Yvonne Hartman Yvonne Hartman was the administrator of Torchwood in 2005 , prior to the Battle of Canary Wharf . She presided over the long - awaited capture of the Tenth Doctor . Biography . Early days at Torchwood . On New Year ' s Eve 1999 , Yvonne Hartman was at Torchwood One when she received a phone call from Alex Hopkins , the leader of Torchwood Three , who spoke to her of his epiphany that Torchwood was not ready for the 21st century as he kill ed his team by shooting them . She had not been working at Torchwood for long at the time . ( AUDIO : " One Rule " ) Soon after , Alex Hopkins committed suicide in front of Jack Harkness , leaving him as the new leader and sole surviving member of Torchwood Three . ( TV : " Fragments " ) This incident made Yvonne realise that the Torchwood Institute needed a strong leader to face the 21st century . Hartman had already worked for Torchwood for several years when a Void Ship had appeared . Beginning in 2005 , She investigated the ship with Ianto Jones and Rajesh Singh as her personal assistants . ( AUDIO : " One Rule " ) One of her attempts to open the ship led her to Torchwood Three . Shortly after 26 March 2005 , Rajesh activated the Torchwood Three time bubble , which enabled her to inveigle her way into its base and procure their Drahvin scanner without the involvement of Jack Harkness and his staff . She hoped it would finally solve the mystery of the sealed ship ' s content . Upon exiting the base via the invisible lift , she was spotted by a local councillor and mayoral candidate Barry Jackson , who was fully aware of Torchwood . She learnt from him about the murder of the local mayor and numerous mayoral candidates . Hartman refused to investigate as she deemed it " local politics " . After being rescued from a burning hotel by Jackson , she obliged to investigate . This lead her to finding the other candidates and protecting them from the creature that was hunting them , which she soon learnt was in fact alien . The only remaining survivor , Helen Evans , joined them on their investigations but also met her demise when the alien feasted upon her . Hartman learned that Barry had been summoning the creature using alien technology that had fallen through the rift . He wished to kill all other candidates and rise to Lord Mayor of Cardiff and do the bidding of the Committee . Barry was surprised to hear that Yvonne was fully aware of them , and made him a deal . She made a cover story , which protected Barry from being arrested for the murders and in return , he would watch over Torchwood and notify as soon as a certain alien would return . He agreed and she left him with a reminder of his atrocities by severely injuring him . Yvonne returned to London without the Drahvin scanner , due it having perished in the fire , and resumed her investigation of the Sphere . ( AUDIO : " One Rule " ) Yvonne received a phone - call from Suzie Costello , who offered her Object One . Yvonne sent a helicopter to pick her up and promised to talk to her about advancing her career in Torchwood . ( AUDIO : " The Torchwood Archive " ) Meeting with the Doctor . Hartman oversaw the projects that included the investigation of the Void Ship , as well as the ghost shift experiments that resulted in the invasion by the Cybermen from an alternate universe . She was not personally hostile to the Doctor , yet she was confident in the righteousness of Torchwood ' s actions to the point of fault , ignoring his recommendations and warnings . Hartman was fiercely patriotic , and believed that Torchwood ' s work was vital to the survival of the " British Empire " and was certain that their work would in fact lead to the restoration of the United Kingdom to the status of world power . Only when the end was near did she attempt to stop the experiments , only to find that the Cybermen had already taken control over key members of her staff . The controlled staff proceeded to override her orders and allow the Cybermen to continue their invasion . ( TV : " Army of Ghosts " ) Yvonne , along with Jackie Tyler , was taken to be upgraded . Yvonne stated that she did her duty for queen and country , and walked into the Cyber - conversion unit , where she was then painfully upgraded . However , Yvonne somehow managed to gain control over her new metallic body and performed one last known service , fending off the Cybermen approaching the top offices long enough for the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler to seal the breach between worlds . While fighting against the Cybermen she continued to utter the phrase — " " I did my duty for queen and country . " " while weeping oily tears out her left eye socket . Her actions bought the Doctor and Rose the time they needed to banish the Daleks and Cybermen to the Void . ( TV : " Doomsday " ) Yvonne had told an employee to throw Object One into the void . Whilst dying as a result of the battle , he gave it to Ianto Jones to take to Torchwood Cardiff . ( AUDIO : " The Torchwood Archive " ) Alternate self . After being presumed dead , ( AUDIO : " Broken " ) , Yvonne joined the reformed Torchwood Three in 2017 , with the intention of becoming the new leader . ( AUDIO : " The Empty Hand " ) She was , in fact , from a parallel universe . ( AUDIO : " Poker Face " ) Personality . Yvonne Hartman was an arrogant woman who was always convinced that everything Torchwood did was for the good of the country , even if others begged to differ . One example of her arrogance was when she stated that anything that was alien belonged to Torchwood . This included the Doctor ' s TARDIS , despite the Doctor ' s protests . Yvonne was also reckless , and meddled with the Void , which was something far beyond her understanding . ( TV : " Army of Ghosts " ) Jackie Tyler said it was all her fault that the Cybermen and Daleks had invaded Earth , because Hartman was too reckless to try to put a stop to the experiments on the Void until it was too late . ( TV : " Doomsday " ) Another example of both qualities was her ordering a Jathaa sunglider shot down over the Shetland Islands merely because it had " violated their airspace " ; this risked igniting a major conflict between Earth and the Jathaa due to the ship ' s presumably non - hostile intentions . However , Yvonne did show uncertainty when the Doctor suddenly changed his demeanour ; one moment the Time Lord was warning her not to open the void and the next he was cheerfully encouraging her . Hartman was so confused and uncertain by the Doctor ' s sudden change from foreboding to cheerful that she finally agreed not to open the void , although by then it was too late . ( TV : " Army of Ghosts " ) Despite her arrogance and foolishness , Yvonne genuinely cared about her country , even managing to overcome the programming of the Cybermen due to her devotion to Britain . In her metal body she appeared to be crying as she stated that she ' d done her duty for queen and country . She also showed a willingness to sacrifice herself as she fought the Cybermen by herself to give the Doctor and Rose time to open the void and most likely died in the process . ( TV : " Doomsday " ) Although she admitted that the Doctor was a prisoner , Yvonne did try to make the Time Lord comfortable and treated him like a guest rather than a prisoner . She also liked to call her employees by their first names , saying that she was a " people person " . Despite this she did display a more ruthless streak since she stated , rather cheerfully , that she could have Rose Tyler shot if the Doctor didn ' t know her . ( TV : " Army of Ghosts " ) Hartman was ambitious and driven , believing she was the sort of leadership Torchwood needed and believing she could make the organisation better . She was also capable of being highly manipulative , telling Jackson she had figured out his plans long before he revealed them , and had been a step ahead of him the whole time - playing events to her advantage . Hartman seemed aggravated when men made heavy reference to her gender , telling Jackson not to refer to her as " love " and threatening to break someone ' s arm who groped her . ( AUDIO : " One Rule " ) She liked Scotch . ( AUDIO : " One Rule " )