Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies’ 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. As a show, Torchwood has transitioned its broadcast channel every year since its inception, moving from BBC Three to BBC Two to BBC One, and acquiring US financing in its fourth series. In contrast to Doctor Who, whose target audience includes adults as well as children, Torchwood is aimed at an older audience.

Torchwood follows the exploits of a small team of alien-hunters, who make up the Cardiff, Wales branch of the fictional Torchwood Institute, which deals mainly with incidents involving extraterrestrials. Its central character is Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), an immortal ex-con man from the distant future who has lived on Earth since the 19th century; Jack originally appeared in the 2005 series of Doctor Who. Under Jack’s leadership, the formerly morally ambivalent organisation operates under a much more humanist ethos. Other than Barrowman, the series’ initial main cast consisted of Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd. Their characters are each specialists for the Torchwood team, often tracking down aliens and defending the planet from alien and nefarious human threats. In its first two series, the show uses a time rift in Cardiff as its primary plot generator, accounting for the unusual preponderance of alien beings in Cardiff. Gorman and Mori’s characters were written out of the programme after the second series. Recurring actor Kai Owen was promoted to the main cast in series three, in which David-Lloyd too was written out. Subsequently, American actors Mehki Phifer, Bill Pullman and Alexa Havins join the cast of the show for its fourth series.

Series four, Torchwood: Miracle Day, will see Torchwood having been reduced to the status of legend following Children of Earth. The narrative will follow two CIA agents who encounter Torchwood’s supernatural world, and later Gwen and Jack. Gardner has stated, however, that as with series three, Cardiff will remain a part of the show’s setting, with Gwen being Welsh and her young family based in Wales.

Main Cast:
John Barrowman     Jack Harkness
Eve Myles     Gwen Cooper
Kai Owen     Rhys Williams
Mekhi Phifer     Rex Matheson
Alexa Havins     Esther Drummond
Gareth David-Lloyd     Ianto Jones
Naoko Mori     Toshiko Sato
Burn Gorman     Owen Harper

• Season 1

1      1-01      101       22/Oct/06   Everything Changes  
2      1-02      102       22/Oct/06   Day One  
3      1-03      103       29/Oct/06   Ghost Machine  
4      1-04      104       05/Nov/06   Cyberwoman  
5      1-05      105       12/Nov/06   Small Worlds  
6      1-06      106       19/Nov/06   Countrycide  
7      1-07      107       26/Nov/06   Greeks Bearing Gifts  
8      1-08      108       03/Dec/06   They Keep Killing Suzie  
9      1-09      109       10/Dec/06   Random Shoes  
10     1-10      110       17/Dec/06   Out of Time  
11     1-11      111       24/Dec/06   Combat  
12     1-12      112       01/Jan/07   Captain Jack Harkness  
13     1-13      113       01/Jan/07   End Of Days  

• Season 2

14     2-01      201       16/Jan/08   Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang  
15     2-02      202       23/Jan/08   Sleeper  
16     2-03      203       30/Jan/08   To the Last Man  
17     2-04      204       06/Feb/08   Meat  
18     2-05      205       13/Feb/08   Adam  
19     2-06      206       13/Feb/08   Reset (1)  
20     2-07      207       20/Feb/08   Dead Man Walking (2)  
21     2-08      208       27/Feb/08   A Day in the Death (3)  
22     2-09      209       05/Mar/08   Something Borrowed  
23     2-10      210       12/Mar/08   From Out of the Rain  
24     2-11      211       19/Mar/08   Adrift  
25     2-12      212       21/Mar/08   Fragments  
26     2-13      213       04/Apr/08   Exit Wounds  

• Season 3

27     3-01      301       06/Jul/09   Children of Earth (1)  
28     3-02      302       07/Jul/09   Children of Earth (2)  
29     3-03      303       08/Jul/09   Children of Earth (3)  
30     3-04      304       09/Jul/09   Children of Earth (4)  
31     3-05      305       10/Jul/09   Children of Earth (5)  

• Season 4

32     4-01                14/Jul/11   The New World  
33     4-02                21/Jul/11   Rendition  
34     4-03                28/Jul/11   Dead of Night  
35     4-04                04/Aug/11   Escape to L.A.  
36     4-05                11/Aug/11   The Categories of Life  
37     4-06                18/Aug/11   The Middle Men  
38     4-07                25/Aug/11   Immortal Sins  
39     4-08                01/Sep/11   End of the Road  
40     4-09                08/Sep/11   The Gathering  
41     4-10                15/Sep/11   The Blood Line