Her family has lived in Wales for generations, and it is suggested by the Doctor (David Tennant) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) that Gwen is related to the Gwyneth (also portrayed by Eve Myles) whom they met in Cardiff in 1869 in "The Unquiet Dead", due to spatial genetic multiplicity.

A fantastic genius, she was recruited into Torchwood after being imprisoned by a similar organization, UNIT, from whom she stole design plans for a "sonic modulator" in a bid to free her captured mother.

His job initially involves managing clean-up operations concerning Torchwood's various activities and providing tea and coffee, although his role later expands to accompanying the team on field missions.

Esther Drummond, played by American actress Alexa Havins, is an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) alongside Rex Matheson, whose lifestyle as a field agent she romantically envies.

Oswald Danes, played by American actor Bill Pullman, is a former schoolteacher; in 2006, he was convicted and sentenced to death in Kentucky for raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl named Susie Cabina.

After helping the team to track down the final agent, she pretends to intend on killing Gwen to provoke Torchwood into suicide by cop so that she does not one day experience the dehumanization of having her alien consciousness awoken.

Like all sleepers of her species, Beth's arm can transform into a blade-like weapon and can deploy explosive devices, in addition to this she possesses a tight-knit protective force field (which also projects false humanoid vitals) and superhuman strength.

A combat stress reaction / shell-shocked World War I soldier, born in 1894, Tommy is brought into Torchwood Three's custody and cryopreserved in 1918 after his future self instructs them to do as such through a time slip.

[16] According to the Torchwood website, Carter had been an avid supporter of early "Rift theory", and after controversially being placed in charge of the team in 1907 managed to bring great strides.

In her first appearance, "Dead Man Walking",[23] she sends Jack to the disused St. Mary's parish church, the location of the second Resurrection Gauntlet, but promises it will bring further complications.

[24] Airlock Alpha's Alan Stanley Blair remarked that Parker's death "wonderfully pulled all the threads for the arc into one conclusive ending" whilst SFX's Richard Edwards felt that the character was "worthy of more screen time".

Later, with aid from Andy, Rhys gains access to the overflow camp and sits at Geraint's side as the Miracle is finally negated, allowing Mary to say goodbye to her husband by telephone.

When the house is searched a second time, Mary is refused entry and reluctantly signs forms releasing her dead husband, who is taken back to the overflow camp in preparation for incineration.

[42] The Radio Times' Patrick Mulkern praised the storyline of the Cooper family in "The Gathering" describing the scenes with Mary and Gwen hiding Geraint in the cellar as "tense" and "touching".

[45] Alex Hopkins, portrayed by Julian Lewis Jones, is a former Torchwood Three leader, whose term ended on New Year's Eve, 1999 when he murdered his entire team and committed suicide.

[20] In "Exit Wounds" she and fellow Torchwood employee Charles Gaskell (Cornelius Macarthy) discover Jack Harkness buried in Cardiff, and freeze him in the cryogenic area of the Hub.

[48] Dekker survives the gas attack in the Thames Building (which kills many members of MI5) by pulling on a biohazard suit in the nick of time, a success facilitated in part by the fact that he makes no attempt to save others.

[49][52] Frobisher is ordered by the Prime Minister to publicly send his daughters off for inoculation (the cover for turning over children to the 456), to allow the government to appear just as much of a victim as the rest of the world and 'save face'.

[53] Bridget Spears, played by Susan Brown, appears in Children of Earth and is the personal assistant to Home Office Permanent Secretary John Frobisher and immensely devoted to him – having worked together for thirty years.

[48] However, during negotiations, the 456 discloses that the reason it choose the UK to land was 'off the record', exposing to the Americans, et al., that the British Government are trying to hide the previous encounter in 1965 where 12 children were given to the 456 as a 'gift' in exchange for an antivirus to a current virulent strain.

He has somehow acquired clairalience, a highly enhanced sense of smell, allowing him to detect the impending return of the 456 months before the events shown in the story, as well as other threats and also to determine that Gwen Cooper is pregnant and that Ianto Jones is "queer".

[48][49] After spending much of his life in care under the name Timothy White, traumatized and wracked with tics, Clement comes to Torchwood's attention when he is the only adult relaying the messages from the 456 in unison with the children.

[38] In "The Gathering", Charlotte continues to act as a mole for the Families when Rex uncovers a lead; she tries to put him off researching a pulp short story apparently based on the Little Italy incident, and tells him that a DNA test that could find descendants of the author was unsuccessful.

Writing for the lesbian blogging site AfterEllen, Heather Hogan describes this additional piece of characterization as effective in reminding the audience that the Three Families are ordinary people, living alongside us.

A scene in Gareth David Lloyd's Shrouded had previously depicted Gwen cradling an unnamed and ungendered baby in her arms,[60] whilst the novel First Born, also set prior to Miracle Day, features a storyline where Anwen draws unwanted attention.

[64] Den of Geek's Simon Brew praised Lyn's villainous role, stating in his review of episode two that she was "the most menacing character we’ve met in the show so far, [Oswald] Danes included", in addition to the special effects shot of her twisted neck.

[33] Ellis Hartley Monroe, portrayed by Mare Winningham, is a fictional American politician and Tea Party movement Republican who appears in the episode "Escape to L.A." as a rival to Oswald Danes.

[33] Colin Maloney, played by American actor Marc Vann, appears as in "The Categories of Life" and "The Middle Men" as manager of the San Pedro overflow camp in California.

[37] Episode eight, "End of the Road" begins with Olivia bringing Jack and his Torchwood associates to the Colorado mansion where she lives with her grandfather Angelo, now a decrepit old man in a semi-vegetative state.

While Gwen, Jilly and Jack escape in a cargo lift, the Mother attempts to flee, but Oswald grabs her before detonating his explosive vest, bringing the whole site crashing down on top of them.