History Trivia / Torchwood

* CaliforniaDoubling: Averted. The producers are on the record as being relieved that the series could (for its first two series) be set in Cardiff, so they don't have to pretend that recognizable landmarks are actually somewhere else.

* NamesTheSame: Alice Carter should not be confused with pre-war Torchwood member Alice.

* ExiledFromContinuity: The Doctor was barred from making an appearance on the grounds that children should not be watching the show at all, and should not be encouraged to do so by a cameo from him. Jack and Martha were allowed to show up, the Doctor's severed hand made an appearance, and one plot featured a major character played Creator/PeterCapaldi, but that's as far as it went. ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' actually provides a particularly heartbreaking Watsonian explanation for the Doctor's absence in these DarkerAndEdgier storylines, when Gwen tearfully admits to the camera that she thinks the reason the Doctor never shows up at Earth's greatest atrocities is that he's disgusted with the way humans act in these events.

** When writing the initial outline of Series 2, Creator/RussellTDavies's original intention was that Ianto would die and be resurrected instead of Owen.

** "Communion", also by Lidster, which would have involved a Messiah-like figure controlling nightclubbers. The plot shares similarities with Lidster’s 2002 ''Doctor Who'' audio drama “The Rapture”.

Season Specific Pages:

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: "[[Recap/TorchwoodS1E6Countrycide Countrycide]]" is the cast's favorite episode because they're "sick people" in the words of Creator/EveMyles and the gruesome, horror film like content appealed to them.

* ExiledFromContinuity: The Doctor was barred from making an appearance on the grounds that children should not have been watching the show at all, and should not have been encouraged to do so by a cameo from him. Jack and Martha were allowed to show up, his severed hand made an appearance, and one plot featured a major character played Creator/PeterCapaldi, but that's as far as it went. ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' actually provides a particularly heartbreaking Watsonian explanation for the Doctor's absence in these DarkerAndEdgier storylines, when Gwen tearfully admits to the camera that she thinks the reason the Doctor never shows up is that he's disgusted with the way humans act in the events Torchwood gets involved in.

* NamesTheSame: Alice Carter should not to be confused with pre-war Torchwood member Alice.

* RecycledScript: "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E10FromOutOfTheRain From Out of the Rain]]" has very strong conceptual and plot similarities to "Assignment 4" from P J Hammond's earlier horror series ''Series/SapphireAndSteel''.

** "Checkout" by Joseph Lidster, a Jack-Ianto focused episode pitched as "[[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard in a supermarket]]". Set shortly after Ianto was brought back from the dead (as was originally planned, before this storyline shifted to Owen), it would have involved getting a woman named Maggie, the supermarket’s last customer, out alive. The store would have been possessed by a demonic creature from the rift that manifested only late at night and which feds of the human life-force. Ianto would have able to save the day due to being already dead.
** "Into the Silence", also by Joseph Lidster, which would have seen Jack being transported to Hell by a malevolent cab driver. It was later reworked by Lidster as the audiobook ''Into The Shadows''.
** "Communion", also by Lidster, which would have involved a Messiah like figure controlling nightclubbers. The plot shares similarities with Lidster’s 2002 ''Doctor Who'' audio drama “The Rapture”.

** "Deadline" by Phil Ford, an Owen-centric episode which would have involved his medical background as something in the phones causes a series of deadly suicides across Cardiff. The idea originated from a strange phone Creator/RussellTDavies recalled having where the line suddenly went dead followed another person’s voice speaking. Ford completed two drafts of the script before being asked to instead work on that years finale episode for ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures''. By the time he returned to work on the episode plans for series two had changed significantly. The story arc for series two now involved Owen being killed mid-season and returned to life in an undead state (a fate originally intended for Ianto) meaning this story didn't fit Owen’s character anymore. After the collapse of Phil Ford's version of the script, Joseph Lidster was invited to develop the idea as "1471" before it was finally reworked by Ford as the radio play "The Dead Line".
** "Cross My Palm With Silver" by James Moran. This story idea started out as an earlier version of what would become "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E2Sleeper Sleeper]]". The character of Beth was originally envisaged as a fake fortune teller who was making her predictions come true with her unknown telekinetic abilities.

** "The Jinx" by Creator/AndrewCartmel, which involved a curse being placed on Gwen where bad luck befalls the men in her life. It would have featured warring Celtic goddesses who turn out to be aliens and Rhys nearly dying in a washing machine accident. Development stalled due to it conflicting with the death of Ianto/Owen storyline and Gwen and Rhys' wedding in "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E2Sleeper Sleeper]]". It was then hoped to be part of the third series until it was abandoned in favor of "Children of Earth" storyline.

** When writing the initial outline of Series 2, Creator/RussellTDavies' original intention was that Ianto would die and be resurrected instead of Owen.

** "The Jinx" by Andrew Cartmel, which involved a curse being placed on Gwen where bad luck befalls the men in her life. It would have featured warring Celtic goddesses who turn out to be aliens and Rhys nearly dying in a washing machine accident. Development stalled due to it conflicting with the death of Ianto/Owen storyline and Gwen and Rhys' wedding in "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E2Sleeper Sleeper]]". It was then hoped to be part of the third series until it was abandoned in favor of "Children of Earth" storyline.
** "Diplomatic Mission", also by Andrew Cartmel, which involved a group of aliens attempting to close the rift by destroying Earth.

* ExiledFromContinuity: The reason the Doctor never appeared in the series is because Creator/TheBBC wouldn't allow it. Probably for the best.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The reason the Doctor never appeared in the series is because Creator/TheBBC wouldn't allow it. Probably for the best.

* TroubledProduction: The first series was made in an extreme rush, leading to several questionable production decisions; Chris Chibnall reportedly ''hated'' the infamous Cyberwoman costume, having envisaged something more BodyHorror-based, but there was no time to change it and they were stuck with it. A lot of the series was also accidentally shot in interlaced video and had to have a film effect applied in post-production (which was spun as "camera problems", since strictly speaking they shouldn't have been allowed to filmise it).

** The creators were in talks with Music/{{ABBA}} to do a musical episode. The plan never got off the ground.

** "Deadline" by Phil Ford, an Owen-centric episode which would have involved his medical background as something in the phones causes a series of deadly suicides across Cardiff. The idea originated from a strange phone Creator/RussellTDavies recalled having where the line suddenly went dead followed another person’s voice speaking. Ford completed two drafts of the script before being asked to instead work on that years finale episode for ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures''. By the time he returned to work on the episode plans for series two had changed significantly. The story arc for series two now involved Owen being killed mid-season and returned to life in an undead state (a fate originally intended for Ianto) meaning this story didn't fit Owen’s character anymore. After the collapse of Phil Ford’s version of the script, Joseph Lidster was invited to develop the idea as "1471" before it was finally reworked by Ford as the radio play "The Dead Line".
** "Cross My Palm With Silver" by James Moran. This story idea started out as an earlier version of what would become "[[{{Recap/TorchwoodS2E2Sleeper}} Sleeper]]". The character of Beth was originally envisaged as a fake fortune teller who was making her predictions come true with her unknown telekinetic abilities.

** "The Jinx" by Andrew Cartmel, which involved a curse being placed on Gwen where bad luck befalls the men in her life. It would have featured warring Celtic goddesses who turn out to be aliens and Rhys nearly dying in a washing machine accident. Development stalled due to it conflicting with the death of Ianto/Owen storyline and Gwen and Rhys' wedding in "[[{{Recap/TorchwoodS2E2Sleeper}} Sleeper]]". It was then hoped to be part of the third series until it was abandoned in favor of "Children of Earth" storyline.

** "Revenants", also by Lidster, which started out as an earlier version of what would become "[[{{Recap/TorchwoodS2E8ADayInTheDeath}} A Day in the Death]]". It would have focused on Ianto coming to terms with his recent death and involved a group of people affected by various near-death experiences being targeted by an "angel of death".
** "SkyPoint", also by Phil Ford, which would have seen an alien creature living in an apartment block where other residents are going missing. It was later reworked by Ford as the novel of the same name.

* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: In 2021, following Creator/JohnBarrowman's misconduct allegations, the audio play ''After Life'' was cancelled.

** Rhys was supposed to be KilledOffForReal in Series 1, but retained him partly because the producers liked Kai Owen as an actor.

* RoleEndingMisdemanor: In 2021, following Creator/JohnBarrowman's misconduct allegations, the audio play ''After Life'' was cancelled.

** A Dalek episode was considred for Series 1, but was nixed on the grounds it might encourage children to watch.