Clement McDonald Clement McDonald , simply known as Clem , or Timothy White by the staff of the Digby York Hospital , was one of twelve children offered to the 456 in 1965 and the only one not to be taken in that exchange . He would grow up in secret , until Torchwood Three took notice of him when he began chanting the mass message spoken by the children of Earth in 2009 . He was known as " the Remnant " by the 456 , who eventually " disconnected " him , resulting in his death . He suffered a consistent verbal tic , " Isn ' t it ? " , accompanied by a twitch of his face . It was the result of a suppressed traumatic memory of the night he was bused to the 456 and asked , " It ' s safe though , isn ' t it ? " to Captain Jack Harkness before stepping into the light that appeared before him . Biography . The 456 . First encounter ( 1965 ) . He was born in Scotland in 1953 . An orphan , he grew up at the Holly Tree Lodge in the same country . In 1965 , an alien race designated the 456 came to Earth to offer the human race the anti - virus to a new strain of Indonesian influenza which would wipe out millions of lives , in exchange for twelve children to be , unknown to them , harvested for certain chemicals that gave the 456 an equivalent of a high from Earth narcotics . In November of that same year , the British government and the Torchwood Institute chose Clem and eleven others from the orphanage , believing that that no one would miss them , and so kept the act a secret . After arriving in a secluded location , Captain Jack Harkness drove them to a white light , and guided them from there . ( TV : " " ) However , Clem was the only one who managed to escape . He was chased for several miles until the 456 decided to stop . ( TV : " " ) After that , he was somewhat connected to the aliens , and possessed a sense of smell far beyond normal for a human being , as well as psychic ability . For the next four decades he would be haunted by Harkness ' face , ( to the point where he recognised Harkness ' s scent years later ) , and was for unknown reasons submitted to a psychiatric hospital in East Grinstead after spending most of his life in and out of care in Leeds . He subsequently lost his Scottish accent and went under the alias of Timothy White to avoid detection by the government . ( TV : " " ) Gwen theorised he was spared because he was on the cusp of puberty , which may have rendered him useless to the 456 . Although they seemed to have simply abandoned him , some measure of a two - way connection did remain . ( TV : " " ) Second encounter ( 2009 ) . In September 2009 , the 456 returned and began transmitting a message through the voice of every child on Earth : " we are coming . " Clem also chanted the words , the only adult known to do that too . This attracted the attention of Gwen Cooper from Torchwood Three . She took time to visit him on the first day of the 456 incident . As " Timothy White " listened to Gwen , he was able to use his sense of smell to determine she was telling the truth and that she worked to stop alien threats . He told her his actual story and that he could sense the coming arrival of the 456 ( he didn ' t like their smell the closer to Earth they got ) . He also gave Gwen a stunning pronouncement : she was three weeks pregnant . In shock , she left . Later , after being discovered by the British government , he was targeted for assassination . When agents arrived at the hospital to terminate him , he used his precognitive knowledge to take action , attacking his interns and escaping into the night . ( TV : " " ) On the second day , he was seen in a pub near London , where his smell sense of the 456 grew even stronger ; the people in the pub grew suspicious of him . When the children began chanting that " we are coming tomorrow , " Clem once again joined them and was horrified by what he was stated to have said afterwards . Ranting that he could smell the 456 getting closer , Clem ' s panicked state made everyone nearby think he was crazy . After the barmaid determined he had stolen a wallet , she immediately called the police , who arrested him after a brief struggle . ( TV : " " ) On Day Three , he was released on bail by Gwen and Andy Davidson , and was brought to their makeshift base in London belonging to Torchwood One , after their hub was destroyed by the government . To his utter horror , however , he found himself facing the demon of his nightmares — Harkness , who hadn ' t changed a bit in 44 years . ( TV : " " ) In revenge and anger , he shot Jack dead , but was further stunned after Jack revived himself . Gwen was able to calm Clem down , and he was able to provide some assistance to the team again . Jack and Ianto Jones were able to get into Thames House to negotiate with the 456 , who had arrived the previous day ( they demanded 10 % of Earth ' s children ) . When the 456 refused to go empty handed , it attacked Clem with a hypersonic signal ; the trauma caused internal bleeding to his body from his brain . Eventually , before it killed everyone inside Thames House , it " disconnected " him , effectively killing him in front of Gwen ' s eyes . ( TV : " " ) The next day , while trying to figure out a way to fight the 456 , Jack speculated on why the 456 killed Clem since he was no threat to them . Jack postulated that Clem ' s connection with the 456 hurt them in some way and decided to use the signal that the 456 killed Clem with against them . The signal apparently killed the ambassador and forced the retreat of the 456 . ( TV : " " )