outside the government, beyond the police

Torchwood: outside the government, beyond the police. Tracking down alien life on Earth, arming the human race against the future. The twenty-first century is when everything changes. And you gotta be ready.



The Torchwood Institute is the name of a secret organization set up to combat alien threats to the human race. Initially founded by Queen Victoria herself, Torchwood's head office was based in the Canary Wharf tower in London's docklands. However, a devastating alien attack [shown in the Doctor Who episode "Doomsday"] left virtually the entire staff dead, the organization without a leader, and the tiny Cardiff field office left to defend humanity on its own. Well, almost on its own...

Torchwood's small Cardiff office (known as 'The Hub') was established at the end of the 19th Century, on top of a rift in space and time. People, objects and creatures from across the Universe and from all periods of time often find themselves 'washed up' in Cardiff - and it's Torchwood's job to assess if they pose a threat to humanity, and to either capture or destroy them if they do or to take care of them if they don’t.



John Barrowman does a terrific job as Cap'n Jack Harkness, a man whose lived a life that won't allow him to die and has taught him a flexible sense of morality to match his flexible sense of sexuality. Cap'n Jack laughs, jokes, flirts and fights his way through one set after another of impossible circumstances, but a heart of gold beats beneath his suspendered chest. His team means everything to him and he'll give anything to protect them. The casting is excellent, rather than a stable of beautiful people, they have chosen actors that look, and thanks to good writing, behave, like real people.