The Torchwood Institute was founded in 1879 by order of Queen Victoria; its mission being to safeguard Great Britain from extraterrestrial invasion and to acquire alien technology for the benefit of the Empire.

In modern times, the Institute was seemingly destroyed when London's Torchwood Tower became the focal point for a conflict between the Daleks and the Cybermen.

Thankfully, however, something of Torchwood survived and so the Institute continues to operate in Cardiff on the site of a rift in time and space, the existence of which dates back more than a century.

Although the activities of the Torchwood Institute in the 21th century have not yet been revealed, the local Police Force know of its existence as 'Special Ops', but what happens within the Institute is a secret, more secret than MI5 or MI6, known only to the British military.

Torchwood is considered Black Ops; in the words of team leader Captain Jack Harkness,

"We're seperate from your Government, outside the police, beyond the United Nations...

The 21st century is when everything changes, and you gotta be ready!"

TEAM TORCHWOOD

Captain Jack Harkness: Torchwood Leader

Gwen Cooper: Police Officer

Owen Harper: Genius!!!

Toshiko Sato: Computer Expert

Ianto Jones: There's more to him than meets the eye!

[Suzie Costello (R.I.P.): Hardware Specialist]

If you leave us a comment, it's worth bearing in mind that there are a five people working here at Torchwood and so, depending upon who's here on base at the time, you could get a reply back from any one of them.