Everything Changes ( TV story ) Everything Changes was the first episode of " Torchwood " . Though not a pilot , it carried many of the narrative burdens of one . It introduced the programme ' s regular characters , as well as recurring elements such as the Hub , Myfanwy , retcon and the Torchwood SUV . Written by Russell T Davies , it had the distinction of being his only writing credit until series 3 . It also bore certain structural commonalities with " Rose " , Davies ' s first episode of " Doctor Who " . Whereas the earlier script had introduced the mysterious Ninth Doctor through the eyes of Rose Tyler , " Everything Changes " introduced its audience to the mysterious figure of Captain Jack Harkness through female protagonist Gwen Cooper . Indeed , long - standing fans of Davies ' work would have recognised the structure from as far back as , RTD ' s early - 1990s kids ' TV programme . The story was notable for an attempted bit of subterfuge : Indira Varma was included in the opening titles to suggest that her character , Suzie Costello , was going to be a regular . Her death in the episode was meant to surprise the audience . Because BBC Three decided to air the first " two " episodes on the same night , however , the effect fell flat . Nevertheless , it did establish another recurring element of the programme : even main characters could die in " Torchwood " . By the end of series 4 , only two of the main cast listed in this episode would still be alive . 22 October 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of " Torchwood " . In celebration of this , and due to its popularity , cast and crew have been invited to the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff , for a special screening of this , the very first ever episode , to be shown for the fans . Synopsis . The Torchwood Three team arrives at the scene of a brutal murder . PC Gwen Cooper ' s curiosity is challenged by their attitude ; their approach and their technology is at odds with everything she believes in . As she investigates them , she begins to uncover a dark , mysterious and dangerous world right in the heart of Cardiff . Plot . PC Gwen Cooper arrives on a rain y murder scene and watches as the forensic investigation unit is pulled , mid - investigation , to allow special access to a four - man team in civilian clothing from Torchwood Institute . A forensic tech believes that Torchwood is some kind of special ops group . Gwen ' s concerned about crime scene contamination and spots a good vantage point on a parking garage and runs up there to observe the team at work . Captain Jack Harkness is waxing philosophical about the taste of contraceptives in the rain as his team sets up around the body . Doctor Owen Harper complains about the rain . Suzie Costello puts a metal gauntlet on her right hand , then places her hand beneath the head of the murdered body and he gasps . Toshiko Sato attempts to question the murder victim , but he takes some time to calm down , and he didn ' t see his murderer . They have some time remaining , and Tosh doesn ' t know what else to ask , but Jack does — he introduces himself and asks the victim his name — which is John Tucker — and he wants to know what death is like . John tells him he saw nothing and then falls dead again . Torchwood bickers over what went wrong until , suddenly , Jack yells up to Gwen , " What do you think ? " Gwen runs for it . When she makes it home , her boyfriend Rhys Williams is watching a drama . He mentions he saw the story of the murder on the news and Gwen lies , saying she wasn ' t involved . She lies awake in bed , watching the clock until at least 2 am . The next morning , Gwen asks her friend Yvonne to do her a favour and look up Captain Jack Harkness . She serves beverages at a briefing about the murders , where they mention that the murders were done with the same weapon , some sort of blade . She and her partner respond to a bar brawl and Gwen gets a good knock to the head . She sees a doctor at the hospital and , as she ' s leaving , she catches sight of a man in a long coat heading up the stairs . She follows up the stairs to the top floor , which is sealed with plastic and caution tape . She hears a porter entering from the floor below and asks him who sealed off the top floor . He ' d assumed it was the police or somebody spraying chemicals . She returns and pushes her way through the plastic . She sees what she assumes to be a strange looking man wearing a mask at the other end of the floor . She asks if he ' s seen the man in the long coat , but there is no reply , only a soft growl . She keeps talking , with no response . The porter comes through , saying he asked around and couldn ' t find why it was sealed . He admires the workmanship of the mask , especially the teeth , when the creature bites him in the throat and his blood sprays . Jack bursts in , and as his team sprays the creature with something and hoods it , he rushes Gwen out of the hallway . She keeps running until she ' s outside , where she ' s catching her breath when the Torchwood SUV nearly hits her . She chases it in her patrol car , leaving her partner behind . She calls in the plate to control , and Yvonne asks if she ' s seeing ghosts , as there has been no Captain Jack Harkness save for an American volunteer that disappeared 21 January 1941 . She follows the SUV to the Wales Millennium Centre , where it drops off the four she ' d seen before , and drives away . She quickly parks the patrol car and follows them , yelling to them , but they ignore her . Security distracts her , telling her she needs to move her car , and when she turns back they are gone . Control has no record of the plate , and her partner shows up , complaining about the walk from the hospital . He says there is no staff missing from the hospital and takes her home . Even though Rhys has dinner waiting , Gwen lies and says she needs to work . She stakes out the Millennium centre , eventually going to Jubilee Pizza , where they say they deliver to Torchwood . Gwen brings pizza to a small office by the pier . She says they ' re for Mr Harkness , and Ianto Jones presses a buzzer and points her down a secret passage . She enters Torchwood Three and a vault door rolls closed behind her , then a metal cage closes around the vault door . She gets her first view of the Hub , including a water feature in the centre , a severed hand in a bubbling container , and a woman welding . Jack walks down to a desk and they all ignore her . . . Until Owen and Tosh break down laughing , and we find they ' ve been watching her stalk them for the last three hours . Jack immediately brings up the fact Gwen sneaked in as a pizza girl and asks his team , " And before we go any further , who the hell orders pizza under the name of Torchwood ? " Owen replies back , " Me . I ' m sorry . I ' m a twat . " Gwen confronts them about what she has seen . Tosh says she covered up the murder of the porter , as it ' s her job to do so . Gwen dodges a pterodactyl as Jack takes her to show her the murderer , telling her it ' s an alien being they call a Weevil . He brings her back to the main room and introduces the team , over Gwen ' s protest that it ' s classified . Jack ignores her concern and gives everyone an assignment , including Gwen . Jack takes Gwen out the scenic route , a granite slab that lifts them up to the pavement in front of the water tower , where she saw them disappear the night before . Jack demonstrates that the people walking by can ' t see or hear them until they step off the paving slab . She asks how it works , and he says he has no idea , but he might guess that " there was once a dimensionally transcendental chameleon circuit placed right on this spot , which welded its perception properties to a spacial - temporal rift . " They go to a bar , where Jack ridicules Gwen ' s disbelief after the Christmas invasion and the Battle of Canary Wharf . He establishes that they catch aliens and scavenge their tech , and don ' t answer to anyone so that no one government can abuse the power . Gwen ' s pretty sure they can abuse it themselves , even if there ' s a rule about no tech leaving the base . They ' re the third Torchwood , and they ' re in Cardiff because there is a rift in Cardiff that drops all sorts of alien things there . Gwen assumes that they ' ve been trying to solve the blade murders , but Jack tells her that ' s not what they ' re doing . They were only there to get practice using the resurrection gauntlet , which requires recently deceased murder victims , the more violent the death , the better . Although Gwen feels she has a duty to act , Jack reveals that he ' s drugged her drink with an amnesia pill of Jack ' s design , laced with a sedative . She says she could just tell somebody else — and Jack threatens to do the same to anyone she tells . Gwen runs for home . Meanwhile , Tosh , Owen , and Suzie have all taken alien items from the base . Tosh scans a copy of " A Tale of Two Cities " with one touch and uploads it to her computer . Owen tries to pick up a girl , who shuts him down until he sprays himself with a spray bottle ; then she grabs him , kisses him , and drags him out . Her boyfriend catches up with them and is about to punch him when he sprays again . . . and the boyfriend kisses him . Owen calls for a taxi . Suzie uses the gauntlet to resurrect a dead fly . Gwen is home , hurriedly typing notes about Torchwood . Her vision gets blurry and she makes more and more typos until she passes out . Ianto hacks into her home computer and erases her notes . In the morning , Rhys brings her a drink , worrying that she ' d been drinking with a head injury . At work , Yvonne asks her about Captain Jack , and Gwen doesn ' t know what she ' s talking about . Over by the murder investigation , they ' ve reconstructed the very odd blade weapon from the shape of the wounds . Gwen says she hasn ' t seen it , but she spends the rest of her day in a daze , until it is 2 am and she is , again , awake and staring at the clock . As she closes her eyes to sleep , she remembers that she ' s seen the blade . She goes back to her computer room and draws the blade on the back of an envelope . She can ' t remember , but her mental image includes sparks and smoke . She sees a brochure for the Wales Millennium Centre with the word " REMEMBER " scrawled on it . Gwen goes to Roald Dahl Plass , and Suzie is waiting for her outside the water tower . They face off next to the paving stones on either side of the lift . Gwen remembers the welding gear . Suzie pulls out the knife , saying she ' s the only one who bothered to read the police report , and she knew that the sight of the knife could break Gwen ' s amnesia . While Gwen tries to remember , Suzie fumbles with her bag and then pulls out a handgun , saying Gwen is the only person in the public that could make the link . She loves her job but it ' s driving her mad . She killed three people to practice with the glove , as she thinks that if she becomes good enough with it she could resurrect people permanently . While she is ranting , Jack comes up on the lift . Suzie continues to rant until she says that the perception filter doesn ' t work on her , and she shoots Jack in the forehead . Gwen gasps . Suzie cocks the gun and aims at Gwen , who gasps again as Jack stands up behind Suzie , as the hole in his head heals before our eyes . He says it ' s over , but Suzie has her own ideas about that . She shoots herself through the head and falls down as Gwen says , " I remember . " Ianto seals away the gauntlet and the knife in a lockbox . Owen and Tosh return their devices to the base . Jack zips Suzie ' s body into a bag and puts her into a cold storage facility in the Hub . On top of the Millennium centre , Gwen asks why Jack didn ' t tell Owen and Tosh he was shot in the head and survived . Jack says that Gwen didn ' t tell them either . He confesses that he was killed a long time ago and brought back to life , and since then he can ' t die . Maybe if he finds the right sort of doctor he can explain it . He doesn ' t tell people because it freaks them out , so he asks Gwen to keep it quiet . He offers Gwen a job , and she accepts , as the pterodactyl flies overhead .