title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 18 October, Laporta defended his presidency in front of the media by stating that, "We just want them to give us the documentation regarding the biased and demagogic statement made by the representative of KPMG." He also stated, "The board has not had the courage to explain things", and, "We have nothing to hide, everything has its explanation and justification." Laporta did not hold back and branded the new president "envious, resentful and jealous" and "I have a very clear conscience and the truth on my side". He continue to berate the new board by stating, "My greatest desire after spending a few years of my life at Barça and the results we got was to become a "socio", go back to my seat, go to football games with my kids and enjoy this club. "They" do not let me. And not only do they not let me, but I see some attempts to ridicule, dishonor the reputation we have. No way I'm left alone. After the assembly of delegates, I understand that there was an indecent maneuver with the exposure of the 'due diligence'... It was sectarian, demagogic and an interest to scorn against me and create an alarm among the social mass."


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 29 November, one of the most eagerly-awaited "Clásico" in recent times was scheduled on a Monday due to the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, which was held on the day before. The match featured 13 of the 23 winning players on Spain's 2010 FIFA World Cup squad and currently the two most successful managers in football, with Pep Guardiola and Real Madrid's José Mourinho. The match itself was a complete domination by Barcelona, with an emphatic 5–0 trashing of their eternal rival. The game showcased Barça's mastering of the tiki-taka in combination with the Total Football philosophy and the superb team-work of whom many consider the top three players in the world: Messi, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta. The international press hailed Barcelona's impressive win and their football as currently the best in the game, while some questioned whether the Real Madrid squad was "ready" for the magnitude of this match.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: Guardiola stated, "it was a spectacle" and "how we did it – that makes us proud. Now just let us sit back and enjoy that win – we'll reflect and look at the whole game, but now it would be wrong not to revel in the win. Games like that happen very rarely indeed". In regards to Madrid, Pep stated, "This match isn't representative of the difference between the two teams. They are a very good team, they came here unbeaten and as league leaders. Today all of our players played well and that was the difference."


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: After the victory, Barcelona took over first place in La Liga's table, ahead of Madrid by two points with 25 rounds left to play.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 6 December, the finalists for the FIFA Ballon d'Or were announced. Barcelona players (Messi, Xavi and Iniesta) took all three spots, with the results to be declared on 10 January in Zürich. This was a monumental moment for Barcelona, as the three best players in the world were not only from the club, but all three came from Barcelona's youth system at "La Masia".


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 13 December, president Rosell made final the signing of a five-and-a-half-year, €170 million shirt sponsorship with the Qatar Foundation, thus ending Barça's tradition of not having paid sponsors on their shirt. The deal made it the highest paid shirt sponsorship in the world, beating both Manchester United's deal with Aon and Liverpool's deal with Standard Chartered reached the prior year.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 10 January, Lionel Messi was crowned the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or winner. His teammates Andrés Iniesta and Xavi finished second and third respectively. Messi became the first player to win the new prize after the FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or merged to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or. He also became the first player since Marco van Basten to win the Ballon d'Or and Ronaldinho the FIFA World Player of the Year in consecutive years after an impressive year in which he tallied 60 goals in 64 games.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 19 January, Barça's team record of 28 matches unbeaten was ended after being defeated 3–1 by Real Betis of the Segunda División in the second leg of their quarter-finals tie of the Copa del Rey. Barcelona, however, advanced to the semi-finals on a 6–3 aggregate score after winning the first leg at the Camp Nou 5–0.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 29 January, Barça defeated Hércules 0–3 to match the record for most consecutive league wins in a La Liga season, at 15. The record was previously set by Real Madrid during the 1960–61 season.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 2 February, both Barcelona and Real Madrid advanced to the Final of the Copa del Rey by defeating Almería (8–0 on aggregate) and Sevilla (0–3 on aggregate), respectively. This was the first final between the Spanish giants after 21 years in the making when the clubs last faced in 1990 with Barça winning 2–0 at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 5 February, Barcelona broke the record for most consecutive league wins with 16 victories after they defeated Atlético Madrid 3–0 at Camp Nou. Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to ensure the victory for his side and after the match stated, "It's an honor to be able to pass a record set by a great like Di Stéfano" and, "If the record has been around for so long is because it's very complicated to achieve and we have reached it by defeating a very difficult team who's going through a bad situation, which makes it even more difficult."


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 2 March, Adriano assisted Lionel Messi to score a late goal and give Barcelona a 0–1 away win against Valencia. Messi now tallied 27 goals in La Liga for the season, keeping him in the running for the Pichichi Trophy as top scorer.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 8 March, Barça eliminated Arsenal from the Champions League in a 3–1 win at the Camp Nou with a 4–3 aggregate score. Barcelona dominated all offensive categories and limited Arsenal to zero shots for the whole match, with their lone goal coming off an own goal by Sergio Busquets. But the match was not without controversy after Arsenal forward Robin van Persie was sent off for a second yellow card for what referee Massimo Busacca interpreted as "time wasting" after the player kicked the ball towards goal after the referee had blown the whistle on him for being called offside by the linesman.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 14 March, Spanish radio station Cadena COPE reported that Real Madrid would request for the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to tighten its control on doping in the league. According to the report, Real Madrid was suspicious to why Eufemiano Fuentes was allowed to work for Valencia when they won the league in the early 2000s and why are doctors with "doubtful reputation" are working at Barcelona. Barcelona, in defence, released a statement "publicly expressing its total indignation at these unfounded references which link the club to doping practices and to condemn such attitudes, which have nothing to do with fair play and gravely affect the image of sporting competition". It also stated "its legal department is studying possible legal action to defend the club's honour, alongside that of its coaching staff, players and medical staff and is prepared to take such action to its final consequences". COPE later issued an apology, stating, "our objective is to inform. In no case, did we participate in a campaign to defame or bring doubts to Spanish clubs or athletes."


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 15 March, Barcelona's secretary and spokesperson Toni Freixa appeared in a press conference to make public that Barcelona would sue Cadena COPE after the reports implicating Barcelona in doping. He stated that "yesterday [14 March], FC Barcelona released a statement and, paralleled, sent a fax to Cadena COPE requesting the rectification and the origin of the grave report of defamation. The rest of the day it waited for the express and convincing rectification of the report." He also added, "since this correction has not occurred satisfactorily and whether they can finally be produced, for the serious attack on the reputation and good name of FC Barcelona, for their athletes and doctors, a fact that we cannot leave unpunished, FC Barcelona announced to act with firmness and force that the gravity of the offense deserves. In the coming days it will request at first instance with the Barcelona's courts an order of protection of their right to honor claims for damages caused by those responsible for defamation."


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On the same day, Barcelona announced that French international defender Eric Abidal was diagnosed with a tumour on his liver which would be operated on the Friday of the same week. Citing privacy concerns as wished by the player, the club did not release additional information in regards to his condition. In response to the announcement, players and fans from all over the world alike dedicated well wishes for the ill player on multiple social networking sites and sports websites. Before their Round of 16 match in the Champions League, both Real Madrid and Lyon players exited the pitch wearing ""Ánimo Abidal"" ("Strength Abidal") written on T-shirts, along with the same message on the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium's scoreboards in show of support and solidarity.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 2 April, Barcelona defeated Villarreal 1–0 at El Madrigal with five missing starters due to injuries and rest with a goal in the 66th minute from Centre back Gerard Piqué. With the victory, they increased their league lead to eight points after Real Madrid's 1–0 shock loss to Sporting de Gijón at the Santiago Bernabéu.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 12 April, Barcelona defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 0–1 at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk to reach their fourth consecutive semi-finals appearance in the Champions League with a 6–1 aggregate score. Lionel Messi assured the victory with a goal in the 43rd minute to take his season tally to 48 goals in all competitions, breaking the club's mark of 47 goals set by himself last season and Ronaldo in the 1996–97 season.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 16 April, the first of four "Clásicos" was disputed at the Santiago Bernabéu, ending in 1–1 with penalty goals respectively by Messi (53rd minute) and Cristiano Ronaldo (82nd minute). The draw ended Barcelona's "Clásico" winning streak at five since manager Pep Guardiola took over the side for the 2008–09 season. The match was the start of four "Clásicos" between the two Spanish giants, including the league, Copa del Rey Final and the semi-finals of the Champions League.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 20 April, Barcelona lost the final of the Copa del Rey to Real Madrid 0–1 after extra time, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winning goal in the 103rd minute. The defeat was a first for Guardiola in a finals match and ended his unbeaten streak against Real Madrid since he became first team coach.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 27 April, Barcelona and Real Madrid met at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie. Although Barcelona enjoyed most of the possession throughout the first half of the game, it was not until the sending off of Real Madrid's Pepe that the game swung to Barcelona's favour, with Lionel Messi scoring twice in the closing minutes to give Barcelona a 2−0 first-leg victory. With those two goals, Lionel Messi had scored 11 goals in 11 Champions League matches.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: The match was not without controversy, however, as both teams exhibited what most consider to be the "dark arts" of football. Real Madrid manager José Mourinho accused UEFA of playing favorites to Barcelona after he was ejected for mocking the fourth official after Pepe's red card. At the press conference following the match, Mourinho stated that UEFA's referees have been assisting Barcelona for the past three years. Barcelona's back-up goalkeeper José Manuel Pinto saw a red card at half-time for a scuffle with Real Madrid's defender Álvaro Arbeloa when both teams went to the locker rooms. The match was marred by more incidents of diving, play-acting and violence in what many consider to be one of the worst "Clásicos" in recent times.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: UEFA officials released a statement stating they have opened disciplinary cases against the clubs to be heard by the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body on Friday 6 May.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 30 April, Barcelona's 32-games unbeaten run came to an end after a 2–1 loss to Real Sociedad at Anoeta Stadium.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 3 May, Barcelona booked a trip to Wembley Stadium for the UEFA Champions League Final after a 1–1 draw (3–1 aggregate) with Real Madrid at Camp Nou. Pedro sealed it with a 54th-minute goal.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 11 May, Barcelona clinched its third consecutive La Liga title with a 1–1 draw against Levante at the Estadi Ciutat de València. The result gave Barcelona a six-point lead with two matches remaining which, combined with their superior head-to-head record with Real Madrid, ensured that they finished top of the table. Barcelona led the table since defeating Madrid 5–0 back in November and since then, they have only lost one match en route to winning the title. It was the third straight title for manager Guardiola, who became the first manager to do so in his first three seasons managing in La Liga.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 21 May, Barcelona finish its league season with a win 1–3 over Málaga at La Rosaleda Stadium while playing most of its back-up and "canterano" players. Goals from Bojan, Ibrahim Afellay and Marc Bartra assured the victory and a club record of 14 away victories.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: On 28 May, Barcelona clinched its fourth Champions League trophy with a 3–1 victory over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium. The Barcelona attack, spearheaded by its three forwards of Messi, David Villa and Pedro, of whom all scored a goal, dominated United. The all-Spanish midfield three of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets assisted a goal each as well. Messi was awarded Man of the Match and with his goal he matches Ruud van Nistelrooy as the all-time top season scorer with 12 goals in this year's version.


title: 2010–11 FC Barcelona season

text: Barcelona was present in all major competitions: La Liga, the UEFA Champions League and the Copa del Rey.


title: Doge of Venice

text: The Doge of Venice ( ; ; ; all derived from Latin ', "military leader"), sometimes translated as Duke (compare the Italian '), was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice between 726 and 1797.


title: Doge of Venice

text: Doges of Venice were elected for life by the Venetian nobility. The "doge" was neither a duke in the modern sense, nor the equivalent of a hereditary duke. The title "doge" was the title of the senior-most elected official of Venice and Genoa; both cities were republics and elected doges. A doge was referred to variously by the titles "My Lord the Doge" ('), "Most Serene Prince" ('), and "His Serenity" ("").


title: Doge of Venice

text: The office of doge goes back to 697. The first historical Venetian doge, Ursus, led a revolt against the Byzantine Empire in 726, but was soon recognised as the () and (a honorific title derived from the Greek word for consul) of Venice by imperial authorities. After Ursus, the Byzantine office of ( in Greek) was restored for a time until Ursus' son Deusdedit was elected duke in 742. Byzantine administration in Italy collapsed in 751.


title: Doge of Venice

text: In the latter half of the eighth century, Mauritius Galba was elected duke and took the title , 'master of the soldiers, consul and imperial duke of the province of the Venetias'. Doge Justinian Partecipacius (d. 829) used the title , 'imperial "hypatos" and humble duke of Venice'.


title: Doge of Venice

text: These early titles combined Byzantine honorifics and explicit reference to Venice's subordinate status. Titles like , , , and were granted by the emperor to the recipient for life but were not inherent in the office (, ), but the title belonged to the office (, ). Thus, into the eleventh century the Venetian doges held titles typical of Byzantine rulers in outlying regions, such as Sardinia. As late as 1202, the Doge Enrico Dandolo was styled , a title granted to him by Alexios III Angelos.


title: Doge of Venice

text: As Byzantine power declined in the region in the late ninth century, reference to Venice as a province disappeared in the titulature of the doges. The simple titles (duke of the Venetians) and (duke of the Venetias) predominate in the tenth century. The plural reflects the doge's rule of several federated townships and clans.


title: Doge of Venice

text: After defeating Croatia and conquering some Dalmatian territory in 1000, Doge Pietro II Orseolo adopted the title , 'Duke of Dalmatia', or in its fuller form, , 'Duke of the Venetians and Dalmatians'.


title: Doge of Venice

text: This title was recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II in 1002. After a Venetian request, it was confirmed by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos in 1082. In a chrysobull dated that year, Alexios granted the Venetian doge the imperial title of , and recognised him as imperial over the Dalmatian theme.


title: Doge of Venice

text: The expression ('by the grace of God') was adopted consistently by the Venetian chancery only in the course of the eleventh century. An early example, however, can be found in 827–29, during the joint reign of Justinian and his brother John I: , 'by divine grace dukes of the Venetian provinces'.


title: Doge of Venice

text: Between 1091 and 1102, the King of Hungary acquired the Croatian kingdom in a personal union. In these circumstances, the Venetians appealed to the Byzantine emperor for recognition of their title to Croatia (like Dalmatia, a former Byzantine subject). Perhaps as early as the reign of Vital Falier (d. 1095), and certainly by that of Vital Michiel (d. 1102), the title had been added, giving the full dogal title four parts: , 'Duke of Venice, Dalmatia and Croatia and Imperial "Protosebastos"'. In the fourteenth century, the doges periodically objected to the use of Dalmatia and Croatia in the Hungarian king's titulature, regardless of their own territorial rights or claims. Later medieval chronicles mistakenly attributed the acquisition of the Croatian title to Doge Ordelaf Falier (d. 1117).


title: Doge of Venice

text: According to the "Venetiarum Historia", written around 1350, Doge Domenico Morosini added ('and lord of Istria') to his title after forcing Pula on Istria to submit in 1150. Only one charter, however, actually uses a title similar to this: (1153).


title: Doge of Venice

text: The next major change in the dogal title came with the Fourth Crusade, which conquered the Byzantine Empire (1204). The Byzantine honorific had by this time been dropped and was replaced by a reference to Venice's allotment in the partitioning of the Byzantine Empire. The new full title was 'By the grace of God duke of the Venices, Dalmatia and Croatia and lord of a fourth part and a half [three eighths] of the whole Empire of Romania' ( [or ] [or ] ).


title: Doge of Venice

text: Although traditionally ascribed by later medieval chroniclers to Doge Enrico Dandolo, who led the Venetians during the Fourth Crusade, and hence known as the "arma Dandola", in reality the title of 'lord of a fourth part and a half of the Empire of Romania' was first claimed by the ambitious Venetian "podestà" of Constantinople, Marino Zeno, in his capacity as the Doge's representative in the 'Empire of Romania', and it was only subsequently adopted as part of the dogal title by Doge Pietro Ziani.


title: Doge of Venice

text: The Greek chronicler George Akropolites used the term to translate , 'lord', which has led to some confusion with the Byzantine court title of despot. The latter title was never claimed by the doges, but was sometimes used by the Venetian "podestàs" of Constantinople in their capacity as the doge's representatives.


title: Doge of Venice

text: The title of 'lord of a fourth part and a half of the whole Empire of Romania' was used in official titelature thereafter, with the exception, after the re-establishment in 1261 of the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty, of Venice's relations with the Byzantine emperors, when that part of the dogal titelature was substituted by 'and lord of the lands and islands subject to his dogate' () or similar formulations.


title: Doge of Venice

text: In a similar manner, the disputes between Venice and Hungary over Dalmatia and Croatia led to the Kings of Hungary addressing the Doges of Venice without that part of their title, while in turn the Venetians tried to force the Hungarian kings to drop any title laying claim to the two provinces.


title: Doge of Venice

text: This dispute ended in the Treaty of Zadar of 1358, where Venice renounced its claims to Dalmatia; a special article in the treaty removed Dalmatia and Croatia from the doge's title. The resulting title was , 'Duke of the Venices and the rest'. Even though Dalmatia would be regained by Venice in the early 15th century, the title was never modified, and remained in use until the end of the Republic. Even when the body of such documents was written in Italian, the title and dating clause were in Latin.


title: Doge of Venice

text: The doge's prerogatives were not defined with precision. While the position was entrusted to members of the inner circle of powerful Venetian families, after several doges had associated a son with themselves in the ducal office, this tendency toward a hereditary monarchy was checked by a law that decreed that no doge had the right to associate any member of his family with himself in his office, nor to name his successor.


title: Doge of Venice

text: After 1172 the election of the doge was entrusted to a committee of forty, who were chosen by four men selected from the Great Council of Venice, which was itself nominated annually by twelve persons. After a deadlocked tie at the election of 1229, the number of electors was increased from forty to forty-one.


title: Doge of Venice

text: New regulations for the elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their intention was to minimize the influence of individual great families, and this was effected by a complex electoral machinery. Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine; the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, who chose twenty-five. The twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine, and the nine elected forty-five. These forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, and the eleven finally chose the forty-one who elected the doge.


title: Doge of Venice

text: Election required at least twenty-five votes out of forty-one, nine votes out of eleven or twelve, or seven votes out of nine electors.


title: Doge of Venice

text: Before taking the oath of investiture, the doge-elect was presented to the concio with the words: "This is your doge, if it please you." This ceremonial gesture signified the assent of the Venetian people. This practice came to an end with the abolition of the concio in 1423; after the election of Francesco Foscari, he was presented with the unconditional pronouncement – "Your doge".


title: Doge of Venice

text: While doges had great temporal power at first, after 1268, the doge was constantly under strict surveillance: he had to wait for other officials to be present before opening dispatches from foreign powers; he was not allowed to possess any property in a foreign land.


title: Doge of Venice

text: The doges normally ruled for life (although a few were forcibly removed from office). After a doge's death, a commission of "inquisitori" passed judgment upon his acts, and his estate was liable to be fined for any discovered malfeasance. The official income of the doge was never large, and from early times holders of the office remained engaged in trading ventures. These ventures kept them in touch with the requirements of the "grandi".


title: Doge of Venice

text: From 7 July 1268, during a vacancy in the office of doge, the state was headed "ex officio", with the style "vicedoge", by the senior "consigliere ducale" (ducal counsellor).


title: Doge of Venice

text: One of the ceremonial duties of the doge was to celebrate the symbolic marriage of Venice with the sea. This was done by casting a ring from the state barge, the "Bucentaur", into the Adriatic. In its earlier form this ceremony was instituted to commemorate the conquest of Dalmatia by Doge Pietro II Orseolo in 1000, and was celebrated on Ascension Day. It took its later and more magnificent form after the visit to Venice in 1177 of Pope Alexander III and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. On state occasions the Doge was surrounded by an increasing amount of ceremony, and in international relations he had the status of a sovereign prince.


title: Doge of Venice

text: The doge took part in ducal processions, which started in the Piazza San Marco. The doge would appear in the center of the procession, preceded by civil servants ranked in ascending order of prestige and followed by noble magistrates ranked in descending order of status. Francesco Sansovino described such a procession in minute detail in 1581. His description is confirmed and complemented by Cesare Vecellio's 1586 painting of a ducal procession in the Piazza San Marco.


title: Doge of Venice

text: From the 14th century onward, the ceremonial crown and well-known symbol of the doge of Venice was called "corno ducale", a unique ducal hat. It was a stiff horn-like bonnet, which was made of gemmed brocade or cloth-of-gold and worn over the camauro. This was a fine linen cap with a structured peak reminiscent of the Phrygian cap, a classical symbol of liberty. This ceremonial cap may have been ultimately based on the white crown of Upper Egypt. Every Easter Monday the doge headed a procession from San Marco to the convent of San Zaccaria, where the abbess presented him a new "camauro" crafted by the nuns.


title: Doge of Venice

text: The Doge's official costume also included golden robes, slippers and a sceptre for ceremonial duties.


title: Doge of Venice

text: Until the 15th century, the funeral service for a deceased doge would normally be held at St Mark's Basilica, where some early holders of this office are also buried. After the 15th century, however, the funerals of all later doges were held at the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo. Twenty-five doges are buried there.


title: Doge of Venice

text: As the oligarchical element in the constitution developed, the more important functions of the ducal office were assigned to other officials, or to administrative boards. The doge's role became a mostly representative position. The last doge was Ludovico Manin, who abdicated in 1797, when Venice passed under the power of Napoleon's France following his conquest of the city.


title: Doge of Venice

text: While Venice would shortly declare itself again as a republic, attempting to resist annexation by Austria, it would never revive the title of doge. It used various titles, including dictator, and collective heads of state to govern the jurisdiction, including a triumvirate.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: Laura Cunningham Wilson (born October 13, 1939) is an American photographer. She has completed five books of photography and text: "Watt Matthews of Lambshead" (1989), "Hutterites of Montana" (2000), "Avedon at Work: In the American West" (2003), "Grit and Glory: Six-Man Football" (2003), and "That Day: Pictures in the American West" (2015). She is the mother of actors Owen Wilson, Andrew Wilson, and Luke Wilson.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: Wilson was born Laura Cunningham and raised in Norwell, Massachusetts, the daughter of Rosemary Cunningham (née White) and Edward J. Cunningham. She majored in art at Connecticut College, graduating in 1961. She married Robert Wilson in 1963, and the couple moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1965.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: Wilson's attraction to photographs started as a young girl when she became interested in family photographs. Some of her earliest photographs are of her three young sons: "I had majored in painting in college. But with three little boys underfoot, I didn't have time to lift a paintbrush. Then a friend gave me a camera. I realized at once that the boys were perfect subjects." Wilson's son Owen credits his and his brothers' comfort in front of a camera to being frequently photographed by their mother.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: Wilson's professional career was launched in 1979 when Richard Avedon hired her to assist with his exhibition and book "In the American West", which was commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum. Wilson traveled with Avedon for six years, helping him find subjects to photograph. Wilson also wrote the text for "In the American West". Wilson's work with Avedon helped her become deeply familiar with the West and provided inspiration for her later projects. Wilson's photographs acknowledge the spectrum of cultures that occupy the West.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: During the period she worked with Avedon, Wilson arrived at her interest in photographing people outside of mainstream America. "I became interested in men and women who are trying to live an idealized life against the odds." In a January 2018 interview she described her artistic attraction to isolated groups of people, saying, "I am drawn to people who live in an enclosed world — those people who live in isolated communities, whether by circumstance or accomplishment; I was curious about these groups and wanted to know more... my wish, as Eudora Welty wrote, 'would be not to point the finger in judgement but to part a curtain, that invisible shadow that falls between people.'"


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: Wilson has lectured on photography at Harvard University, the International Center of Photography in New York City, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the University of Texas at Austin.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: She is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the Philosophical Society of Texas. She serves on the board of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. In 2019, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: "Watt Matthews of Lambshead" (1989) is a photographic essay about one of the last Texas cattlemen. Matthews lived his entire life on the famous Lambshead Ranch, located west of Fort Worth. In Matthews' obituary, "The New York Times" wrote that the book has become "a classic of Texas history." The book was described by Texas State Historical Association Director Ron Tyler as "an unusual combination of subject and author-artist."


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: "Hutterites of Montana" (2000) documents the Hutterite communities of the American West. Wilson's interest in the Hutterites began during her work with Avedon: "Still vivid in my mind is my first glimpse of the Hutterites. I was working for Richard Avedon and we were driving in Montana at dusk. There was a lovely pink sunset. We saw in the distance an open meadow of wheat, figures walking. The girls were in long, colorful dresses, like Christian LaCroix, the boys in white shirts and black pants." Hutterite communities generally do not allow photography, but Wilson visited Montana Hutterite communities many times and eventually received permission to take photos.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: "Avedon at Work: In the American West" (2003) is a portrait of photographer Richard Avedon that shows Avedon's creative process, working methods, and range of subjects as he worked to complete "In the American West". Wilson documented Avedon's work throughout the six years they spent working on the project, and the book describes their work on the project.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: "Grit and Glory: Six-Man Football" (2003) documents six-man football and its culture in small Texas towns.


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: "That Day: Pictures in the American West" (2015) includes photographs in the American West accompanied by Wilson's observations from the time each photograph was taken. Larry McMurtry wrote, "Laura Wilson has an ever-searching eye for the bleak beauty of the West — and for its bleak reality too. "That Day" is a remarkable book." Andrew R. Graybill, Director of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, noted that the book "combines her talents for capturing the West's enduring and romantic myths, from legendary cattle ranches to dramatic panoramic vistas, as well as its bleak realities, whether undocumented migrants crossing the Rio Grande or life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation."


title: Laura Wilson (photographer)

text: Wilson lives in Dallas, Texas, and is the mother of actors Andrew, Owen, and Luke, and grandparent to six grandchildren through Andrew and Owen. She was married to TV Station executive Robert A. Wilson, until his death from Alzheimer's disease on May 5, 2017.


title: Keystone species

text: A keystone species is a species which has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance, a concept introduced in 1969 by the zoologist Robert T. Paine. Keystone species play a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community. Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. Some keystone species, such as the wolf, are also apex predators.


title: Keystone species

text: The role that a keystone species plays in its ecosystem is analogous to the role of a keystone in an arch. While the keystone is under the least pressure of any of the stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it. Similarly, an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if a keystone species is removed, even though that species was a small part of the ecosystem by measures of biomass or productivity.


title: Keystone species

text: It became a popular concept in conservation biology, alongside flagship and umbrella species. Although the concept is valued as a descriptor for particularly strong inter-species interactions, and has allowed easier communication between ecologists and conservation policy-makers, it has been criticized for oversimplifying complex ecological systems.


title: Keystone species

text: The concept of the keystone species was introduced in 1969 by zoologist Robert T. Paine. Paine developed the concept to explain his observations and experiments on the relationships between marine invertebrates of the intertidal zone (between the high and low tide lines), including starfish and mussels. He removed the starfish from an area, and documented the effects on the ecosystem. In his 1966 paper, "Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity", Paine had described such a system in Makah Bay in Washington.


title: Keystone species

text: In his 1969 paper, Paine proposed the keystone species concept, using "Pisaster ochraceus", a species of starfish generally known as ochre starfish, and "Mytilus californianus", a species of mussel, as a primary example. The ochre starfish is a generalist predator and feeds on chitons, limpets, snails, barnacles, echinoids, and even decapod crustacea. The favourite food for these starfish is the mussel which is a dominant competitor for the space on the rocks. The ochre starfish keeps the population numbers of the mussels in check along with the other preys allowing the other seaweeds, sponges, and anemones to co-exist that ochre starfish do not consume. When Paine removed the ochre starfish the mussels quickly outgrew the other species crowding them out. The concept became popular in conservation, and was deployed in a range of contexts and mobilized to engender support for conservation, especially where human activities had damaged ecosystems, such as by removing keystone predators.


title: Keystone species

text: A keystone species was defined by Paine as a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance. It has been defined operationally by Davic in 2003 as "a strongly interacting species whose top-down effect on species diversity and competition is large relative to its biomass dominance within a functional group."


title: Keystone species

text: A classic keystone species is a predator that prevents a particular herbivorous species from eliminating dominant plant species. If prey numbers are low, keystone predators can be even less abundant and still be effective. Yet without the predators, the herbivorous prey would explode in numbers, wipe out the dominant plants, and dramatically alter the character of the ecosystem. The exact scenario changes in each example, but the central idea remains that through a chain of interactions, a non-abundant species has an outsized impact on ecosystem functions. For example, the herbivorous weevil "Euhrychiopsis lecontei" is thought to have keystone effects on aquatic plant diversity by foraging on nuisance Eurasian watermilfoil in North American waters. Similarly, the wasp species "Agelaia vicina" has been labeled a keystone species for its unparalleled nest size, colony size, and high rate of brood production. The diversity of its prey and the quantity necessary to sustain its high rate of growth have a direct impact on other species around it.


title: Keystone species

text: The keystone concept is defined by its ecological effects, and these in turn make it important for conservation. In this it overlaps with several other species conservation concepts such as flagship species, indicator species, and umbrella species. For example, the jaguar is a charismatic big cat which meets all of these definitions:


title: Keystone species

text: Sea otters protect kelp forests from damage by sea urchins. When the sea otters of the North American west coast were hunted commercially for their fur, their numbers fell to such low levels – fewer than 1000 in the north Pacific ocean – that they were unable to control the sea urchin population. The urchins in turn grazed the holdfasts of kelp so heavily that the kelp forests largely disappeared, along with all the species that depended on them. Reintroducing the sea otters has enabled the kelp ecosystem to be restored. For example, in Southeast Alaska some 400 sea otters were released, and they have bred to form a population approaching 25,000.


title: Keystone species

text: Keystone predators may increase the biodiversity of communities by preventing a single species from becoming dominant. They can have a profound influence on the balance of organisms in a particular ecosystem. Introduction or removal of a keystone predator, or changes in its population density, can have drastic cascading effects on the equilibrium of many other populations in the ecosystem. For example, grazers of a grassland may prevent a single dominant species from taking over.


title: Keystone species

text: The elimination of the gray wolf from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem had profound impacts on the trophic pyramid. Without predation, herbivores began to over-graze many woody browse species, affecting the area's plant populations. In addition, wolves often kept animals from grazing in riparian areas, which protected beavers from having their food sources encroached upon. The removal of wolves had a direct effect on beaver populations, as their habitat became grazing territory. Increased browsing on willows and conifers along Blacktail Creek due to a lack of predation caused channel incision because the beavers helped slow the water down, allowing soil to stay in place. Furthermore, predation keeps hydrological features such as creeks and streams in normal working order. When wolves were reintroduced, the beaver population and the whole riparian ecosystem recovered dramatically within a few years.


title: Keystone species

text: As described by Paine in 1966, some sea stars (e.g., "Pisaster ochraceus") may prey on sea urchins, mussels, and other shellfish that have no other natural predators. If the sea star is removed from the ecosystem, the mussel population explodes uncontrollably, driving out most other species. The recent onset of sea star wasting disease around the United States has indirectly caused mussel populations to dominate in many intertidal habitats.


title: Keystone species

text: These creatures need not be apex predators. Sea stars are prey for sharks, rays, and sea anemones. Sea otters are prey for orca.


title: Keystone species

text: The jaguar, whose numbers in Central and South America have been classified as near threatened, acts as a keystone predator by its widely varied diet, helping to balance the mammalian jungle ecosystem with its consumption of 87 different species of prey. The lion is another keystone species.


title: Keystone species

text: Keystone mutualists are organisms that participate in mutually beneficial interaction, the loss of which would have a profound impact upon the ecosystem as a whole. For example, in the Avon Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, there is a period of each year when "Banksia prionotes" (acorn banksia) is the sole source of nectar for honeyeaters, which play an important role in pollination of numerous plant species. Therefore, the loss of this one species of tree would probably cause the honeyeater population to collapse, with profound implications for the entire ecosystem. Another example is frugivores, such as the cassowary, which spreads the seeds of many different trees. Some seeds will not grow unless they have been through a cassowary.


title: Keystone species

text: A term used alongside keystone is ecosystem engineer. In North America, the prairie dog is an ecosystem engineer. Prairie dog burrows provide the nesting areas for mountain plovers and burrowing owls. Prairie dog tunnel systems also help channel rainwater into the water table to prevent runoff and erosion, and can also serve to change the composition of the soil in a region by increasing aeration and reversing soil compaction that can be a result of cattle grazing. Prairie dogs also trim the vegetation around their colonies, perhaps to remove any cover for predators. Grazing species such as plains bison, which is another keystone species, the pronghorn, and the mule deer have shown a proclivity for grazing on the same land used by prairie dogs.


title: Keystone species

text: The beaver is a well known ecosystem engineer and keystone species. It transforms its territory from a stream to a pond or swamp. Beavers affect the environment first altering the edges of riparian areas by cutting down older trees to use for their dams. This allows younger trees to take their place. Beaver dams alter the riparian area they are established in. Depending on topography, soils, and many factors, these dams change the riparian edges of streams and rivers into wetlands, meadows, or riverine forests. These dams have been shown to be beneficial to a myriad of species including amphibians, salmon, and song birds.


title: Keystone species

text: In the African savanna, the larger herbivores, especially the elephants, shape their environment. The elephants destroy trees, making room for the grass species and creating habitat for various small animal species. Without these animals, much of the savanna would turn into woodland.


title: Keystone species

text: In the Amazon river basin, peccaries produce and maintain wallows that are utilized by a wide variety of species.


title: Keystone species

text: Australian studies have found that parrotfish on the Great Barrier Reef are the only reef fish that consistently scrape and clean the coral on the reef. Without these animals, the Great Barrier Reef would be under severe strain.


title: Keystone species

text: In the Serengeti, the presence of sufficient gnus in these grasslands promote tree growth, which in turn reduces wildfire likelihood. The documentary The Serengeti Rules documents this in detail.


title: Keystone species

text: Although the concept of the keystone species has a value in describing particularly strong inter-species interactions, and for allowing easier communication between ecologists and conservation policy-makers, it has been criticized by L. S. Mills and colleagues for oversimplifying complex ecological systems. The term has been applied widely in different ecosystems and to predators, prey, and plants (primary producers), inevitably with differing ecological meanings. For instance, removing a predator may allow other animals to increase to the point where they wipe out other species; removing a prey species may cause predator populations to crash, or may allow predators to drive other prey species to extinction; and removing a plant species may result in the loss of animals that depend on it, like pollinators and seed dispersers. Beavers too have been called keystone, not for eating other species but for modifying the environment in ways that affected other species. The term has thus been given quite different meanings in different cases. In Mills's view, Paine's work showed that a few species could sometimes have extremely strong interactions within a particular ecosystem, but that does not automatically imply that other ecosystems have a similar structure.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character played by John Barrowman in "Doctor Who" and its spin-off series, "Torchwood". The character first appears in the 2005 "Doctor Who" episode "The Empty Child" and subsequently features in the remaining episodes of the first series (2005) as a companion to the series' protagonist, the Doctor. Subsequent to this, Jack became the central character in the adult-themed "Torchwood", which aired from 2006 to 2011. Barrowman reprised the role for appearances in "Doctor Who" in its third, fourth, and twelfth series, as well as specials "The End of Time", and "Revolution of the Daleks".


title: Jack Harkness

text: In contrast to The Doctor, Jack is more of a conventional action hero, as well as outwardly flirtatious and capable of acts which The Doctor would view as less than noble. In the programme's narrative, Jack begins as a time traveller and con man from the 51st century, who comes to travel with the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). As a consequence of his death and resurrection in the Series 1 finale, "The Parting of the Ways", Jack becomes immortal and is stranded on 19th-century Earth. There he becomes a member of Torchwood, a British organization dedicated to combating alien threats. He spends over a century waiting to reunite with the Doctor, over which time he becomes the leader of the Torchwood branch in Cardiff. He later reunites with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) for further stints on "Doctor Who". Aspects of the character's backstory—both prior to meeting the Doctor, and during his many decades living on Earth—are gradually revealed over "Torchwood" (and to a lesser extent, "Doctor Who") through the use of flashback scenes and expository dialogue.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Jack was the first openly non-heterosexual character in the history of televised "Doctor Who". The popularity of the character amongst multiple audiences directly influenced the development of the spin-off series "Torchwood". The character became a figure of the British public consciousness, rapidly gaining fame for actor Barrowman. As an ongoing depiction of bisexuality in mainstream British television, the character became a role model for young gay and bisexual people in the UK. Jack is featured in various "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood" books and has action figures created in his likeness.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Jack Harkness first appeared in the 2005 "Doctor Who" two-part story, "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances", when Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), a companion of the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), meets him during the London Blitz. Although posing as an American volunteering in the Royal Air Force, Jack is actually a former "Time Agent" from the 51st century who left the agency after inexplicably losing two years of his memory. Now working as a con man, Jack is responsible for unwittingly releasing a plague in London in 1941. After the Doctor cures the plague, Jack redeems himself by taking an unexploded bomb into his ship; the Doctor and Rose rescue him moments before it explodes. He subsequently travels with the Doctor and Rose in the Doctor's time-travelling spacecraft, the TARDIS. During his time with the Doctor, Jack matures into a hero, and in his final 2005 appearance, he sacrifices himself fighting the evil alien Daleks. Rose brings him back to life while suffused with the power of the time vortex, but when the power leaves her she doesn't remember doing it. She and the Doctor subsequently leave Jack behind on Satellite 5.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Jack returned in 2006 as a character of the spin-off series "Torchwood", in which he is a member of the Cardiff-based Torchwood Three in combating alien threats and monitoring a spacetime rift which runs through Cardiff. Jack is re-introduced as a changed man, reluctantly immortal, having spent years on Earth waiting to reunite with the Doctor. Jack recruits policewoman Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) to the team of experts after she discovers them; there are hints of romantic feelings between the two, but Gwen has a boyfriend and Jack enters a sexual relationship with the team's general "factotum" Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd). Despite having worked with him for some time, his present-day colleagues know very little about him; over the course of the series they discover that he cannot die. Jack was once a prisoner of war, and was an interrogator who used torture. In the "Torchwood" Series 1 finale "End of Days", Jack returns to the TARDIS. This immediately leads into the 2007 "Doctor Who" episode "Utopia", where he joins the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and his companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman). Jack explains he returned from Satellite 5 to the present day by travelling to 1869 via vortex manipulator, and lived through the 20th century waiting for the Doctor. By the series finale, having spent a year in an alternative timeline enslaved by The Master (John Simm), Jack opts to return to his team in Cardiff. Before departing, Jack speculates about his immortality and reminisces about his youth on the Boeshane Peninsula, revealing that his nickname had been the "Face of Boe", suggesting that he may one day become the non-humanoid recurring character of the same name, voiced by Struan Rodger.


title: Jack Harkness

text: In "Torchwood"'s second series (2008), Jack returns with a lighter attitude, and finds his team have continued working in his absence. They are also more insistent to learn of his past, especially after meeting his former partner, the unscrupulous Captain John Hart (James Marsters). The episode "Adam" explores Jack's childhood in the Boeshane Peninsula, revealing through flashback sequences how his father Franklin (Demetri Goritsas) died and young Jack (Jack Montgomery) lost his younger brother Gray (Ethan Brooke) during an alien invasion. Flashbacks in the series' penultimate episode "Fragments" depict Jack's capture by Torchwood in the late 19th century. Initially their prisoner, Jack is coerced into becoming a freelance agent for the organization, and eventually becomes leader of Torchwood Three at midnight on 1 January 2000. The series finale features the return of Captain John and Jack's brother Gray (Lachlan Nieboer), who, after a lifetime of torture by aliens, wants revenge on Jack. While Jack manages to repair his friendship with Captain John to some degree, he is forced to place his brother in cryogenic stasis after Gray kills his teammates Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori) and Owen Harper (Burn Gorman). Jack subsequently appears alongside the casts of "Torchwood" and "The Sarah Jane Adventures" in the two-part crossover finale of the 2008 "Doctor Who" series, "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End". Jack is summoned along with other former companions of the Doctor to assist him in defeating the mad scientist Davros (Julian Bleach) and his creation, the Daleks. Jack parts company from the Doctor once again, having helped save the universe from destruction.


title: Jack Harkness

text: "Torchwood"'s third series (2009) is a five-part serial entitled "Children of Earth". Aliens known as the 4-5-6 announce they are coming to Earth. Civil servant John Frobisher (Peter Capaldi) orders the destruction of Torchwood to cover a conspiracy; in 1965, the British government had authorized Jack to sacrifice twelve children to the 4-5-6, which is shown in flashbacks. Jack is blown apart in an explosion, but painfully reconstitutes from an incomplete pile of body parts; Gwen and Ianto escape and later rescue Jack from a concrete grave. Jack's daughter Alice (Lucy Cohu) and grandson Steven (Bear McCausland) are taken into custody by the assassins. The 4-5-6 demand ten percent of the world's children. Although he handed over twelve children in 1965, Jack refuses to give up any this time around. The 4-5-6 release a fatal virus; Ianto dies in Jack's arms. To create the signal that will destroy the 4-5-6, Jack sacrifices Steven. Six months later, having lost his lover, his grandson and his daughter, he bids farewell to Gwen and is transported aboard an alien ship to leave Earth for parts unknown. In the closing scenes of 2010 "Doctor Who" special "The End of Time", the critically injured Doctor gives each companion a farewell before his impending regeneration. Finding Jack in an exotic alien bar, he leaves him a note containing the name of "Titanic" crew member Alonso Frame (Russell Tovey), sitting on Jack's left side; the two proceed to flirt.


title: Jack Harkness

text: The fourth series, "" (2011), an American co-production, sees Jack return to Earth to investigate a phenomenon where humans can no longer die; Jack discovers that he has become mortal. Investigating their connection to the so-called "miracle", CIA agent Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer) renditions Jack and Gwen to America, but joins the team along with CIA colleague Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins) after conspirators within the CIA betray them. Jack's investigations into the miracle repeatedly turn up dead-ends, indicating a decades-old conspiracy to manipulate the global economy, as well as political institutions, for unknown purposes. Flashbacks in "Immortal Sins" depict Jack's relationship with Italian thief Angelo Colasanto (Daniele Favilli) in late 1920s New York City, ending in heartbreak after Jack is killed, bled and tortured repeatedly by the local community. In the present day, Angelo's granddaughter Olivia (Nana Visitor) explains that the descendants of three local businessmen who wished to purchase Jack's powers—"the Three Families"—are responsible for the miracle, using Jack's blood in conjunction with what they call "the Blessing". In "The Gathering", the team ultimately track down the Families and the Blessing, which is revealed to be an antipodal geological formation connected to the Earth's morphic field running from Shanghai and Buenos Aires; the team divide, attempting to reach both access points. To end the miracle, in "The Blood Line", Jack has Gwen kill him so that his mortal blood can reset the human morphic field; Gwen kills him with a bullet through the chest, while Rex—who transfused himself with Jack's blood to keep it safe—allows the Blessing to drain him too, in Buenos Aires. Rex survives, and with the morphic field restored, Jack resurrects. At Esther's funeral however, they discover that Rex has acquired self-healing abilities just like Jack's.


title: Jack Harkness

text: After a ten-year absence from the show, Jack returned in the twelfth series of "Doctor Who" in the episode "Fugitive of the Judoon" (2020), where he attempts to contact the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker). Using a stolen alien craft, he transports the Doctor's companions Graham O'Brien (Bradley Walsh), Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) and Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill), mistaking each of them for the Doctor. Learning of their identity and the Doctor's recent regeneration into a woman, he returns them to Earth, passing them a warning to give to the Doctor about the "lone Cyberman", before he teleports away after the ship's onboard nanogenes attack him. He returned in the 2021 New Year's episode "Revolution of the Daleks", in which he breaks the Doctor out of a Judoon prison, recovering his vortex manipulator in the process. Later, alongside the Doctor's companions, they repel a new Dalek invasion of Earth. Jack then chooses to stay on Earth and reconnect with Gwen Cooper.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Jack features in the BBC Books "New Series Adventures" "Doctor Who" novels "The Deviant Strain", "The Stealers of Dreams", and "Only Human". These novels take place between episodes of the 2005 series of "Doctor Who". In "The Stealers of Dreams", Jack refers to the Face of Boe as a famous figure in his home era; the producers of the series had not conceptualized the possibility of a Jack and Boe connection until mid-way into the production of the 2007 series.


title: Jack Harkness

text: The first wave of BBC Books "Torchwood" novels, "Another Life", "Border Princes", and "Slow Decay" (published January 2007), are set between episodes of the first series of "Torchwood". The novels "Trace Memory", "The Twilight Streets", and "Something in the Water" (published March 2008), are set during the concurrently airing second series of "Torchwood". "The Twilight Streets" suggests Jack was a freelance Torchwood agent in the 1940s, who disagreed with their methods but was persuaded by the love of an ex-boyfriend, Greg. The novel also explained that during the events of the "Doctor Who" episode "Boom Town" (which was set in Cardiff), Jack placed a lockdown on Torchwood activity so as not to create a paradox involving his past self. "Trace Memory" similarly depicts Jack as a freelance Torchwood agent, living and working in the late 1960s. "Pack Animals", "SkyPoint", and "Almost Perfect" (October 2008), are made up of more second series adventures, apart from "Almost Perfect" which is set after Series Two finale "Exit Wounds". "Into the Silence", "Bay of the Dead", and "The House that Jack Built" (May 2009), similarly are set between the second and third series of the show. "The House that Jack Built" focuses partly on Jack's life in 1906. "Risk Assessment", "The Undertaker's Gift", and "Consequences" (October 2009), are likewise set between "Exit Wounds" and "Children of Earth".


title: Jack Harkness

text: "The Torchwood Archives", published after the second series in 2008, is a companion book written by Gary Russell which gives an "insider's look" into the life of Jack and the Torchwood team. The book collects and re-publishes ancillary material which appeared on the "Torchwood" website in the first two seasons, and provides new material such as rough dates for things like Jack's marriage as relayed by the book's fictional narrator. The book is composed of fictitious archive notes, personnel forms, photographs, newspaper clippings and staff memos, and offers revelations about the character which would later be confirmed by the television series. For example, "Archives" first mention Jack's lover Lucia Moretti, who is mentioned in "Children of Earth". In a similar vein to "The Torchwood Archives" but from a real-world perspective, Gary Russell's "The Torchwood Encyclopedia" (2009) expands on "every fact and figure" for Jack and the Torchwood world.


title: Jack Harkness

text: The character is also mentioned Dave Stone's 2006 Judge Dredd novel "Psykogeddon", where a Mega-City News announcer relays a disclaimer from pornographer Jason Kane – a character Stone created for the 1996 "Doctor Who" novel "Death and Diplomacy" – stating that any similarity between Kane and "the notorious Cursed Earth brigand 'Captain' Jack Harkness is a purely unfortunate coincidence".


title: Jack Harkness

text: During the first series of "Torchwood", the "Torchwood" website, located at torchwood.org.uk, recounted some adventures by Captain Jack through an alternate reality game made up of electronic literature in the form of fictional intercepted blogs, newspaper cutouts and confidential letters and IM conversations between members of the Torchwood Three crew. Written by James Goss, the first series' website sheds some light on Jack's backstory in the years he worked for "Torchwood". For the second series in 2008, a second interactive "Torchwood" online game was devised, scripted by series writer Phil Ford, and as with the 2006 website contained some information on Jack's unseen adventures. The BBC America "Torchwood" also has a 'Captain's Blog' section which relays Jack's accounts of the events of each episode. "The Torchwood Archives" by Gary Russell collects much of this online literature for the first two series in hardback form, including the Captain's Blog section of the BBC America website.


title: Jack Harkness

text: During Series Four of "Doctor Who", the BBC's website also included a section called "Captain Jack's Monster Files" featuring weekly webcast videos narrated by John Barrowman in character as Captain Jack giving "top secret" facts collected by Torchwood about "Doctor Who" monsters, such as the Slitheen. A Christmas special 2008 Monster File features Barrowman in new footage as Jack, as does the Cybermen edition added following the airing of "The Next Doctor" on Christmas Day. For Dr Fiona Hobden, the Monster Files' mock-documentary format give an "additional twist" to the interplay between history and fiction. Because Captain Jack narrates, "the story unfolds in the tradition of contemporary historical documentary, the docudrama"; in the Monster File for "The Fires of Pompeii", Harkness' commentary moves the 'reality' of the episode away from the explosion of Vesuvius and the human experience, and to the story itself. From Series Five onwards, the Monster Files are instead presented by River Song (Alex Kingston).


title: Jack Harkness

text: Jack also appears in the web-based motion comic series "Torchwood: Web of Lies" (2011), which ties into "Miracle Day". The story depicts a series two-set adventure where Jack is kidnapped by unknown assailants and pursued by Gwen. Investigations by a woman named Holly (voice of Eliza Dushku) establish that Jack was kidnapped by the Three Families so they could acquire entire vats of his blood, which she destroys.


title: Jack Harkness

text: In addition to the paperback novels, Jack also appears in "Torchwood" audio books, the first four being "Hidden" written by Steven Savile and narrated by Naoko Mori, "Everyone Says Hello" written by Dan Abnett and narrated by Burn Gorman, released February 2008, "In the Shadows" by Joseph Lidster and narrated by Eve Myles, released September 2008, and "The Sin Eaters" written by Brian Minchin and narrated by Gareth David-Lloyd, released September 2008. Joseph Lidster also wrote a BBC Radio 4 "Torchwood" drama, "Lost Souls" which aired in Summer 2008 as an Afternoon Play featuring the voices of John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd and Freema Agyeman. Set after the events of the 2008 series, Jack and his team make their first international adventure to CERN in Geneva, as part of Radio 4's special celebration of the Large Hadron Collider being switched on. The special radio episode's plot focuses on the Large Hadron Collider's activation and the doomsday scenario some predicted it might incite, as well as the team's mourning of Toshiko and Owen's recent deaths.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Between 1 and 3 July, Radio 4 aired three further audio dramas in "The Afternoon Play" slot, bridging the gap between Series 2 and 3. "Golden Age" introduced Jack's ex-lover Duchess Eleanor (Jasmine Hyde), the leader of Torchwood India, which Jack closed down in 1924. "The Dead Line" features another ex-girlfriend of Jack's, Stella Courtney (Doña Croll).


title: Jack Harkness

text: 2011 audio drama series "The Lost Files" was released to tie in with "Miracle Day". "The Devil and Miss Carew" and "Submission" are set in the same period as the previous audio dramas. "House of the Dead", however, reveals itself in its final act to be set six months after Ianto's death; Jack visited the House of the Dead to make contact with Ianto, who is unaware that he is dead. Jack and Ianto say a final goodbye and tell each other they love one another for the first time. Jack attempts to return to the land of the living alongside Ianto, but Ianto stays behind to close the Cardiff spacetime rift forever with Jack's device.


title: Jack Harkness

text: In 2015, BBC Worldwide granted a licence for Big Finish Productions to produce "Torchwood" audio plays. Barrowman was the first "Torchwood" cast member to reprise his role and has appeared in numerous releases, including semi-regular appearances in the monthly range, an ongoing series set after the events of "Miracle Day" and various special releases. Captain Jack was set to appear in "Absent Friends" - marking the fiftieth "Torchwood" monthly range release - which would have seen him reunited with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant). However, while this story was recorded, its release was cancelled in May 2021.


title: Jack Harkness

text: In 2017, Big Finish Productions released a solo audio series for the character - "The Lives of Captain Jack" - containing four plays depicting adventures in Jack's life. Including the year he spent on a devastated Earth following "The Parting of the Ways"; his romantic encounter with Alonso Frame, briefly alluded to in "The End of Time"; a friendship he developed with Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) during the time he waited on Earth for the Doctor to return; and a story from his days as a Time Agent before he adopted the name Jack Harkness, revealing how he lost two years of memory along with his real name: Javic Piotr Thane.


title: Jack Harkness

text: A second volume of "The Lives of Captain Jack" was released in 2019 which saw Jack filling in for a recuperating Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and working as a chauffeur for newsreader Trinity Wells (Lachele Carl). In 2020, following Jack's return to television in "Fugitive of the Judoon" but recorded prior to broadcast, a third volume reunited him with Jackie, depicted an ageing Jack in the distant future and explored his encounters - and romance - with River Song (Alex Kingston).


title: Jack Harkness

text: In naming the character, executive producer and head writer Russell T Davies drew inspiration from the Marvel Comics character Agatha Harkness, a character whose surname Davies had previously used in naming lead characters in "Century Falls" and "The Grand". Davies states that reusing names (such as Tyler, Smith, Harper, Harkness and Jones) allows him to get a grip of the character on the blank page. Jack's original appearances in "Doctor Who" were conceived with the intention of forming a character arc in which Jack is transformed from a coward to a hero, and John Barrowman consciously minded this in his portrayal of the character. Following on that arc, the character's debut episode would leave his morality as ambiguous, publicity materials asking, "Is he a force for good or ill?"


title: Jack Harkness

text: Actor John Barrowman himself was a key factor in the conception of Captain Jack. Barrowman says that at the time of his initial casting, Davies and co-executive producer, Julie Gardner had explained to him that they "basically wrote the character around [John]". Davies had singled out Barrowman for the part. On meeting him, Barrowman tried out the character using his native Scottish accent, his normal American accent, and an English accent; Davies decided it "made it bigger if it was an American accent". Barrowman recounts Davies as having been searching for an actor with a "matinée idol quality", telling him that "the only one in the whole of Britain who could do it was you". A number of television critics have compared Barrowman's performances as Captain Jack to those of Hollywood actor Tom Cruise.


title: Jack Harkness

text: The character's introduction served to posit him as a secondary hero and a rival to the series protagonist, the Doctor, simultaneously paralleling the Doctor's detached alien nature with Jack's humanity and "heart". John Barrowman describes the character in his initial appearance as "an intergalactic conman" and also a "rogue Time Agent" which he defines as "part of a kind of space CIA" and alludes to the moral ambiguity of having "done something in his past" and not knowing "whether it is good or bad because his memory has been erased". Writer Stephen James Walker notes similarities have been found between Jack and Angel (David Boreanaz), the heroic vampire from America's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel"; Alan Stanley Blair of SyFy Portal pointed out that "Back alley fights, knowledge of the paranormal and an unwanted task of defending the helpless are only a few of the correlations between the two characters." Jack has also been compared to the title character of America's "", which featured lesbian subtext between Xena (Lucy Lawless) and her close friend Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor). Polina Skibinskaya, writing for AfterElton.com, an American gay men's website, notes both are "complex characters" haunted by their past misdeeds. Furthermore, like Xena, Jack is "a gay basher’s worst nightmare: a queer weapon-wielding, ass-kicking superhero gleefully chewing his way through awesome fight scenes". One academic article refers to Jack as "an indestructible Captain Scarlet figure". In a comparative contrast, where the Doctor is a pacifist, Jack is more inclined to see violent means to reach similar ends. The BBC News website refers to Jack's role within "Doctor Who" as "[continuing] what began with Ian Chesterton and continued later with Harry Sullivan". Whereas in the classic series the female "companions" were sometimes exploited and sexualised for the entertainment of predominantly male audiences, the producers could reverse this dynamic with Jack, citing an equal need amongst modern audiences to "look at good looking men". John Barrowman linked the larger number of women watching the show as a key factor in this.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Jack is bisexual, and is the first televised "Doctor Who" character to be openly anything other than heterosexual. In Jack's first appearance, the Doctor suggests that Jack's orientation is more common in the 51st century, when humankind will deal with multiple alien species and becomes more sexually flexible. Within "Doctor Who"'s narrative, Jack's sexual orientation is not specifically labelled as that could "make it an issue". On creating Jack, Davies comments "I thought: 'It's time you introduce bisexuals properly into mainstream television,'" with a focus on making Jack fun and swashbuckling as opposed to negative and angsty. Davies also expresses that he didn't make the character bisexual "from any principle", but rather because "it would be interesting from a narrative point of view." The bisexuality-related labels "pansexual" and "omnisexual" are also frequently applied to the character. Writer Steven Moffat suggests that questions of sexual orientation do not even enter into Jack's mind; Moffat also comments "It felt right that the James Bond of the future would bed anyone." Within "Torchwood", the character refers to sexual orientation classifications as "quaint". In an interview with the "Chicago Tribune", John Barrowman explained that "[He]'s bisexual, but in the realm of the show, we call him omnisexual, because on the show, [the characters] also have sex with aliens who take human form, and sex with male-male, women-women, all sorts of combinations." The term is also used once, in-universe, in the novel "The House that Jack Built", when Ianto comments to a woman's remark about Jack, "He prefers the term 'omnisexual'."


title: Jack Harkness

text: While in his first several "Doctor Who" appearances, Jack did not have a set costume, "Torchwood" established a continual look for Jack which recalled that of his first "Doctor Who" appearance. The design has been described as "an iconic piece of sci-fi culture". A writer for "Wired" attributes much of Jack's appeal to the coat: "I think it has lots to do with that coat he always wears. Coats are cool, just like fezzes and bow ties and Stetsons. The only difference is that Captain Jack doesn't ever tell you his coat is cool. It just "is"." In fact, in her essay "Fashioning Masculinity and Desire", Sarah Gilligan attributes "Torchwood"s popularity—as well as that of the character—to the costume. She credits the greatcoat with helping to fashion the character's masculinity, and argues that Jack's costume creates its own discourse "through which costume drama and Post Heritage cinema's escapism flows".


title: Jack Harkness

text: During Jack's initial appearances in "Doctor Who", Russell T Davies held a "half-hearted" theory that Jack would dress specific to the time period he was in, to contrast the Doctor who dresses the same wherever and whenever he goes. He is introduced wearing a greatcoat in World War II-set episodes, but changes to modern day jeans in contemporary episode "Boom Town" and black leather in futuristic episodes. Davies admits that this was a "bit of a lame idea" and decided that Jack "never looked better than when he was in his World War II outfit". From the pilot of "Torchwood" onwards, Harkness once again wears period military clothes from the second World War, including braces and an officer's wool greatcoat in every appearance. Costume designer Ray Holman commented in a "Torchwood Magazine" interview that "We always wanted to keep the World War Two hero look for him, so all his outfits have a 1940s flavour." Because the character was expected to "be running around a lot", Holman redesigned his RAF group captain's greatcoat from "Doctor Who" to make it more fluid and less "weighty". Jack's other costumes are "loosely wartime based", such as the trousers are "getting more and more styled to suit his figure". Holman explains that there are actually five Captain Jack coats used on the show. The "hero version" is used for most scenes, while there is also a wetcoat made with pre-shrunk fabric, running coat which is slightly shorter to prevent heels getting caught, and two "stunt coats" that had been "hero coats" in the first series." Davies feels the military uniform reinforces the idea that the character "likes his Captain Jack Harkness identity". Julie Gardner describes the coat as "epic and classic and dramatic", while director Brian Kelly believes it gives Jack "a sweep and a presence".


title: Jack Harkness

text: For "Miracle Day", Davies commissioned new costume designer Shawna Trpcic (previously costume designer for "Angel", "Firefly" and "Dollhouse") to create a new greatcoat design. This was partially motivated by Los Angeles' warmer climate; shooting in Wales had necessitated Barrowman be fit in much warmer clothing. The new coat is custom made by Italian designers, and is actually cashmere-blend wool where the previous one had been cotton. Trpcic says that she "just wanted to modernise it, give it a more modern fit, but leave the drape and keep it cape-like". Trpcic felt prepared for the job of redesigning the coat because of her prior work on "Firefly", tailoring for Nathan Fillion's Captain Malcolm Reynolds: "I'm kind of used to iconic captain's coats and the importance of staying loyal to what the fans expect and to what we need". Journalist Maureen Ryan commented that the new coat is "greatly improved" and the redesign "gives the coat the kind of movement and swagger Jack brings with him on every adventure".


title: Jack Harkness

text: The character is described as both "lethally charming ... good looking and utterly captivating", as well as "flirtatious, cunning, clever and a bit of an action man". Within "Doctor Who", Jack's personality is relatively light-hearted, although this changes in "Torchwood"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first series, where he becomes a darker character. In "Torchwood"'s first series, Jack has been shaped by his ongoing search for the Doctor and also by his role as a leader, in which he is predominantly more aloof. In "Torchwood", he would occasionally inquire or muse about the afterlife and religion, sympathising with a man's desire to die. Returning in "Doctor Who" Series Three, Jack indicates he now maintains a less suicidal outlook than before. In the second series of "Torchwood", Jack became a much more light-hearted character once again, after appearances in "Doctor Who" where he was reunited with the Doctor. In the third series of "Torchwood", the audience sees some of Jack's "darker side", as well as "the secrets that Jack has, the pressures, drama and the trauma he's carrying on his shoulders".


title: Jack Harkness

text: Lynnette Porter comments on Jack's relation to scholar Lord Raglan's theses on 'the hero' in fiction. Because Jack is immortal and always comes back from the dead, Porter argues that Jack cannot literally fulfil the "physical death aspect" of Raglan's criteria for a hero. However, Jack instead has several symbolic deaths. For instance, in the last scene of "Children of Earth". Porter observes that camera angles emphasise Jack's profile as solitary man atop a hill in Cardiff, departing. This scene of "going away for good" against the backdrop of the city he has long protected, hints at the death of the Captain Jack persona; in Porter's words, "the immortal captain "dies" at the top of a hill in Wales at the conclusion of the "epic" miniseries", "epic" traditionally being the genre of heroism. The American political blog Daily Kos states Jack "can certainly be characterised as a Byronic hero, a tragic figure with a streak of melancholy, heroic yet misunderstood, bold yet rash. Most importantly, his sexuality is one single aspect of a much more complex, flawed character." G. Todd Davis examines the ways in which Jack conforms to the Byronic hero character trope. Physically, he identifies Jack as dark-haired and strikingly handsome, with masculine physique; he is intelligent and aware of it, to the point of a superiority complex; he demands unquestioning loyalty, has guilty secrets in his past, and is self-sacrificing. For this, Davis lists Jack alongside Milton's Satan from "Paradise Lost", Shelley's Prometheus, and also Angel from "Buffy", amongst others.


title: Jack Harkness

text: As a show, "Torchwood" is highly intertextual. The consequence of this is that many sides of Jack are shown across various media. One commentator feels that this emphasises Jack's pivotal place in the development and change of modern science fiction heroes. The character's unexpected popularity with a multitude of audiences, would later shape his appearances both as a traditional "action hero" and as a positive role model for younger viewers. Barrowman also remarks that "The beauty of Captain Jack, and one of the reasons why I think, as an actor, I've landed on my feet, is that he's popular with one audience in "Torchwood" and with another in "Doctor Who"."


title: Jack Harkness

text: In several instances in "Torchwood", Jack displays no qualms about killing a person of any species, which within "Doctor Who", allows Jack's character to act in ways the lead character cannot. Barrowman remarks, "He'll do things the Doctor won't do ... [such as] fight. Jack will kill. And the Doctor, in a way, knows that, so he lets Jack do it. I'd say Jack's the companion-hero." A flashback in the third series of Torchwood shows Captain Jack sacrificing twelve children to aliens in order to save millions of lives. Davies feels that the third series of "Torchwood" is a "tale of retribution and perhaps redemption" for Captain Jack, who experiences "maximum damage" when his lover Ianto is killed. Davies chose to have Ianto die so that Jack would be damaged enough to sacrifice his grandson in order to destroy the same aliens.


title: Jack Harkness

text: When reuniting with the Doctor in the 2007 series of "Doctor Who", he is told "don't you dare" when pointing a gun, and scolded when contemplating snapping the Master's neck. Witnessing the murder of his colleague Owen in "Torchwood", Jack shoots his killer in the forehead, killing him in an act of swift revenge. Whilst the Doctor scolds Jack for joining the Torchwood Institute (an organisation he perceives as xenophobic and aggressive), Jack maintains that he reformed the Institute in the Doctor's image; Jack himself had initially been critical of the moral failings of a 19th-century Torchwood. Actor Gareth David-Lloyd describes the 19th century Torchwood as "quite ruthless and quite evil" and "on the other side" from Jack and the Doctor. Through Jack, whose perspective is widened by his experiences in other planets and times, the organisation was able to grow less jingoistic. One academic article, which compares "Torchwood" to the American drama series "24", opines that Jack's attitudes make the show's ethos largely antithetical to that of "24". Because Jack explores the "complexity of negotiating differing worldviews, cultural values, beliefs, and moral codes" through a framework established by the Doctor, to "value life, support democratic principles and egalitarianism, and protect those who cannot protect themselves", consequently "The world of "Torchwood" is depicted, not as the dichotomous "us" (or United States) and "other" of Jack Bauer's "24", but as the omnipolitical, omnisexual, omnicultural world of Jack Harkness." Porter finds, however, that like Bauer, Jack saves the world using similarly morally grey means when he tortures Beth the sleeper agent, in "Sleeper", in order to avert an interplanetary attack.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Although science fiction heroes have, Porter argues, "grown greyer over time", Jack represents as of "Children of Earth" a culmination of this trend, resulting in a full "devolution/deconstruction of the traditional hero". In "Children of Earth", Jack has to sacrifice his own grandson to save the world. Barrowman was concerned that the storyline could have made the character unpopular. He believes however that Jack was given the tough decision on how to save humanity; the actor says "when I read all of the stuff he had to do, I had to look at it from the point of view of 'I'm Jack Harkness and I'm right'." For Lynnette Porter, Jack's actions in the serial make him "a benchmark for [morally] grey heroes"; some audiences may even view him, in light of his actions, as "villainous or downright monstrous." Although Jack ultimately saves the majority of the world's children and finds a way to foil the monstrous 456, the situation in which he is placed forces him to make a morally difficult (and to some viewers, reprehensible) decision. Such, Porter argues, is the mark of a grey hero. Davies stated in an interview with "SFX" that he "loved" the uproarious reaction to Jack's actions, defending the character in saying "He saved every single child in the world! If you would fail to do that then you’re the monster, frankly. It’s this extraordinary treatment that only science fiction heroes get." When Jack is departing Earth, the music playing is titled "Redemption", signifying that his departure is also perhaps his redeeming act in the serial.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Russell T Davies referred to a scene in "Last of the Time Lords" as promoting a theory that Jack may one day become recurring character "the Face of Boe"a large, mysterious disembodied head in a glass case, the oldest creature in the known universeas a consequence of Jack's immortality and slow aging (surpassed by Ashildr / Me). The Face of Boe first appeared in the 2005 episode "The End of the World", watching the final destruction of the long-abandoned Earth by the expansion of the Sun in the Earth year 5,000,000,000; Boe appears in two other episodes, "New Earth" (2006) and "Gridlock" (2007), and is mentioned in other episodes, such as his being "the oldest living creature in the Isop Galaxy" as of the Earth year 200,100, per "Bad Wolf" (2005). Barrowman described himself and David Tennant as being "so excited" to the extent where they "jumped up screaming" when they read Jack's line regarding the Face of Boe, remarking "It was probably the most excitable moment we had during the shooting of that series." The Face of Boe had originally been a throwaway line in a script for "The End of the World"; because creating the character seemed expensive, the Face of Boe was nearly discarded and replaced. However, special effects designer Neil Gorton loved the idea and pushed to make sure the character lived. Davies loved Gorton's design and to his surprise, the character was written into future episodes and became pivotal in the third series. In a spin-off novel, "The Stealer of Dreams" (2005), Captain Jack makes a reference to the Face of Boe as a famous figure. Davies conceived the idea that the two characters might be connected midway through the production of the 2007 series.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Barrowman states that when fans ask him if Jack is really the Face of Boe, he tells them he believes he is and states that he and Davies hold it to be true "in [their] little world"; the link is "unconfirmed" within the text of the show. As to "how" Jack becomes the Face, Barrowman feels the answer doesn't matter as it is intentionally mysterious. Barrowman likes the characters being connected because it means in spite of how the Doctor initially treats Jack, "Boe becomes his confidante and the one the Doctor returns to for advice and information" which he feels is a "wonderful twist of events". However, Davies chooses not to confirm (within the story's narrative) whether or not Jack really is the Face of Boe, stating "the moment it became very true or very false, the joke dies". He has refused the publication of spin-off novels and comic books that have tried to definitively link the two.


title: Jack Harkness

text: In relationship to "Miracle Day", where Jack becomes mortal, critics approached Barrowman and Davies about the implications of such a move for Jack's potential future as the Face of Boe. Barrowman stated that the open-ended rules of the science fiction genre meant that Jack could still become the Face of Boe even after "Miracle Day". By contrast, Davies was keen to emphasise that the possibility of Jack becoming the Face of Boe remained "conjecture", and that the possibility remained that Jack would not survive "Miracle Day", adding "You know how I love killing people off."


title: Jack Harkness

text: In a "Doctor Who Magazine" interview, Barrowman described Jack's love for Ianto as "lustful", and explained "I don't think he'd settle down with Ianto. He might do, but he'd let Ianto know that he [Jack] has to play around on the side". The "Torchwood" Series Two premiere sees Jack ask Ianto out on a date, after finding out Gwen is engaged. John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd opined in an interview at Comic-Con to fan questions that Jack's relationship with Ianto has however brought out Jack's empathy, and helped to ground him. John Barrowman said in an interview that Ianto "brings out the "human" in [Jack]" and "brings out more ... empathy because he’s actually fallen for someone and he really cares about somebody ... [which] makes him warm to other people ... [and] makes him more approachable." In the same interview, Gareth David-Lloyd said of the relationship and his character that "I think Ianto’s always made him care and that is really the heart of the show." However, Stephen James Walker feels that Jack's relationship with Ianto is one-sided; Ianto seems to feel the relationship is "serious and committed", but while dancing with Gwen in "Something Borrowed", Walker believes that Jack appears to equate his relationship with Ianto to nothing more than a "recreational activity", and considers it "obvious Jack only has eyes and thoughts for Gwen". The novel "The House that Jack Built" includes a scene where Ianto confides in Gwen that he knows that to Jack he is "just a shag", though discloses that the relationship means more to him. In the same novel, however, he also refers to himself in front of Jack as his "boyfriend". When Ianto expounds these same insecurities to Jack in the radio play "The Dead Line" (just prior to "Children of Earth"), however, Jack insists "You will never be just a blip in time, Ianto Jones. Not to me."


title: Jack Harkness

text: Just as Jack and Ianto's relationship is developing, Ianto dies, in "Children of Earth" (2009). While some fans felt "cheated" at not seeing the relationship develop further, Davies explains his intention was to heighten the tragedy by it also being a loss of potential, stating "You grieve over everything they could have been. Everything you hoped for them." For dramatic purposes within the story, Davies explains that Ianto's death was necessary so that Jack would be damaged enough to sacrifice his own grandson. Gareth David-Lloyd feels that the lack of resolution for the love story is "part of the tragedy". Lynnette Porter feels that Ianto's demise is intended as a watershed moment where Jack loses his effectiveness as a hero. At least for a time, a grieving Jack loses his focus and gives up; within a few months, Jack flees Earth and his role as the expected hero. Some fans were displeased by Ianto's death scene and the end of the relationship, and some even accused one the writers of "deliberately egging on the shippers'". Subsequent to Ianto's death, in "The End of Time" (2010), the Doctor sets up Jack with a new romantic interest, Alonso Frame (Tovey). Fans of Ianto, who felt cheated by the character's death, disliked this development. GayNZ.com compared the situation to "Buffy" fans' reaction to Willow's relationship with Kennedy (Iyari Limon) in "Buffy"s seventh season, following Tara's death in the show's sixth.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Ianto makes a post-death appearance in 2011 audio drama "The House of the Dead". Encountering Ianto's spirit at a haunted location in Wales, Jack and Ianto are permitted a final goodbye. Without Ianto in his life, Jack wishes to be swept up into the Cardiff spacetime rift as it closes in an attempt at suicide. Ianto tricks Jack into leaving the House of the Dead, however, despite the possibility of resurrection. As they are forced to part forever by the closing of the rift, the couple declare their love for one another for the first and last time.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Barrowman states in a behind-the-scenes featurette that Gwen brings a "little bit of soul" back to Jack, following her recruitment. In a 2007 interview, Eve Myles, who plays Gwen, describes the relationship between Jack and Gwen as a "palpable love" and opines that "with Jack and Gwen, it’s the real thing and they’re going to make you wait for that." The first two series suggest the possibility of romantic and sexual tension behind Jack and Gwen's working relationship, with Stephen James Walker drawing on the firing range sequence in series one episode "Ghost Machine" as a key example, as well as the scene where Jack discovers that Gwen has become engaged to Rhys in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", the series two opener. AfterElton.com's Locksley Hall conjectures that Jack is attracted to Gwen because of "her warmth, her sense of justice, her very ordinariness and lack of glamour", whilst Eve Myles explains Gwen's attraction to Jack by stating: "the most monogamous woman in the world would probably go for him – it'd be hard not to". Valerie Estelle Frankel describes Jack as a "compelling trickster", who acts out Gwen's private desires with his "outrageous flirting". She suggests that Jack (unlike Rhys) is not mature enough to occupy the role of "steady prince" for Gwen, whilst Barrowman feels that if Jack were to settle down with her, "he'd have to commit completely"; this is why he does not act on his feelings, because though Gwen would let him flirt with other people, he could "never afford to do anything more". Gareth David-Lloyd, who played Ianto, feels that for Jack, "there’s two different sorts of love going on there", and that Jack feels for Gwen and Ianto in different ways, although both have helped him become less emotionally isolated. Lynnette Porter feels that part of the reason Jack leaves Earth at the conclusion of "Children of Earth" is Gwen's idealisation of Jack, which is so intense that he cannot stand to look at her in the wake of Ianto's death. Gwen hopes that she is reason enough for Jack to stay on Earth, but Jack is ready to give up any hero worship because he feels unworthy.


title: Jack Harkness

text: A press release for "Torchwood" Series Four states that Jack is brought back to Earth because of his "unstated love" for Gwen, who in turn still feels for Jack and misses the exciting life she once led beside him. Whilst "Miracle Day" lead writer Russell T Davies states in response to a question posed by AfterElton that he "hates" the idea of romantic tension between Gwen and Jack, executive producer Julie Gardner answers by stating "They love each other. Of course they do." Myles believes that in series four, Gwen and Jack have a "love-hate-love relationship" resembling in different ways a sibling relationship, a marital relationship and also "the strongest friendship". Episode seven of "Miracle Day" features a scene where Jack threatens Gwen with violence after she states she would have him killed to save her daughter. Writer Jane Espenson explains that the two characters have different needs and that this means they inevitably "clash like steel blades". Simon Brew of Den of Geek praises the dynamic between Gwen and Jack in series four, describing them as "a terrific double act" and states that ""Torchwood" is at, or near, its best when the two of them are working in tandem".


title: Jack Harkness

text: Discussing whether his character could ever find "The One", John Barrowman asserts that Jack "likes everybody, and his love for each person is different". Barrowman believes that Jack does harbour romantic feelings toward the Doctor, but "would never take that beyond infatuation" and "would never let the Doctor know". Barrowman claims that Jack also "fancies" fellow companion Martha Jones, admiring her "tenacity" and willingness to "spat with him", and describes Jack's love for Toshiko and Owen as "fatherly", stating "He was guiding them. That's why it was so devastating for him to lose them." The second series of "Torchwood" also introduced Jack's ex-lover, Captain John. Head writer Chris Chibnall introduced John to act as a "proper nemesis, somebody to really test [Jack], to push him, and to reveal something about Jack's character". In the use of Captain John as a literary foil, Chibnall comments "you see the way Jack could have gone, and probably did, for a little while" which underlines how "Jack, in his experiences with the Doctor and Torchwood, made a very conscious decision to move away from that behaviour."


title: Jack Harkness

text: In their academic publication, "Queer TV", Glyn Davis and Gary Needham discuss Jack's role within "Torchwood" as a post-gay, romantic hero. Noting "Torchwood"'s central gay themes, they comment that "it is through the character of Captain Jack that "Torchwood" is able to mine its queerness." Discussing Jack's brief romance with his namesake, the real Captain Jack (Matt Rippy), academic critics have noted that "The Captain Jacks both share the same name and are quite similar in physical appearance, thus literalising the homo-ness of the situation. Through the time-travel device this points to a narcissistic self-fascination, the old cliché that homosexuality is the love for sameness." Other relationships which have been described or alluded to (both in the television series and other media) include ex-girlfriends Estelle Cole, Duchess Eleanor, Stella Courtney, and Lucia Moretti, ex-boyfriends and Angelo Colasanto, as well as an unnamed ex-wife.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Describing the patterns of his relationships throughout the series, Davis and Needham draw the conclusion that "while Captain Jack desires both men and women, his long-term love affairs and onscreen kisses are mostly with men in the past and present." Davies himself laments that this one of the pitfalls of writing a bisexual character, commenting "The trap you fall into with bisexual men is only having them sleep with men." Commenting on the show's postmodern attitude towards bisexuality, or in what Russell T Davies calls "omnisexuality", they continue to remark that "His character brushes against definitions of queer sexuality in that he resists any sort of classification based on sexual orientation." They also comment on the subtexts of particular episodes, such as gay time-travel romance episode "Captain Jack Harkness", and within that the relevance of time-travelling Jack Harkness to tackle the question of forbidden gay attraction in what is post-"Brokeback" television. In "Understanding TV Texts" by Phil Wickham, Wickham opines that Captain Jack explicitly "brings to the fore" with his "brazen bisexuality", "something we have to come to expect [from Russell T Davies] as viewers of his work". Fans expressed fear that an Americanized fourth series of the show would mean the show would no longer portray Jack's bisexuality, but Davies assured interviewers that Jack's interests in both men and women would be honoured.