Doctor Who - The New SeriesAndTorchwood
"Captain" Jack Harkness
Played by: John Barrowman (DW:
2005 onwards. T:
2006 onwards.)
Age: Approx. 28 in the 51st century.
Occupation: Con man; formerly a Time Agent.
Doctor: The Ninth Doctor, The Tenth Doctor.
Doctor Who, Season One
Jack Harkness (the captain title is probably an invention of his own) is a former member of the Time Agents, humans who travel through time to maintain history. He was born in America in the 51st century and left the Agency after they stole two years of his memories. Taking to his feet, Jack decided to become a con man, using a stolen Chula spaceship to travel through time.
His con was to find useless space junk which he would catapult through time to some turbulent time period like WWII-era Europe or pre-explosion Pompeii. Once it had got some time traveller's attention, he would tell them that it was a valuble warship and offer to sell them the location. However, he would always make sure that the unlucky punter turned up too late, so that the junk would be buried beneath volcanic ash or destroyed by Nazi bombs.
In "The Empty Child", his con drew in the Ninth Doctor and Rose, who believed the wreck to be caused by an out-of-control time traveller. However, the junk turned out to be something far more dangerous, and it emerged that Jack had unwittingly endangered whole of Britain. Jack, being a good guy at heart, realised his mistake and put his own life at risk, destroying his own time ship to put things right. The Doctor, recognising this bravery, invited him aboard as one of the crew.
Jack is a handsome and charismatic man whose physical strength makes up for the Doctor's lack of fighting skills. He is handy with a laser gun and is something of a whiz at electronics, being able to make guns out of cannibalised robot parts and constantly tweaking the TARDIS to make it perform better. He is also bisexual, having come from an era when having sex with aliens is so common that sleeping with a member of the same species, whether male or female, is practically mundane.
He was separated from the Doctor in 1.13, The Parting of the Ways, although he is set to return in future episodes.
In October 2005, it was revealed that John Barrowman would star as Jack in a 13-part Doctor Who spinoff series, "Torchwood". Described as a cross between The X-Files and This Life, it is set in modern-day Cardiff.
Appearances - Doctor Who
First season: Appears in 1.09, "The Empty Child"; 1.10, "The Doctor Dances"; 1.11, "Boom Town"; 1.12, "Bad Wolf" and 1.13, "The Parting of the Ways".
Third season: Appears in 1.11, "Utopia"; 1.12, "The Sound of Drums" and 1.13, "Last of the Time Lords".
Appearances - Torchwood
First season: Appears in all episodes.