Torchwood ( team ) Torchwood , in its 2011 incarnation , was an unofficial group formed by the surviving Torchwood 3 team members Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper following Miracle Day . This followed the dissolution of Torchwood 3 and the destruction of the Hub in 2009 . This new team attempted to uncover the nature of Miracle Day and set out to unmask the unknown perpetrators . Torchwood operated as an informal team until Torchwood Cardiff was officially re - established in 2017 . Overview . While the former Institute had formally employed salaried agents and performed activities funded by the Crown , for the team which continued to use its name , " Torchwood " was " just a word " which united its members . The new Torchwood team was an international group of individuals that operated independently of any governments and countries . History . After the defeat of the 456 in September 2009 , the Torchwood Institute was left with only two active operatives : Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper , the latter pregnant . Torchwood ' s activities immediately following the incident are unknown , but six months later in March 2010 , Harkness , having spent an unknown amount of time travelling the world on his own , decided to leave Earth , leaving Cooper — now heavily pregnant — as the last known Torchwood operative . It was at this point that the Institute disbanded . ( TV : " " ) Jack returned to Earth when the word " Torchwood " was emailed across the world , coinciding with the start of the Miracle Day phenomenon in 2011 . He used malware to expunge evidence of Torchwood from the Internet and went to the CIA hard copy records in Langley , Virginia to clear the last of the information . ( TV : " The New World " ) Despite the Torchwood Institute being known to the British government and UNIT , ( TV : " The Christmas Invasion " ) it appeared the CIA were not aware of the organisation , as the deletion of the files caught the attention of agents Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond . ( TV : " The New World " ) In Wales , Matheson tracked down Cooper - - now living undercover with her husband and daughter - - and also made contact with Harkness . He used the United States ' rendition policy to extradite Jack and Gwen . ( TV : " The New World " , " Rendition " ) It turned out that an organisation known as the Families had decided to hunt down everyone with knowledge of Torchwood , including Rex and Drummond . ( TV : " Rendition " ) Rex and Esther had no choice but to become members of the new Torchwood team . They were initially based in Washington DC , ( TV : " Dead of Night " ) then moved west to Venice Beach in Los Angeles . ( TV : " Escape to LA " ) When the CIA discovered a null field generator that allowed Angelo Colasanto to die ( the only death recorded during the Miracle ) , Gwen was deported to the United Kingdom by Allen Shapiro after Jack initially refused to tell Shapiro what it was . Shapiro attempted at this time to put Torchwood under direct command of the CIA . Jack and Esther went on the run as they escaped with the generator , which Jack considered too dangerous for humanity to use . Rex rejoined the CIA to aid Jack from the inside . ( TV : " End of the Road " ) In Swansea , two months later , Oswald Danes demanded to see Jack . Danes had new leads on the Miracle and effectively became a member of the team . The Torchwood team reformed and were led to Buenos Aires and Shanghai , where the Blessing lay . ( TV : " The Gathering " ) The team stopped the Blessing from emitting the Miracle . Esther died from injuries sustained from the Families ' agent , the Cousin . Oswald buried the Shanghai side of the Blessing in a suicide bombing . At Esther ' s funeral , Jack suggested he formally set up the team . ( TV : " The Blood Line " ) Rebuilding Torchwood . In 2015 , Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams were investigating a case together in North Wales . They eventually decided that Rhys was now also part of the informal Torchwood team . ( AUDIO : " Forgotten Lives " ) By 2017 , Gwen returned to service as part of Torchwood in order to deal with temporary holes in space time which brought through new alien phenomena in Cardiff despite the apparent closing of the Rift years prior , which they weren ' t sure was a sign of the Rift reopening or simply the position in Cardiff being vulnerable , with assistance from PC Andy while Rhys looked after Anwen . Gwen approached Roger Pugh , Planning Officer for Cardiff City Council , in order to establish a new Torchwood Cardiff facility which would replace the long - gone Hub . After Gwen showed Roger a day of her work first hand , he gave her his support . ( AUDIO : " More Than This " )