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{{quote|''[[Opening Narration|The 21st century is when everything changes, and you gotta be ready.]]''|'''Captain Jack Harkness'''}}
''Torchwood'' is a [[Spin-Off]] of the British science fiction institution ''[[Doctor Who]]'', and set in the [[Whoniverse]]. It's [[Darker and Edgier]], [[Hotter and Sexier]], [[Bloodier and Gorier]], and [[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others|very, very campy]].
'''This page is for series 1 and 2 and the show in general. For tropes in the later seasons, please see their own trope pages:'''
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After the destruction of Torchwood London in ''Doctor Who'', Jack incorporates its remains into his significantly smaller [[Aliens in Cardiff|Cardiff]] branch. It's built on top of a [[Negative Space Wedgie|spatio-temporal rift]] [[Continuity Nod|first seen in]] ''Doctor Who'', through which aliens regularly stumble. They have an [[Elaborate Underground Base]], complete [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs|with a pterodactyl]]. Although ostensibly a secret organisation, they're infamous with the local police. [[Open Secret|And their idea of secrecy involves driving around in a van with the word "Torchwood" in big yellow letters on it, and ordering pizza under the name "Torchwood" to be delivered at their unlocked front door]].
Before the series aired, "Torchwood" was frequently mentioned or alluded to in ''Doctor Who''. Tosh first shows up in "[[Doctor Who
Has a [[Torchwood/Recap|recap page]]. Its [[Ho Yay]] goes under [[Doctor Who/Ho Yay|Doctor Who's page]].
For a full list of novelisations and audio dramas, see [[wikipedia:List of Torchwood novels and audio books|this page]] on [[The Other Wiki]].
----
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Aliens in Cardiff]]: [[Justified Trope|Justified]] due to a space-time rift, making it a hubbub of otherworldy activity.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Aliens Are Bastards]]
* [[All Love Is Unrequited]]: Let's see. We have Gwen, who does love Rhys, but not in the same way she loves Jack. Jack loves her, but stays away because she's taken, and he's also infatuated with the Doctor. He starts sleeping with, then seriously dating, Ianto, who is in love with him, but Jack has a tendency to avoid the subject of love {{spoiler|until ''[[Torchwood the Lost Files]]''}}. Tosh is in love with Owen, who won't give her the time of day. (There is an episode when he does due to mind-altering aliens, but then she has no interest in him due to same.) Oh, and Andy used to date Gwen and would like her to stop being so happy with Rhys.
* [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]:
** Ianto to Jack. {{spoiler|As the former is dying.}} Made only worse by the fact that it was the ''first time he ever said it.'' Not to mention that in spite of all development shown in the series so far, Jack couldn't say the same thing. Although given how many of his loved ones have died so far, Jack may intentionally be avoiding this because it simply hurts too much knowing that [[Fate Worse Than Death|he will always outlive them]].
** Also, Owen to Tosh while they're brainwashed, and Tosh to Owen as {{spoiler|Owen is briefly revived after dying}}. Which quickly turns embarrassing for everyone involved when {{spoiler|their new revival method has unexpected side effects, and Owen can't go back to being dead}}.
* [[Anticipatory Breath Spray]]
* [[Anyone Can Die]]:
** At this point, {{spoiler|apart from Gwen, all of Torchwood 3}}. Although Jack obviously didn't stay dead.
** Early on, it's mentioned that except for Jack, everyone at Torchwood is relatively young; due to the extremely dangerous nature of their work, few Torchwood employees live to see 35. Although many shows about troubleshooting elite teams make this sort of "everyone on our team dies young" claim, Torchwood is notable for {{spoiler|actually making good on it}}.
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* [[Artifact Collection Agency]]: Torchwood. Among other things.
* [[Asian and Nerdy]]: Toshiko.
* [[Author Appeal]]: For [[Russell T. Davies]] -- Wales, aliens and hot guys making out.
* [[Back From the Dead]]: Jack Harkness. It's a law of the universe. It happens to others as well, with mixed results.
* [[Bad Dreams]]: Jack, in "Small Worlds".
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* [[Black Comedy Rape]]: Owen's [[Establishing Character Moment]] in episode one includes him drugging a girl and her boyfriend for sex purposes.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Happens to Ianto in "Adam", happens to Tosh in "Greeks Bearing Gifts", happens to Gwen in "End of Days"...they all get more than their fair share of these moments, really.
* [[Broken Masquerade]]:
** Any shreds of secrecy probably evaporated somewhere between the episode where a psycho started writing TORCHWOOD in blood on walls and the episode where an [[Eldritch Abomination]] stomped around the Millennium Centre.
{{quote|"Have you seen a blowfish driving a sports car?"
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** Ask for Torchwood and people will point you in the right direction. They order pizza under the name.
** The fact they drive around in large vehicles with flashing blue lights and "Torchwood" written along the side doesn't help much, either.
* [[But Not Too Bi]]: Averted with Jack, who is continuously shown to like and love all sexes, genders and species equally. Despite that, he's ''still'' accused of this trope by some fans.
* [[Came Back Wrong]]: Several characters, including {{spoiler|Suzie and Owen}}, thanks to the Resurrection Gauntlet and its twin. This is also notably the reason behind Jack's immortality.
* [[Cannibal Clan]]: "Countrycide".
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* [[Continuity Snarl]]: Given the multiple writers, mediums and moods between seasons, it's not much of a surprise. Among the lighter contradictions we have the one concerning whether Jack sleeps or not that came up in series one.
* [[Couldn't Find a Pen]]: Tosh uses her own blood to send a message in "Captain Jack Harkness". She could easily have ''borrowed'' a pen, but the message needed to last for about sixty years. Ink fades faster than blood.
* [[Crapsack World]]:
** The series generally and ''Children of Earth'' in particular flirt with this.
** ''[[Torchwood: Miracle Day|Miracle Day']]'' takes this trope [[Up to Eleven]] and [[It Got Worse|beyond]] with the ''entire'' human race [[Blessed with Suck|becoming]] [[Immortality|immortal]]. {{spoiler|[[Age Without Youth|and you can forget about not aging]] [[And I Must Scream|or healing from usually fatal wounds.]]}}
* [[Cut Himself Shaving]]: Toshiko, after [[Couldn't Find a Pen|being unable to find a pen]] in "Captain Jack Harkness", hand waves her wound as falling over.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]:
** Usually Owen and Ianto but everyone on the original team gives it a go at some point.
** Though typically Owen uses more of a bitter sarcasm while Ianto covers the 'deadpan' angle.
** Even outside of the team members, this seems to be a staple of the series.
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* [[Dead Star Walking]]: Suzie.
* [[Death By Pragmatism]]: Turned on its edge.
* [[Downer Ending]]:
** Series 2 ends with {{spoiler|Toshiko and Owen dying}}. ''Children of Earth'' (although it was downright happy compared to how hopeless things seemed for most of the final episode}. "Small Worlds", "Out of Time", "Sleeper", "Greeks Bearing Gifts" and "Cyberwoman" also had downer endings.
** Jack's entire existence. No matter what he does, the people he loves will eventually die, while he remains exactly the same. Although {{spoiler|"Gridlock" potentially gives him an awesome ending, if he indeed is the Face of Boe.}}
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Suzie.
* [[Drugged Lipstick]]: Why you shouldn't kiss Captain John Hart.
* [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma]]:
** Jack does this to Ianto in a [[Fan Service|very unprofessional]] [[Kiss of Life]] fashion in "Cyberwoman".
** Played with in "End of Days" when Gwen kisses Jack's three-day-old dead body to say goodbye (though he then proceeds to revive).
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** It gets so bad in ''Children of Earth'', that if you plan to watch all the episodes together, ''at least'' mix in something mildly uplifting between episodes or after viewing. Otherwise, prepare for a week of depression.
* [[Easily Forgiven]]: Let's count 'em...
** In "Cyberwoman", we find out Ianto's been hiding his girlfriend Lisa (turned into a dangerous Cyberman) in the basement. He endangers the whole planet, tells Jack he wants him dead after Jack kills Lisa, but is forgiven by the end of the episode. ... And starts sleeping with Jack.
** Captain Jack is {{spoiler|shot dead}} by Owen. Despite the fact Owen was unaware that Jack would resurrect, Jack easily forgives him.
** In that same episode, the team mutinies against Jack and unintentionally releases a giant monster that steals the life force of anyone its giant shadow falls upon. Jack manages to destroy it by letting it feed of him. However, the effort leaves him dead for three days, which is the longest to date that he's ever stayed dead. He still forgives the team, minutes after reviving. It might be subverted, given that he ran off to find the Doctor a few scenes later.
** In "Exit Wounds", Captain Jack forgives his brother, Grey, for burying him alive for almost exactly 1900 years. By 'alive' we mean that he suffocated to death and then revived every couple of minutes for nineteen centuries as the city of Cardiff is established above him. Mind you, this is after Grey has John Hart systematically blow up Cardiff, in addition to stabbing Jack in the back (literally!) when they're first reunited. To be fair, though, Jack blames his own failure to protect his brother for being the root cause of all this. And he didn't know what had happened to Owen and Tosh until after the forgiving.
* [[Even the Guys Want Him]]: Admit it, you want to kiss Captain Jack. It's okay. It's not all guys, just Jack...
* [[Everybody Has Lots of Sex]]
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** A [[Badass Longcoat]] who is [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] that investigates the paranormal with a [[Five-Man Band]], which is a more adult [[Spin-Off]] of a previous show? [[Angel|Wait, what show are we talking about?]] Just check the main images for ''[[Angel]]''. [[Russell T. Davies]] WAS pretty heavily inspired by [[Joss Whedon]].
* [[Exposition of Immortality]]: Jack Harkness displays his immortality in [[Extreme Omnisexual|anyway he can, baby.]] Between his Word War I meeting with [[The Fair Folk|faeries]], a series of photos showing how much he ''hasn't'' aged over the years and him keeping around mementos from past times like his Webley revolver and his Army greatcoat, the only he doesn't do is talk with accent from the past.
* [[Extra-Strength Masquerade]]: The city of Cardiff has a permanent [[Negative Space Wedgie]] running through it, which causes aliens to appear and people to disappear on a regular basis. The sewers are infested by monstrous humanoid "Weevils". Basically the ''entire city'' is a [[Weirdness Magnet]]. Just to top it all off, ''Torchwood'' takes place in the [[Whoniverse]] wherein the existence of aliens has become ''extremely'' public (due to multiple alien invasions). Yet in spite of this the populace of Cardiff seems to be in an amazingly deep state of denial about all the extraterrestrial goings on in their city, at least early on in the series.
* [[Extreme Omnisexual]]:
** Jack. In fact, John Barrowman apparently once said Jack would do anything that's got a hole. Later, on a Doctor Who special edition of ''[[The Weakest Link]]'', Barrowman said that Jack likes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtdGwiMtZ08 "anything with a postcode"].
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* [[Fan Disservice]]: Rhys' bum.
* [[Fan Service Pack]]: Toshiko Sato grew more beautiful during her run on the show.
* [[Fetus Terrible]]: Several kinds of alien implants. The one carried by {{spoiler|Gwen}} is a subversion: the unborn wasn't really the deadly part, it was the unborn's mother coming to rip it out of her.
* [[First Episode Spoiler]]: Jack's immortality.
* [[Flashback Echo]]: Gwen in the first episode, triggered by an odd-looking knife she was sure she'd seen before...
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* [[Guarding the Portal]]: The Cardiff Rift, that is.
* [[Head-Tiltingly Kinky]]:
** Jack, of course, but even more so -- Captain John Hart.
{{quote|'''Hart''': That's bloody ''gorgeous''.
'''Gwen''': That's a ''poodle''. }}
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* [[Hurting Hero]]: Jack.
* [[Iconic Item]]: Jack's greatcoat. Even when the [[Elaborate Underground Base|Hub]] is collapsing around their ears, Ianto pauses in his escape to grab it for him; later {{spoiler|he tracks down a replacement coat after the original is destroyed in "Day One"}}, because Jack doesn't feel like the captain without it. Ianto's suits function similarly.
* [[Idiot Ball]]: So much so that most of the main characters are granted at least one idiot ball ''episode''.
* [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face]]: That is NOT how you handle a gun, dangit.
* [[IKEA Weaponry]]: Jack and Ianto assemble a [[BFG]] from two suitcases in the back of their SUV when an alien proves [[Immune to Bullets]].
* [[Impersonating an Officer]]
* [[Informed Attribute]]: Jack's sex life. He talks about it all the time, but doesn't show much of it on camera.
* [[Interrogating the Dead]]: Done in "Everything Changes".
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Owen.
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** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJd5ldQXJdo Jack's theme] also contains noticable riffs and variations on ''The Doctor's Theme'' and ''This is Gallifrey'' at the 1:07 and 2:00 minute mark respectively, echoing that Jack has come to strongly resemble the Time Lord himself.
* [[Lovable Sex Maniac]]: Pretty much everyone at Torchwood at one point or another, but mostly Jack.
* [[Love Makes You Dumb]]: This trope is basically Ianto's way of life.
* [[Love Triangle]]: Every single member of the main cast is involved in at least one to varying degrees and with mixed results.
* [[Magical Abortion]]: Torchwood has a lot of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that can be used for different occasions, including this one.
* [[Mars Needs Women]]: Gwen's pregnancy in "Something Borrowed".
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* [[Mayfly-December Romance]]: Jack and most of his love interests. To make matters worse, most of the people he falls for are {{spoiler|tragic heroes who die young}}.<br /><br />[[Lampshaded]] pretty painfully by {{spoiler|Ianto's death.}}
{{quote|{{spoiler|"Don't forget me."}}}}
* [[Meaningful Background Event]]: During the episode "Captian Jack Harkness", Vote Saxon signs can be seen hung on the door of the dance hall.
* [[The Men in Black]]: Torchwood itself.
* [[A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read]]: Happens to Toshiko in the episode "Greeks Bearing Gifts."
* [[Mr. Vice Guy]]: Jack and his lust, as well as his brashness.
* [[Muggle and Magical Love Triangle]]: Gwen is caught between Jack (magical) and Rhys (muggle). It never goes anywhere, though -- she only gives Jack a few friendly snogs. The trope is played a bit straighter with Gwen's affair with Owen, since she can't share her experiences with Rhys and sees Owen as someone who ''understands'' about aliens and monsters.
* [[Mundanger]]: A [[Cannibal Clan]] in "Countrycide".
* [[My Friends and Zoidberg]]: Jack is told off by Toshiko that everyone of his staff has feelings, even Owen.
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* [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore]]: Post-Series 2, the whole format of the show has changed. The "monster of the week"-style storytelling has been abandoned in favour of single-story serials. Cardiff is no longer the fixed setting, and only two of the original cast of five remains.
* [[The Not-Secret]]:
** Torchwood, secret agency that everyone knows about.
** Series 2 opener: "Bloody Torchwood!"
** "Ask about Torchwood, and most people point towards the bay."
** Also, the team would regularly order pizza deliveries to the shop that acted as a disguised entrance to their [[Elaborate Underground Base|hidden base]]. These were charged to an account named "Torchwood" that one of the agents had set up with the pizza company. And they leave the front door open. At least one pizza delivery girl ends up dead this way.
* [[Not So Different]]:
** John Hart. Who is essentially as amoral as Jack was in his first appearance.
** Jack is repeatedly showing traits of the Doctor. Like the Doctor, he seems to be partially aware that he needs someone with him to keep him grounded and to stop succumbing to his darker impulses.
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Jack can ramble at length about where he's been and who he slept with while there. This isn't always because he's the [[Handsome Lech]].
* [[Oddly Small Organization]]:
** "We're outside the government and beyond the police, arming the Earth against the future. The twenty-first century is when everything changes, and we gotta be ready. All five of us."
{{quote|'''Jack''': This is Torchwood 3. Torchwood 1 was London -- destroyed in the battle. Torchwood 2 is an office in Glasgow. [[Cryptic Background Reference|A very strange man]]. Torchwood 3, Cardiff. Torchwood 4 has [[Noodle Incident|kinda gone missing]] but we'll find it one day.}}
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* [[Punch Clock Villain]]: They feature heavily in the series 3 and 4 miniseries, which concentrate more on "banality of evil"-type villains than "[[Monster of the Week]]" baddies.
* [[Railing Kill]]: John Hart does this to Jack in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang."
* [[Rape as Drama]]: In "Ghost Machine", when Owen experiences the feelings of a girl getting raped through telepathy, and does a total [[Heel Face Turn]] on [[Black Comedy Rape|the topic]].
* [[Reckless Gun Usage]]:
** A shooting lesson scene showed Gwen playfully pointing a loaded gun at Jack's face. Admittedly, he can get better, [[Artistic License Gun Safety|but as an ex-soldier he should have reacted more than]] "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_0uX1etAcY Target's that way!]", if only to save her next target.
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* [[Servile Snarker]]: Ianto
* [[Sex Is Interesting]]: This works out better than most because sex is usually interesting for the sake of comedy, at least when Captain Jack is involved.
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|James Marsters]] in his first appearance shows up, kills a man by lifting him by his throat with super strength and says "Thirsty now." A very subtle reference to his most famous role as Spike.
*** In the bar he mentions that Torchwood needs a blonde. Considering that Spike had a thing for blondes it seemed...
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'''Jack:''' Zombies!
'''Ianto:''' -zed word. }}
** There are shout outs to other series and mediums, such as in the Torchwood Online Mission game...
{{quote|'''Gwen''': Oh my god. Ianto, do you realise everything just got broadcast right across Cardiff?
'''Ianto''': Meh. No one will believe it's real. In 1938 the government convinced the entire world that an [[War of the Worlds|alien attack on New Jersey was just a radio play]]. Relax. }}
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* [[Sleeps with Everyone but You]]: Owen will shag anything that moves, but spurns Tosh, who is madly in love with him.
* [[Sliding Scale of Undead Regeneration]]
* [[The Slow Path]]:
** The only one available to Jack. There's a possibility that Jack is destined to {{spoiler|live for another five BILLION years}}.
** Inverted in the case of Tommy, a doughboy Torchwood has kept in suspended animation since 1918. He's woken up for one day every year to check his health. To him WWI ended less than four months ago. He's a little bitter that from his point of view, WWII rolled around about three weeks after "the war to end all wars."
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** In fact, Torchwood seems to thrive on damaged people.
** According to the online material for the first series, Ianto Jones has a therapist, with whom he discusses losing his job and having [[Unwilling Roboticisation|"problems]] [[You Will Be Assimilated|with his girlfriend"]]. Unfortunately, he only does one session of therapy and never goes back, [[Dark and Troubled Past|despite really needing it]].
* [[Took a Level In Badass]]: Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto all take levels in the different series.
* [[Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth]]: Owen during Series 2 proves to be unpalatable to various hungry aliens. On several occasions they sniff at him and turn away in disgust, leaving Owen looking unsure whether to be relieved or insulted.
* [[Toyless Toyline Character]]: There have been weevils and blowfish and even two versions of Jack, but Owen is still the only member of the team to not have an action figure. Although, there was rumor of a briefly displayed prototype sculpture...
* [[Ultimate Job Security]]:
** Ianto, whose main function in the base appears to be making coffee, was allowed to keep his job after they discovered he was keeping a partially converted Cyber(wo)man in the Torchwood basement, which led to two deaths and directly endangered the entire planet. He showed little contrition over this, and after Jack insisted that she be destroyed threatened he would watch Jack die. Couldn't they just make their own coffee?
** The entire group mutinies against Jack which results in him getting shot dead and an unholy demon being released to feast on the citizens of Cardiff.
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* [[Wham! Line]]: {{spoiler|"The hit."}} from Day Five. Day One gives us a Wham ''Word'': {{spoiler|"We are coming, we are coming, we are coming... ''back''."}}
* [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]: Jack.
** [[Living Forever Is Awesome]]: Then again, it ''is'' an endless amount of time for sex.
* [[Xanatos Roulette]]:
** In "They Kept Killing Suzie", and how! To overview, Suzie brainwashes a man into killing people: and writing 'TORCHWOOD' in their blood -- and, when captured, repeating a phrase that she had programmed months earlier to cause a full base lock-down. She apparently knew that Torchwood would revive her to get information, that specifically Gwen Cooper would use the alien glove and alien knife to revive her, and that the process would drain Gwen's life energy. It's foiled at the last minute, but comes ''damn'' close to working.
** The plan didn't depend on Gwen being the person using the glove, although Suzie probably preferred it that way. All in all, it's more clever and convincing than many others.
* [[What Exactly Is His Job?]]: Ianto, who is introduced by Jack to Gwen as being the person who "cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time...[[Ho Yay|and he looks good in a suit."]]
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: Outside of a flashback in "Fragments" (set before the first episode), the pterodactyl hasn't been seen since "Meat". Currently it's not known if it survived the events of ''Children of Earth''.
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