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

Beginnings

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


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * 25 December 1897. Archie has been working with Torchwood for six months.

After recruiting Jack Harkness

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


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


 * AUDIO: The Victorian Age


 * TV: Exit Wounds (flashback with Alice and Charles finding future Jack in 1901)

More Torchwood branches

 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * 10 March 1908. Archie uses the knowledge sponge to record information on various objects recovered by Torchwood. He recalls the events of The Victorian Age. Archie retires from Torchwood One and forms Torchwood Two.


 * TV: Small Worlds (1909 flashback)


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * Torchwood India sends Object One to Jack in 1924


 * TV: Immortal Sins (1927 flashback)


 * AUDIO: The Dying Room
 * Set in 1940.

Set in 1941.
 * COMIC: Overture


 * AUDIO: Ghost Mission
 * Norton Folgate came to the 2016 from 1953.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * In 1953, Norton Folgate is interrogated by a group of mobsters. He plants Object One on the Mandrake Association, on a mission for the Committee.


 * AUDIO: Goodbye Piccadilly


 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Four (1965 flashback)


 * AUDIO: The Dollhouse
 * Set in the 1970s.


 * AUDIO: Damaged Goods
 * Set in 1987.

Under Yvonne Hartman's leadership

 * TV: Fragments (Alex Hopkins flashback)


 * TV: Fragments (Toshiko Sato flashback)


 * AUDIO: Blind Summit (flashback)
 * AUDIO: One Rule
 * AUDIO: New Girl
 * AUDIO: Through the Ruins
 * AUDIO: Uprising
 * AUDIO: The Law Machines
 * AUDIO: Blind Summit (framing narrative)
 * AUDIO: 9 to 5


 * TV: Fragments (Owen Harper flashback)


 * TV: Aliens of London
 * Toshiko Sato covers for Owen Harper during his second week of work and performs an alien autopsy.


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


 * TV: The Christmas Invasion


 * AUDIO: Infamy of the Zaross

The Battle of Canary Wharf

 * TV: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * Ianto looks for Lisa in the wreckage of Torchwood One.

Under Jack Harkness's early leadership

 * 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
 * Ianto first enters the ferret the night after Lisa dies. A few days later Jack takes Ianto out to hunt Weevils. Later when Ianto returns to the Ferret, he is given advice by Mandy. Jack is contacted by Estelle Cole shortly after and takes Gwen with him instead of Ianto.


 * TV: Small Worlds


 * AUDIO: Broken
 * Jack and Ianto 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. This leads to him being invited on a mission to the brecon beacons for a few days, leading into Countrycide.


 * TV: Countrycide


 * AUDIO: Broken
 * Horrified by what he witnessed in Countrycide, Ianto attempts suicide before being talked down by Mandy. He returns to work the following day.


 * TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts


 * AUDIO: Broken
 * Ianto visits the Ferret on the night that Jack killed Mary. Jack enters the Ferret on the same night investigating rift activity.


 * AUDIO: Instant Karma
 * Tosh has recently discovered what her friends really think of her and recently had a bad relationship, setting this shortly after Greeks Bearing Gifts.


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


 * AUDIO: The Last Beacon
 * The events of Cyberwoman are recent and Ianto is in a relationship with Jack.


 * 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.


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


 * COMIC: The Return of the Vostok
 * Set in March.


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

Under Gwen Cooper's temporary leadership

 * PROSE: Consequences: Kaleidoscope
 * Set shortly after End Of Days with the team arguing over who will take charge in Jack's absence.

Torchwood Three grows closer

 * 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.


 * 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
 * Set in 2008. To the Last Man is referenced and Rhys does not appear to be aware of Torchwood.


 * AUDIO: Hidden


 * AUDIO: Everyone Says Hello
 * Set between Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and Reset.


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


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * One week after The Conspiracy, Gwen Cooper visits a conspiracy theorist possessed br the Committee.


 * AUDIO: Fall to Earth
 * Jack is currently missing.


 * AUDIO: Uncanny Valley
 * Jack decides to return to Torchwood Three.


 * AUDIO: Zone 10
 * Neil Redmond was investigated by the KVI, setting this shortly after Uncanny Valley. Toshiko is working on the Time lock. Anna Volokova says she was born in 1930, with Tosh then exclaiming that she must be 78 years old.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * A week after her visit to Russia, Tosh has reversed the effects of the Bad Penny. She tosses it into another dimension.


 * AUDIO: torchwood_cascade_CDRIP.tor
 * Set after Zone 10 but months before Exit Wounds.


 * TV: Meat


 * PROSE: The Twilight Streets
 * Set between Meat and Adam.


 * AUDIO: In the Shadows
 * Jack gives Gwen two plane tickets to Paris, setting this shortly before Adam


 * TV: Adam
 * Gwen has just returned from a trip to Paris with Rhys.


 * TV: Reset


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


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


 * AUDIO: Corpse Day


 * PROSE: Pack Animals
 * Set in November. After Owen's undeath but before Gwen's wedding.


 * TV: Something Borrowed
 * Gwen and Rhys get married.


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


 * PROSE: Skypoint
 * Set in September. Gwen and Rhys have just returned from their honeymoon. Toshiko is working on the Time lock. Gwen has been with Torchwood for roughly a year.


 * 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.


 * TV: Fragments
 * At least 21 months after the battle of Canary Wharf, according to Ianto's flashback.


 * TV: Exit Wounds
 * Continues where Fragments left off. Owen and Tosh die. In 1901, Jack asks to be frozen for 107 years so that he'd wake up in what he'd consider 'the present.'

After Gray's attack

 * AUDIO: Lost Souls
 * Martha meets Jack for the first time since Owen and Tosh's funeral. Set September 10th 2008.


 * PROSE: Almost Perfect


 * PROSE: Who by Fire


 * PROSE: Gordian


 * PROSE: The Man Who Dreamed of Stars


 * PROSE: Closing Time


 * PROSE: Stakes on a Plane


 * PROSE: I May Be Some Time


 * PROSE: They Keep Killing Andy


 * PROSE: Flotsam and Jetsam


 * PROSE: Happy New Year


 * PROSE: Photo Finish


 * PROSE: Bay of the Dead


 * PROSE: Into the Silence


 * PROSE: The House That Jack Built


 * TV: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End


 * AUDIO: In the Shadows (introduction)
 * Gwen attempts to send a message to Owen and Tosh in the afterlife. She recalls the Dalek Invasion and Torchwood Three's trip to CERN.


 * AUDIO: The Sin Eaters
 * The door to the Hub is still damaged from the Dalek attack. Torchwood Three have a boat called the Sea Queen. It is destroyed by the end of the story.


 * AUDIO: Asylum


 * AUDIO: Golden Age


 * AUDIO: The Dead Line


 * PROSE: The Last Voyage of Osiris
 * Preview to Risk Assessment.


 * PROSE: Risk Assessment
 * Torchwood Three have replaced the Sea Queen with the Sea Queen II.


 * PROSE: The Undertaker's Gift


 * PROSE: Consequences: The Wrong Hands


 * PROSE: Consequences: Virus


 * PROSE: Consequences: Consequences
 * Nina Rogers recalls the Dalek Invasion.


 * PROSE: Postcards from the Rift


 * PROSE: Reflections


 * PROSE: Rare Earth


 * PROSE: The Package


 * PROSE: Ashes to Ashes


 * PROSE: Rift-Raff


 * PROSE: Lockdown


 * 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


 * PROSE: We All Go Through


 * AUDIO: Department X


 * AUDIO: Ghost Train


 * AUDIO: The Devil and Miss Carew
 * AUDIO: Submission


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

The 456 return

 * 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
 * Jack and Gwen attend Ianto's funeral.


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


 * AUDIO: The House of the Dead


 * TV: Children of Earth: Day Five (epilogue)
 * In March 2010, six months after the 456 incident, Jack leaves Earth.

Torchwood disbanded

 * PROSE: First Born
 * Begins around March 2010 with Gwen seven months pregnant, and continues through to about May the same year, with the birth of Anwen Williams.


 * PROSE: The Men Who Sold the World
 * Prequel to The New World. Set nine months after Children of Earth.

Miracle Day epidemic

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


 * TV: Rendition
 * Jack and Gwen are taken to America. According to the date on Rex's phone, it is 22 March 2011.


 * 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 two months after End of the Road.


 * TV: The Blood Line
 * Continues where The Gathering left off. Esther's funeral takes place a few weeks after the main story. According to a date on Rex's phone, it is September 2011.

After Miracle Day

 * AUDIO: Army of One
 * Gwen and Rhys are still in America following Miracle Day. Gwen gives Sarah Drummond a small fortune.


 * AUDIO: Fallout
 * Gwen and Rhys are still in America.


 * AUDIO: Red Skies
 * Jack visits Cotter Paluni's World and has a vision of Gwen dying.


 * AUDIO: Mr Invincible
 * Set shortly after Red Skies with Jack returning to Cardiff to check on Gwen following his vision. Gwen and Rhys have returned to Swansea. The events of Fallout were weeks ago.


 * PROSE: Exodus Code
 * The Miracle ended a few months ago. Andy recalls the events of Fallout while Gwen and Rhys still live in Swansea. Jack joins the crew of the Ice Maiden.

Torchwood returns

 * AUDIO: Forgotten Lives
 * By 2016, Gwen hasn’t seen Jack for five years.


 * AUDIO: More Than This
 * 10 years have passed since Day One, but Torchwood has been forgotten in the space of four years.


 * AUDIO: Ghost Mission
 * Set in 2016. Almost 10 years have passed since Gwen Cooper joined Torchwood and she has recently started trying to set up operations in Cardiff again.


 * AUDIO: Made You Look
 * Set on a Sunday in winter. Gwen and Rhys have a place to store aliens, suggesting that they now have use of the Hub.


 * AUDIO: We Always Get Out Alive
 * Rhys mentions Roger Pugh from More Than This.


 * AUDIO: Night of the Fendahl
 * Gwen gets a phone call from Rhys, and she mentions Anwen.


 * 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: 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: Visiting Hours
 * Set between Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy and Love Rat.


 * AUDIO: Love Rat
 * AUDIO: A Kill to a View
 * AUDIO: Zero Hour
 * AUDIO: The Empty Hand

Under the leadership of a new Yvonne

 * AUDIO: Poker Face
 * AUDIO: Tagged
 * AUDIO: Escape Room
 * AUDIO: Herald of the Dawn
 * 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
 * Jeremiah Bash Henderson visits the Torchwood Archive.

Unplaced

 * PROSE: Harm's Way
 * Set between Meat and Fragments.


 * PROSE: Black Water
 * PROSE: Mrs Acres
 * PROSE: The Beauty of Our Weapons
 * PROSE: The Book of Jahi
 * PROSE: Mend Me
 * Set between Meat and Fragments as Rhys knows about Torchwood but Tosh and Owen are still alive.


 * PROSE: Unplugged
 * Before Fragments.


 * PROSE: Requiem
 * Before Fragments.


 * COMIC: The Legacy of Torchwood One!
 * COMIC: Jetsam
 * COMIC: Rift War!
 * COMIC: Captain Jack and the Selkie
 * COMIC: Broken
 * COMIC: Fated to Pretend
 * COMIC: Shrouded
 * COMIC: Somebody Else's Problem: A Gwen Cooper Story
 * COMIC: Hell House
 * TV: Web of Lies
 * AUDIO: Army of One (Flashback)
 * Set between Meat and Fragments.


 * AUDIO: The Office of Never Was

The Torchwood Archive

 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * Queen Victoria gives Jack the Red Key to dispose of it. Jack takes it to Cardiff where he plans to wait for the Doctor.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * Nicholas I causes the creation of the Committee. He gifts Object One to Victoria who enters it into the Torchwood Archive.


 * AUDIO: ''The Torchwood Archive
 * In 1914, Jack throws the red key into the Rift and causes the creation of the Weevils.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * Suzie Costello calls Yvonne Hartman to inform her about the Ovid sex dolls. Suzie and Jack plan to get rid of Object One by passing it on to Torchwood One.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * Eve Trent confesses to her involvement with the Committee.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * Archie takes a call from Owen Harper in the 21st Century.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * Rhys makes a delivery for the Committee.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * In 2009, Andy goes on a date and attempts to brag about Torchwood.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * In 2017, Mr Colchester visits the Committee. He briefly speaks with Orr.


 * AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive
 * Jack is watched by The Committee while he plays with his dog, Untitled.