The ultimate betrayal,
using Torchwood Three, using Jack and the team, sneaking in a Cyber conversion
unit, a Cyber girlfriend, bluffing them all, with his butler approach, his
quiet demeanour. Who would have thought that mild mannered Ianto Jones, hid a
deep and dark secret in the Torchwood basement?
While Jack and the team
head out for a few drinks, Ianto awaits the arrival of one Dr Tanizaki, to fix
his girlfriend and make her as near human as possible, but things in the
Frankenstein workshop fail, because once a cyber, always a cyber.
That old adage that Love
is Blind, rings true, as Ianto defies all logic and only wants his lover back.
Lisa. How could he refuse her the life they used to have? Those picnics and
camping, where dogs pissed on their tent, but unrequited love, smitten all the
things that love is, can’t compare with how wrong his decisions were in keeping
Lisa quiet from the rest of his team.
Where are they now? What
roles do they play? Are they still acting? How much have they altered after ten
or so years? Sometimes, some change so much that you can’t quite believe they
are the same person, whereas others, who we see regularly on Twitter, social
media in general, or on our television screens, barely change at all.
Burn Gorman
Dr Owen Harper
‘Look,
I’ve shared cars with women before and I know what’ll happen. There’ll be an
emergency. All raring to go, I jump in, what do I find? Seat’s in the wrong
position, the rear view mirror’s out of line and the steering wheel’s in my
crotch. In the time it takes to sort it all out, aliens will have taken
Newport.’
Owen Harper had a dry wit,
that was so cutting it's surprising he didn't injure himself. The thing with
Owen however, was that, when you chipped away at the outer layer, his shield he
protected himself by, you discovered a man with incredible emotions, and one
that ideally only needed one woman to love - and yet, would shag anything with
a pulse, just to fill the emptiness in his life.
Losing your wife to what
you had initially believed to be a brain tumour but was in fact an alien
parasite living on her brain, must have been one hell of a thing to deal with.
And that alone would be enough to throw up the defences, and throw sarcastic undertones
at anyone he met, blocking out his grief with brief shags in bars, with women
he'd lured with alien body sprays.
Since Owen was killed off
at the end of Series 2, Burn Gorman has been extremely busy, from playing one
off roles such as Hindley in Wuthering Heights, PC Renwick in Cemetery
Junction, and Reverend Marley in Lark Rise to Candleford, to playing series
characters such as Richard Gates in The Runaway and Thomas Kish in The Hour, to
providing additional voices in Star Wars: The Old Republic video game in 2011, but
it’s his well-known roles, that he's most remembered for. Characters you want
to hate because of how evil they are, but deep down inside you know you won't,
because it's Burn Gorman, and you can't help but watch, and admire, and loathe,
but love, despite everything. But then, Burn Gorman's trademark roles are those
of cold, devious bastards.
Such as Karl Tanner in
2014, in Game of Thrones which he played for all of 4 episodes, but this is
Game of Thrones, and often you're lucky to survive beyond two, or three. A year
earlier he played Herman Gottlieb in Pacific Rim, and reprises the role in the
sequel, Uprising next year (2018). Herman, I might add, isn’t a cold devious
b*stard, but he is a little annoying.
In 2012, I was surprised
to find Burn in The Dark Knight Rises, as yet again, a bit of a bad guy, known
as Stryver, who played a businessman working with the Bane, although perhaps
not pally with the Bane, given the fierceness of the man behind the mask.
In 2015, Burn played
Detective Sergeant William Blore in the three part Agatha Christie story ‘And
Then There Were None’, where a group of people were invited to stay on an
island as guests, but each held a terrible secret which over the period of the
three episodes came out. Of course, each one suffered at the hands of another
and the killer remained anonymous till the very end. It was compelling viewing.
I think his character in
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day wasn't as bad as
all other roles he's played since or before this film, but it was only a small
role - one blink and you'd missed it.
What has been exciting
since Big Finish took up the reins of Torchwood however, is that Owen is back,
and long may the old stories play out, every now and then.
Caroline Chikezie
‘Lisa Hallett’
‘Run!
We all ran!’
Ianto’s cybernetic
girlfriend seemed at home in her basement, where given any person willing to cure her, could be given an upgrade by
way of a thank you. Of course, unlike Ianto and the team, Lisa is far from
cured, and as said before, once a cyber…. can only think like one. The team
have to work together in order to prevent the Cyberwoman exiting the building.
Lisa, having found a way
of transplanting her brain into another, in a bid to become human, is gunned
down when her ideas of loving Ianto are screwed up, by the whole transplant
idea. The pizza girl is not Lisa. Ianto can only mourn the loss of the woman he
fell in love with, and not what she has now become.
Since Torchwood,
Caroline’s roles moved to the big screen, often with a sci fi theme, apart from
The Sweeney, which I still find one heck of an awesome role, and she wasn’t in
there pushing paper – no, Caroline’s role was part of the Flying Squad, as DC
Kara Clarke – what a kick ass performance.
Caroline returned to
television and appeared in two episodes of Casualty as two different characters
with a good thirteen years apart. In 2013, played Dr Retentive in CBBC M.I.
High, as Zelda in Everly, Stevie Shields for Doctors, Queen Tamlin in The
Shannara Chronicles episode Druid this year (2017), and The Siren in Mayhem.
Has just completed a film short A Mother’s Journey, playing Lola Ogunwole.
Bethan Walker
‘Alice – Pizza delivery
girl’
‘You
always said you didn't love me for what I looked like. Last time you said that,
it was a Saturday. We were hungover. You made cheese toasties, and moaned I
hadn't descaled my kettle. That night, we camped on a beach in Brittany. It got
so freezing we wore our coats and shared one sleeping bag. When we woke up the
next morning, a dog was pissing on our tent. Hold me, Ianto. I need you to hold
me. I need you to tell me it's all right.’
Alice was just in the
wrong place at the wrong time, when she entered the Hub with Ianto’s pizza
order that night. When Ianto returns to the basement to deal with Lisa, he discovers the true horror. Lisa has transplanted
her brain into the pizza girl’s in a bid to become human.
Bethan Walker is no
stranger to the Whoniverse, as she voiced Aranda in Big Finish audio story
White Ghosts, and voiced Javon, Pyrrha and Queen Antigone in Psychodrome,
including Kiani in The Eleven – all for Doctor Who stories.
There are large gaps in her
television and film credits, but this was easily explained as I delved further
discovering her theatre performances in Still Life with Figs and Acanthus
Flowers with the Menagerie Theatre Company, including Forgive Our Paranoia.
King James Bible, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Timon of Athens at
Shakespeare’s Globe, Beauty and the Beast for Sherman Theatre, The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe at Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire Playhouse, Cinderella
at Watford Palace Theatre, Into the Wall with RSC/Dust House, The Winter’s Tale
with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
In 2014 Bethan played The
Contractor’s Secretary in The London Firm. Was the voice of Alisaie in Final
Fantasy XIV: Stormblood video game in 2017, and played Sister Bernadine in
Heretiks which is currently in Post Production, and will be released in 2018.
Togo Igawa
‘Dr Tanizaki’
‘Some
elements have been augmented. Some are still human. Sensory capacity, for
instance. Her breathing and hearing appears completely cybernetic. And yet
there's also bare flesh. Amazing. Perhaps fifty five percent augmentation with
forty five percent awaiting completion. Do you think? Or perhaps, maybe sixty
forty. It's fascinating.’
Togo Igawa trained to be
an actor in Japan with The Haiyuza Theatre Company Acting School and Toho
Gakuen College of Drama and Music. He has worked mostly in British films and
television. He was born in 1946, in Sasazuka, Tokyo, Japan. He has been acting
since 1979 in many television programmes including Gems, Never the Twain, Small
World, Forever Green, The Ginger Tree, Chancer, Wilt, Murder Most Horrid,
Lovejoy, Class Act, Bugs, Drop the Dead Donkey, Thief Takers, The Tribe, Topsy
Turvy, Karaoke.
Since Torchwood, Togo has
appeared in Primeval in 2008 as Mr Nagata, The Day of the Kamikaze, a film
documentary as Admiral Matome Ugaki. As Hideyoshi Toyotomi in Heroes and
Villains, a television documentary in the episode Shogun. In the series
Robotboy from 2006 – 2008 played the voice of Professor Moshimo for 16
episodes. 2008 was a busy year for Togo with appearances in several television
programmes, including The IT Crowd, one of those annoying programmes that you
still find yourself watching. When Togo joined Thomas the Tank and Friends,
well, he was certainly busy as the little train Hiro, with videos left right
and centre, and voice credits everywhere from 2009 – present (2017). Aside from
Thomas the Tank, Togo has also appeared as Professor Yahida in That Mitchell
and Webb Look in 2010. In the series Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist played two
characters in 2014, Gôtetsu and Gôma. In the series Archer played Kintaru Sato
in 2015. In the Amazing World of Gumball, played the Narrator and Mr Yoshida
for 2 episodes in the same year.
In 2017, you might have
been surprised seeing Togo in Doctor Who episode, The Pyramid at the End of the
World, as the Secretary General, I know I was. This year, he was also in
Doctors, the afternoon television series about a busy GP practice in the UK. He
played Akio Tanaka for the episode Sticky Butterfly.
His film credits include
Coded Hostile in 1989 as Captain Chun, Some Other Spring in 1991 as Yamada,
Yamada ga machi ni yatte kita in 1993 as Isono, Dirty Old Town in 1995 as a
Japanese Waiter, Murphy’s Law in 2001 as Fuji, Memoirs of a Geisha as Tanaka in
2005. Look out for Togo in Star Wars’ latest story: The Last Jedi out in
December, he plays the Resistance Bridge Officer. In 47 Ronin he played Tengu
Lord in 2013.
His video game credits
include Urban Chaos in 1999, Shogun: Total War the following year. Genji: Dawn
of the Samurai in 2005, Perfect Dark Zero in the same year as Zhang Li. Since
Torchwood Togo has voiced for Medieval II: Total War, and Genji: Days of the
Blade as the voice of Benkei and Nether Genji Warrior B both in 2006. 2008
played voice of Colonel Lee in Warhead. Was the narrator and voice of Master in
Mini Ninjas in 2009. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was the voice of Watanabe in
2010. Total War: Shogun 2 as Narrator and Generals in 2011, and in 2012 in the
new game Fall of the Samurai presumably in the same role. Voiced Jiro in Payday
2 in 2013. He played voice of Jake Hama in The Secret World: Issue 10 –
Nightmares in the Dream Palace in 2014.
Did you know, Togo became
the first Japanese actor to become a member of the RSC in 1986.
Gareth David-Lloyd
‘Ianto Jones’
‘Like
you care. I clear up your shit. No questions asked and that's the way you like
it. When did you last ask me anything about my life? Her name's Lisa. She's my
girlfriend...
Torchwood
exists to destroy alien threats. Why would I tell you about her?’
Gareth played Ianto for 3
seasons of Torchwood from 2006 - 2009, till Jack forgot to bring along gas
masks to save them both, or get his darn VM fixed and teleport them out of
there.
Since Torchwood, Gareth
has appeared in many different television and web dramas, from Caerdydd, Girl
Number 9, The Bill, Warehouse 13, Casimir Effect and Holby City, along with his
recurrences in Twisted Showcase episodes, Payback, Peter and Paul and his
latest, Be My Head. He's also appeared in three episodes of Waterloo Road as
Rob Hutchinson in 2015, was the voice of Solas in Dragon Age: Inquisition -
Trespasser video game, which isn't the first time he's provided his voice for a
video game, as back in 2011, he provided the voice of Adam Hale in Red Faction
Armageddon
In 2015, Gareth played the
role of Jacob Fitts for the zombie horror film I Am Alone written and produced
by Robert Palmer and Michael Weiss who we've interviewed in the past. Although
not out on release yet in the UK, we do hope the DVD will eventually make its
way to us.
Gareth has also narrated
Enoch the Traveler for the audio drama mini series written by Lady Soliloque also
in 2015.
This year, 2017, Gareth
embarks on a new project, Black River Meadow which will begin as a web series,
and with enough funding, and success, will hopefully become a television
series. Copy and paste this link and give as much as you can for this brilliant
new project.
We wish Gareth and his
team the very best of luck with this.
Gareth has also written a
Big Finish Torchwood story which is out in 2018 and develops his relationship
with Yvonne Hartman at Torchwood One, but to find out more about this and
another possible story, do please read our interview with Gareth.
