AUDIO: Herald of the Dawn

2018

 * AUDIO: Cardiff Unknown
 * Set a few weeks after Herald of The Dawn and Brent Hayden is still around, setting this before The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood.


 * AUDIO: Future Pain
 * AUDIO: The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood
 * AUDIO: See No Evil
 * AUDIO: Night Watch
 * AUDIO: Flight 405
 * AUDIO: Hostile Environment
 * AUDIO: Another Man's Shoes
 * The Empty Hand took place the previous year.


 * AUDIO: Eye of the Storm

Far Future

 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive

Unplaced

 * COMIC: The Legacy of Torchwood One!
 * COMIC: Jetsam
 * COMIC: Rift War!
 * PROSE: Harm's Way
 * PROSE: Black Water
 * PROSE: Mrs Acres
 * PROSE: The Beauty of Our Weapons
 * PROSE: The Book of Jahi
 * COMIC: Captain Jack and the Selkie
 * PROSE: Who by Fire
 * PROSE: Gordian
 * COMIC: Broken
 * COMIC: Fated to Pretend


 * PROSE: Best Friends
 * TV: Web of Lies
 * COMIC: The Return of the Vostok
 * AUDIO: The Office of Never Was
 * AUDIO: The Death of Captain Jack
 * AUDIO: The Last Beacon
 * AUDIO: We Always Get Out Alive