Despite being the first spinoff from Doctor Who after the long-running sci-fi series’ revival in 2005, some episodes of Torchwood rival the success, impact, and memorability of those in its parent show. John Barrowman’s Captain Jack Harkness traveled with the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) in Doctor Who season 1, only to be killed during the Dalek invasion in “The Parting of the Ways.” Rose, who absorbed the power of the Time Vortex, brought him back to life, but unknowingly made him immortal, allowing him to headline his own spinoff, Torchwood.
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Torchwood spanned four seasons between 2006 and 2011, following Jack and his small Torchwood team as they dealt with extraterrestrial beings and artifacts that fell through a rift in spacetime in Cardiff — where the Doctor occasionally stops to refuel the TARDIS. The spinoff was hugely popular among adult and older teenage audiences, as Torchwood dealt with more mature and representative themes than Doctor Who. While viewership waned as the series progressed and recent allegations against John Barrowman have soured its legacy, Torchwood includes some of the best episodes and stories in the Whoniverse that still deserve recognition.
10) “Captain Jack Harkness” (Season 1, Episode 12)
While investigating an abandoned dance hall in the penultimate episode of Torchwood’s first season, Jack and Toshiko (Naoko Mori) slip through time and find themselves in 1941, where they meet service personnel at a dance before deployment, including the real Captain Jack Harkness. Our Jack stole his name after arriving during WWII before Doctor Who’s “The Empty Child,” as the real Jack had lost his life. This episode explored LGBTQ+ themes and the concept of mortality beautifully, and marked one of the first times one of the Torchwood team got insight into Jack’s history, which was insightful yet heart-breaking.
9) “Something Borrowed” (Season 2, Episode 9)
Torchwood season 2 ventured into weirder and wilder territories for the series, especially in episode 9, “Something Borrowed.” On the morning of her wedding to Rhys (Kai Owen), Torchwood member Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) wakes up impregnated by an alien she chased the night before. The team realize the baby’s shape-shifting mother will be coming after Gwen to tear its kid out of her, which hilariously interrupts proceedings at her wedding. With brilliant gags, unexpected twists, some gruesome body horror, and huge energy, “Something Borrowed” was a polarizing episode, but, to us, is indicative of everything Torchwood is about.
8) “The Categories of Life” (Season 4, Episode 5)
Torchwood’s third and fourth seasons took a different approach, exploring one story over several episodes, rather than different adventures each week. Season 4 followed the events of “Miracle Day,” which saw the world changed when death was taken off the table. Episode 5, “The Categories of Life,” is the perfect example of humankind’s twisted response, as Vera Juarez (Arlene Tur) investigates an Overflow Camp, only to find that conscious people are being categorized as legally dead, and are being incinerated. She threatens to prosecute the camp’s leader, Colin Maloney (Marc Vann), who subsequently locks her in an incinerator and kills her as Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer) films for evidence. This episode is dark, heart-wrenching, and tough to watch, but expertly shines a light on the most twisted parts of humanity.
7) “Reset” (Season 2, Episode 6)
At the end of Torchwood season 1, Jack runs off to journey to the end of the universe with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), and their fight against the Master (John Simm) bonds them for life. Martha subsequently made an appearance in Torchwood season 2, where she joined the team to investigate deaths connected to drug trials occurring at the enigmatic Pharm. This episode not only marked Agyeman’s brilliant cameo, but also saw Owen Harper (Burn Gorman) killed, allowing him to deliver some of his best performances in the entire series following his resurrection. “Reset” explored a seriously intense, edge-of-your-seat story, making it one of Torchwood’s most memorable episodes.
6) “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” (Season 2, Episode 1)
Back in the day, Russell T. Davies had a great talent of weaving a story thread through an entire season to be paid off in the finale. This happened brilliantly in Torchwood season 2, as, before he became an antagonist-turned-ally in season 2’s finale, Captain John Hart (James Marsters) debuted in the season premiere, “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.” Hart was a fellow Time Agent and a long-time friend to Jack, but he manipulated and toyed with the Torchwood team to find a diamond he stole from an ex-lover. “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” was high-octane, high-energy, and provided some brilliant character moments — everything we want from a season premiere, while planting seeds for the rest of the season, too.
5) “Immortal Sins” (Season 4, Episode 7)
Torchwood season 4 was the most heavily-criticized era of the show, and seemingly marked the series’ demise, but some of its episodes are genius. “Immortal Sins,” for instance, began to reveal the origin of the “Miracle” by taking us back to New York in the 1920s. Jack meets Italian immigrant Angelo Colasanto (Daniele Favilli), and reveals the secrets of his immortality to his secret lover, but this knowledge is abused, Jack’s blood is collected brutally, and the Three Families is formed. This historical episode imitated what we loved about Torchwood’s first two seasons, deepened the “Miracle Day” narrative, and developed Jack’s own history, which was always welcome.
4) “Fragments” (Season 2, Episode 12)
While it was always fun to explore Jack’s history, Torchwood season 2’s penultimate episode, “Fragments,” showed us the backstories of the other members of the Torchwood team. When they find themselves trapped beneath rubble after falling into an explosive trap, the Torchwood team experience flashbacks to their lives before joining the enigmatic organization. Their stories are obviously incredibly heart-breaking, emotional, and poignant — Jack’s former team was killed by their leader when he saw a vision of the future, Owen joined after his fiancée is killed by an alien parasite, Tosh joined to be freed from UNIT imprisonment after stealing plans for illegal technology, and Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) joined in hopes of returning his Cyberwoman girlfriend back to normal. This was the perfect buffer episode before the intense season 2 finale.
3) “Everything Changes” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Torchwood never would have gained the traction it did if its premiere episode, “Everything Changes,” wasn’t as strong as it was. The audience were introduced to Jack Harkness’ Torchwood team through Gwen’s eyes. Originally a police officer in Cardiff, Gwen sees Torchwood using the Resurrection Glove one evening, and subsequently becomes embroiled in their weird and wonderful world, eventually joining the team officially to replace Suzie Costello (Indira Varma). Slick, fun, dramatic, mature, and with a high production value and committed cast, “Everything Changes” was a very strong start to the spinoff that established key threads to be explored later.
2) “Exit Wounds” (Season 2, Episode 13)
After the buffer of “Fragments,” Torchwood season 2 concluded with “Exit Wounds,” which reunited Jack with his long-thought-dead brother, Gray (Lachlan Nieboer). Gray and John Hart set a series of traps and challenges for the Torchwood team in an effort to seek vengeance on Jack, and these obstacles culminated in the tragic and heart-breaking deaths of Owen and Tosh. “Exit Wounds” marked the end of an era for Torchwood before the shift to one-story seasons, and ended the case-of-the-week style with a truly emotional story that paid homage to the series’ past and delivered some incredible moments of acting from Barrowman, Mori, Gorman, and more. This episode is one no Doctor Who or Torchwood fan will ever forget.
1) Torchwood: Children of Earth (Season 3)
Okay, this is a bit of a cheat, but we’re counting Torchwood’s five-part third season as one extra-long episode here, because Children of Earth is just a work of pure genius. With one episode releasing every day for five days, Torchwood: Children of Earth saw alien creatures arrive on Earth and demand 10% of the world’s children as a gift. The British government tries to work out a way to accede to the aliens’ demand, willing to sacrifice millions of children, which brings them to odds with the Torchwood team. Children of Earth explores a very human and grounded story, which makes it all the more believable, terrifying, and poignant. With deaths, pregnancies, sacrifices, huge revelations, drama, incredible performances, and a heart-wrenching narrative, Torchwood: Children of Earth is the best example of what made this series so great, and is some of the reason there have been calls for Torchwood to be revived.
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