Torchwood Institute


 * For the television show, see Torchwood



The Torchwood Institute was founded in or about the year 1879 by royal decree from Queen Victoria, in response to an encounter with the Doctor and a cult of monks who were harboring a werewolf. While she was grateful for the Doctor and Rose's assistance in defeating the werewolf, the incident also made her aware of otherworldly threats to the British Empire, and thus ordered that Torchwood be established in order to defend against them -- specifically from the Doctor. Seeing his power and knowledge, the Queen was wary of any possible threat he could cause to the Empire. The name of the Institute was drawn from the Torchwood Estate, where most of the adventure took place. (DW: Tooth and Claw)

Over time, the Institute accumulated much alien technology, reverse-engineering it and applying it to secret military projects within the British army. Within Torchwood an unofficial slogan evolved: "If it's alien, it's ours."

Hiding out in the open, what most of the British populace believed was a tower of banking offices was in fact Torchwood Tower, built to more readily access a weak point in spacetime. The Torchwood Tower was itself only part of a much larger plan involving free energy that backfired horribly, and resulted in the deaths of millions. According to the Torchwood website, this cell of the Institute was abandoned after the events of this story. (DW: Army of Ghosts)

Torchwood operates in cells, London being Torchwood 1, and Cardiff being the home to Torchwood 3, the maverick organisation led by Capt. Jack Harkness.

The organisation considers itself above both Government and Police, existing under a Royal Charter. However, Torchwood does not operate autonomously and often refers to the British Cabinet and to UNIT in both an advisory and operational capacity. (TW: Everything Changes)

1879 till 2006
Not much is known about this period in the history of Torchwood, though at least in 1953 the London branch was influential enough that London Police feared its involvement when investigating the strange occurrences provoked by the activities of an alien entity known as The Wire (DW: The Idiot's Lantern)

Torchwood have been known to have been using alien cryogenics technology since "Victorian times" according to Captain Jack.

In 1918 Torchwood 3 investigated ghost sightings in a hospital in Cardiff and saw glimpses of 2009 through the Cardiff rift. At this time they had a team of 5, the leader being a man called Gerald Carter and were operating from the Hub. (TW: To the Last Man)

At some point Torchwood 4 disappeared.


 * If the Torchwood tower was constructed at the same time as it was in the real world, it would have been built between 1987 and 1991.

The Christmas Invasion
On Christmas of 2006, an alien race known as the Sycorax attempted an invasion of Earth, using a form of mind control that connected to everyone on the planet that had A+ blood. Torchwood was preparing a weapon for just such a contingency, based on alien technology that they had scavenged approximately ten years before. They had also developed advanced alien language translation software, lending it surreptitiously to the British army, which aided in communication with the Sycorax. After a pitched encounter with the Doctor, the Sycorax were forced to retreat. The Torchwood Weapon came online as they were fleeing, and the Prime Minister, who apparently had always known of Torchwood's existence, ordered it to fire. The alien ship was destroyed instantly, much to the ire of the Doctor. In retaliation he started false rumours against the Prime Minister, who did not acknowledge Torchwood publicly yet, but stood in defence of both her order to fire as well as Torchwood's activities.

The energy weapon that destroyed the Sycorax ship has no formal name to date, referred to synonymously with Torchwood.

Battle of Canary Wharf & destruction of Torchwood 1
Sometime in 2007, the Institute recovered a large sphere of obviously alien design that registered as having no mass, no energy, no physical data whatsoever. The retrieval of this item, later to be revealed as a Void Ship, was in conjunction with Torchwood experiments involving a 'hole' in spacetime. After experimenting with the "hole", it was discovered that tapping into the resonance around it could provide massive amounts of what they believed was free energy. A side-effect of these experiments was the appearance of millions of "ghosts" all over the world; humanoid figures that seemed to glow with an unearthly light.

It was at this point that the Doctor became involved, and explained to the then-administrator Yvonne Hartman that their experiments were in fact weakening the barrier between dimensions, which would eventually lead to dramatic problems in their own world, perhaps even resulting in the collapse of their dimension altogether. His warnings were not heeded, and the experiments continued. As a result, a massive invasion force from another dimension came through the 'hole', allowing the Earth to be conquered by the Cybermen for approximately an hour.

At the same time, the Void Ship opened, revealing a hidden cadre of Daleks. Four Daleks, members of the secret Cult of Skaro, had come to Earth to help restore the Dalek race using a stolen piece of Time Lord technology called the Genesis Ark. They promptly killed a Torchwood technician while stealing his knowledge of current events, and seeing the Cybermen as an impediment to their own return, they began a war against them, despite an offer from the Cyber-Leader to form an alliance.

The 'hole' in spacetime created by the Void Ship also allowed a resistance army from another dimension to cross over, initially with the intention of stopping the Cybermen. However with the advance of the Daleks, a rather sudden and uneasy truce began, with Torchwood militia men, The Preachers, and the Cybermen all fighting together against the Daleks. This turned the Torchwood Tower into a battleground, and the fighting did not stop until The Doctor found a way to intervene, reversing Torchwood's power machinery and sending the Daleks and Cybermen into the Void. (DW: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)

After Torchwood 1's Destruction
With the vast majority of the Torchwood administration stationed in London and thus killed or 'upgraded' by the Cybermen, the organisation was severely weakened. Jack Harkness stepped in and tried to reform the Cardiff branch in a more humane organisation. (TW: Everything Changes,DW: The Sound of Drums)

In 2008 a major event occurred with the opening of the Cardiff rift, resulting in massive temporal displacements and the release of the demon Abaddon. (TW: End of Days)

Shortly thereafter team leader Captain Jack Harkness mysteriously disappeared. (DW: Utopia)

During the conquest of the earth by the Master under the guise of mister Saxon the crew of Torchwood three was sent on a wild goose chase in the Himalayas, as to not being able to interfere.

Later Changes
Torchwood became public knowledge by 2012, most likely due to their influence during alien invasions. (DW: Fear Her)

The Great Cobalt Pyramid was built on the ruins of Torchwood. (DW: Bad Wolf)


 * It is unknown what the relation is between Torchwood and the Torchwood Archives from the year 43K2.1 

Administrators and Staff
Yvonne Hartman was the administrator of Torchwood during the Cybermen incursion and the Dalek conflict. (DW: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday) Ianto Jones was a key member in the administration of Torchwood's London facility. (TW: Cyberwoman) Adeola Oshodi, cousin to the Doctor's companion Martha Jones, also worked at Torchwood 1 prior to her death. (DW: Army of Ghosts,Smith and Jones)

Torchwood 1

 * Yvonne Hartman (deceased)
 * Doctor Rajesh Singh (deceased)
 * Adeola Oshodi (deceased)
 * Vivien Rook (deceased)
 * Lisa Hallett (deceased)
 * Ianto Jones (transferred to Torchwood 3 following destruction of Torchwood 1)

Torchwood 3

 * Jack Harkness, Leader
 * Owen Harper, Medical doctor, second in command
 * Toshiko Sato, Computer specialist, reverse engineering of alien artifacts
 * Ianto Jones, General support
 * Gwen Cooper, Police liaison, temporary leader during Jack's absence
 * Suzie Costello (deceased)
 * Martha Jones (temporary)

Torchwood 3 (1918)

 * Gerald Carter, Leader (TW:To the Last Man)
 * Harriet Derbyshire
 * Douglas Caldwell
 * Lydia Childs
 * Charles Quinn

Torchwood branches
The Torchwood Institute is known to have four denominations across Britain:

Torchwood also had a base under the Thames Barrier and owns the security firm "H.C. Clements" used to recreate Huon particles. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * Torchwood 1, in Canary Wharf, destroyed during the battle with the Cybermen, and consequently abandoned,
 * Torchwood 2, run from above a bank in Scotland by a "very strange man",
 * Torchwood 3, in Cardiff, set above the Cardiff rift,
 * Torchwood 4, lost, but, in the words of Captain Jack Harkness, "we'll find it someday".

Behind the Scenes
'Torchwood' was a code name for the new series of Doctor Who when it was in production, partly to keep it secret, partly to keep people from absconding with tapes of it before it was produced. The word 'Torchwood' itself is an anagram of 'Doctor Who'.

'Torchwood' is also the name of a spin-off series from the BBC set in Cardiff in the Doctor Who universe.

See also Torchwood.