Profiles Dr. Owen Harper 'King of the Weevils'

Occupation: Torchwood Three Medical Officer

Born: 14^th February 1981

Species: Human

Status: Deceased

Played by: Burn Gorman

Dr Owen Harper had a terrible childhood until he left home at 16. Although his mother was meant to love him, she didn’t like him very much at all. Given this information it’s interesting to see that Owen’s love life was in as much turmoil as that of his motherly affections. Not wishing to commit to Megan (Another Life), while he was in medical school, he was prepared to settle down with Katie, a nurse at the hospital that he worked at, only to discover that she was suffering with what appeared to be early onset Alzheimer’s.

     After an operation to remove the ‘tumour’ it was discovered that there was an alien parasite feeding off her brain, and once uncovered, expelled a toxic gas killing all theatre staff and Katie.

Captain Jack Harkness had been investigating this case and avoiding all knowledge of Torchwood when he met Owen, drugged the young man, and doctored the CCTV.

As you would expect, Owen was enraged to discover that what he had seen was disbelieved by staff and security.

At the cemetery he met the man from the hospital and stormed across the cemetery to confront him, it was only after this, that he found out more about Torchwood, and the life it could offer him, and there were such things as aliens.

     After this, Owen’s relationships were short lived and often one night stand’s. Using alien tech to woo the ladies into bed, it was to continue until he fell for aviator Diane Holmes, a woman from another time, who briefly showed him what love really was. Although he had had a brief affair with Gwen Cooper, it was Diane that broke his heart when she left to find a way back to 1953.

     Broken hearted Owen needed to find something that would ease the pain and entering into a men’s fighting den, that used Weevil’s as fight partners, seemed the ideal solution. Standing in the cage minutes before Torchwood arrived to close the place down, he allowed a Weevil to maul him, as at this point, he had all but given up.

     During a routine investigation, this time into the P.H.A.R.M. Owen Harper was fatally wounded by Professor Aaron Copley whose business was being shut down by Torchwood Three. The shooting rocked the team. However, Captain Jack Harkness wasn’t prepared to let him go without everyone having their final goodbye’s with him, so locating the second Resurrection Gauntlet, Jack brought Owen back from the dead…except along the way, he brought a demon known as ‘Duroc’ back too.

     Through Owen, Duroc needed 12 souls in order to rule the Earth for an eternity. Owen had been studying the behaviour patterns of the Weevils prior to Duroc’s arrival, so when Jack and Owen ran from the creatures to the topmost point of a car park, expecting to be mauled, Jack was a little startled to say the least, when the Weevils crouched down and swayed from side to side, murmuring in a low voice. Owen at this point had become Duroc, with eyes as dark as coals speaking in an ancient tongue.

Back at the Hub, Toshiko had run the phrase through their alien computer software to discover that Duroc or Death was now amongst them. It was at this point, Owen wanted the team to embalm him, to send Duroc back into the ether and him along with it.

     It was harder saying goodbye a second time, but it was clear to see that the one person deeply affected by the initial loss of Owen had been Toshiko.

After Duroc was sent back whence it came, Owen struggled with his own immortality. It wasn’t that he would live forever, but that he would be dead forever.  It also meant that any physical injury would never heal. He had no breath. His face never warranted a shaver. He couldn’t eat or drink as the come back was horrendous. Sex was now a complete no-no. But yet despite all of these faults, one person was determined not to let it cloud her. 

     Toshiko Sato, had always loved Owen, and sometime before Turnmill, when Owen had accepted that life was one endless road of living one day to the next with no sex drive, settled for second best. Not in a bad way. Toshiko had always loved him, despite his behaviour and manner towards her.

She had always been there for him, even after countless relationships with other women, even covering for him as a medical officer while he was unreachable.

     They agreed to go out on a date together, but sadly, after Captain John Hart’s return (Exit Wounds), saw key buildings destroyed in and around Cardiff, this never happened. Ianto Jones was unable to reach the nuclear power station at Turnmill as all exits were blocked by Weevils. Owen was the only one who could get there in time, but exiting was another story.

As Toshiko worked to stop the meltdown, she was mortally wounded by Gray, losing vital minutes in which to instruct Owen how to seal it off at Turnmill. The security doors slid shut, trapping him inside the building. This time there would be no resurrection. 

     On this day, Dr Owen Harper, died for good!