Torchwood
Eve Myles played Gwen Cooper, the female lead in the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood, which aired on BBC Three, BBC Two, BBC One and Starz. She reprised the role in Big Finish Torchwood series. She also guest starred as Gwyneth in the Doctor Who story The Unquiet Dead. Myles described her character to The Western Mail thus: "Gwen starts off as a police officer in Cardiff and then gets involved in the Torchwood team. She's a very down-to-earth girl, kind and generous, but extremely ambitious, feisty, intelligent and witty. But she's also very human — she's really the girl next door. Because I'm playing her, I put a lot of me into it and I take a lot of my own characteristics." Owing to their similar names and the fact that both characters lived near the Cardiff rift, fan speculation arose following the premiere of Torchwood that Gwen Cooper and the character of Gwyneth were related in some way. Russell T Davies once addressed the matter in Doctor Who Magazine #378, stating that they weren't connected, and that "those are completely different names to me...just two names beginning with 'G'." In 2008, Myles appeared as Gwen in two episodes of Doctor Who, The Stolen Earth and Journey's End; in the latter, there is a short conversation between the Tenth Doctor and Rose. Russell T Davies has said, "It's not familial as we understand it. There's no blood tie. Spatial genetic multiplicity means an echo and repetition of physical traits across a Time Rift."
The series is set inside a branch of a covert agency called the Torchwood Institute, where dashing commander in chief Capt. Jack Harkness leads Torchwood Three, an ace team of experts, as it investigates unexplained extraterrestrial incidents on Earth. Other members of the team include newest member Gwen Cooper; medical officer Dr. Owen Harper; computer specialist Toshiko Sato; and technician Ianto Jones. Torchwood Three operates independently of the British government, law enforcement groups and even the United Nations.
Final episode date: 15 September 2011
Program creator: Russell T Davies
The series is set inside a branch of a covert agency called the Torchwood Institute, where dashing commander in chief Capt. Jack Harkness leads Torchwood Three, an ace team of experts, as it investigates unexplained extraterrestrial incidents on Earth. Other members of the team include newest member Gwen Cooper; medical officer Dr. Owen Harper; computer specialist Toshiko Sato; and technician Ianto Jones. Torchwood Three operates independently of the British government, law enforcement groups and even the United Nations.
The lead female character, Gwen featured in every episode of the show's 2006–11 run, as well as two 2008 crossover episodes of Doctor Who. Gwen appears in Expanded Universe material such as the Torchwood novels and audiobooks, comic books and radio plays.
Within the series narrative, Gwen is a South Wales Police officer who discovers the mysterious Torchwood Institute, into which she is recruited by Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). Gwen initially operates as a field agent, bringing a humane and rounded approach to the team's investigations of the extraterrestrial. Gwen's work begins to take a toll on her personal life in series one (2006), but her marriage to Rhys (Kai Owen) keeps her grounded, even as her responsibilities increase in series two (2008). In Children of Earth (2009) and Miracle Day (2011), after Torchwood is destroyed to conceal a government conspiracy, a much hardened Gwen operates under her own mandate as the world undergoes crises linked with unprecedented alien threats.
First episode date: 22 October 2006Final episode date: 15 September 2011
Program creator: Russell T Davies
