Gwen Cooper (Torchwood)

Gwen Elizabeth Cooper was a Cardiff police constable who was recruited by Torchwood Three. She eventually rose to second-in-command and, for a short while, commander of the unit. By 2009, Gwen was the only surviving member beyond the immortal Jack Harkness after Torchwood Three was declared an enemy of the British government.

In 2011, she had severed her ties with Torchwood and begun a relatively peaceful life with her husband, Rhys Williams, and their newborn daughter, Anwen Williams. She remained prepared to fight for survival if the government came after her and resumed operations with Jack during the events of Miracle Day. Afterward, she rebuilt Torchwood but ultimately left to start again with Rhys and Anwen.

Biography :

Early life :

Gwen's family was established in Cardiff by the 19th century. The Tenth Doctor believed that this, coupled with the influence of the space-time rift in Cardiff, might explain her physical resemblance to a funeral home employee named Gwyneth, who died on 24 December 1869 in one of the earliest known effects involving the rift. (TV: Journey's End, The Unquiet Dead)

Gwen Cooper was born in Swansea on either 5 May or 16 August 1978 to Geraint and Mary Cooper. (TV: Children of Earth, Something Borrowed, The New World)

When Gwen was a girl, her father came home one day and she eavesdropped on a conversation Geraint and her mother had. She discovered that someone at Geraint's workplace had been stealing money and Geraint had been falsely accused of the thefts. She ran up the stairs and came back to Geraint with about £2.50, to which her father replied, "It's not about the money. It's just that I can't stand anyone thinking I'm dishonest." As Gwen and Geraint played that night, Gwen thought that he was the most honest man she'd ever meet. She later told this story to Jack and Oswald Danes. (TV: The Blood Line)

She did a school project on the Cottingley fairy photos as a child. (TV: Small Worlds)

Gwen had a friend named Janice. Her brother had a pet rat called Fang. (AUDIO: Love Rat)

Before dating Rhys Williams, whom she had met in college, Gwen fought off the romantic attention of police partner Andy Davidson (TV: Adrift) and had a boyfriend named Bruce. Rhys fancied her as soon as he saw her because of her nice personality and her good looks. Rhys often made jokes during the stupidest times. Gwen referred to this as "Rhysing around". (TV: Adam)

For their first date, Rhys took Gwen for a picnic on the beach, though little did he know that the beach was a nudist beach. (AUDIO: The Sin Eaters)

Rhys and Gwen came to live together at a flat in Riverside, and while Gwen's work in Torchwood occasionally brought alien phenomena to Rhys's attention, Rhys did not initially believe in aliens, instead concluding terrorists had caused hallucinations by putting psychotropics in the water supply. (TV: Everything Changes)

Gwen attended Hendon where she trained to become a police officer. (PROSE: Slow Decay)

As a police officer :

As a junior police officer, Gwen attended an incident at a house in Butetown. It was three in the morning, and an elderly man had cut through his left wrist with a hacksaw. Gwen never saw the body. She stood by the door, stopping anyone but the police and the coroner from entering. She remembered the metallic smell of blood coming from inside, along with the sounds of her colleagues attempting to unstick the old man's body from the bath. (PROSE: Slow Decay)

Soon after, she attended an incident at a squat in Ely, when a doped-up kid whacked her in the face with the heel of his hand as he tried to fight his way past her. It gave her a nosebleed. (PROSE: Slow Decay)

By March 2005, Gwen and Andy were partners. (AUDIO: One Rule)

During her final weeks with Cardiff police, Gwen partnered with Jimmy Mitchell on late-night patrols. (PROSE: Another Life) They would often share chips at three in the morning. (PROSE: Slow Decay)

Gwen was a uniformed police constable called in on John Tucker's scene, only to encounter a mysterious team of people referred to as "Torchwood". At a distance, she saw the team, who had called away from the police from the crime scene, resurrecting the victim to test their resurrection gauntlet.

After recovering from an attack inside a pub at a hospital, she saw Torchwood capture a Weevil that killed a hospital porter. Gwen tracked down Torchwood. Captain Jack Harkness took her on a tour of the Torchwood Hub, then dosed her with retcon, a that induced selective amnesia. Gwen partially remembered by connecting a reconstruction of the weapon to a knife seen in the Hub and returned to Roald Dahl Plass. She encountered Suzie Costello, who had secretly murdered several people so that the resurrection gauntlet could be tested. Failing to escape capture, Suzie shot Jack and then committed suicide. Gwen's memories fully returned. Seeing him come back to life after being shot, Gwen became the only person for a time to know of Jack's immortality. With a spot at Torchwood vacant, she joined Torchwood at Jack's invitation, who valued her empathetic nature and ability to see beyond the facts. (TV: Everything Changes)

Personality :

As a Torchwood operative, she provided an essential foil to Captain Jack, although her personal agenda sometimes interfered with her duties. Her actions and decisions were sometimes guided by her desire to protect her live-in boyfriend, and later husband, Rhys. She had a brief, disruptive affair with another operative, Owen Harper, and according to him was capable of sexual techniques which at first caused him pleasure, but later bored him. (TV: Countrycide, Combat) She also shared sexual tension with Jack, but in the end remained true to Rhys. (TV: Something Borrowed)

Gwen had a strong will- she suffered an awful lot during the events of Miracle Day, the most obvious being her father falling into a vegetative state and kept alive only by the Miracle, but despite this, she remained determined to bring back to the world. Her will was especially shown when, after Esther was shot, she remained unflinching and still ended the Miracle, having already accepted that her father would die. However, she was clearly saddened by Esther's , judging by the fact that she attended her funeral. (TV: The Categories of Life, The Blood Line) She was also fiercely proud of her Welsh heritage; when a CIA agent insulted her for being English, she retorted that she was Welsh and punched her out cold. (TV: Rendition)

She was always friendly and related well to people, a trait that she had picked up as a police officer, and the one that caused Jack Harkness to recruit her to Torchwood. (TV: Everything Changes) Unlike other members of the team, she was sympathetic towards the victims of alien incursions and did her best to ease the pain felt by their families. She would sometimes go so far as to reveal Torchwood secrets. (PROSE: Another Life, Slow Decay, TV: Adrift)

Gwen was fond of lasagne (AUDIO: Everyone Says Hello) but hated the taste of peaches. (PROSE: Exodus Code)

Gwen believed that flying was two moments of terror and hours of boredom. (AUDIO: Fall to Earth)

She had poor knowledge of the Welsh language. She, however, knew the translation of the Welsh text on Wales Millennium Centre, knew one or two words which her nan had taught her and was capable of pronouncing Welsh place names, such as Ystradgynlais. (AUDIO: Forgotten Lives, PROSE: Another Life)

How does Gwen end up naked?