Tuesday 10 September 2024

N is for... Nostrovite


A race of vicious shapeshifting aliens encountered by the Torchwood Cardiff team. They could pass for people, but under stress they showed their fangs, talons and red eyes. Their blood was black in colour.
Carnivores, they only fed on living flesh. The female Nostrovite could spin a strong web-like substance, to keep their prey confined until it could be devoured.
One weakness of their disguise was an inability to mimic body odours - allowing them to be identified.
Gwen Cooper was bitten by a male Nostrovite on the eve of her wedding to fiancĂ© Rhys. The creature was shot dead. On waking the next morning, she discovered herself to be heavily pregnant - thus discovering that this was how the creatures propagated. 
Females produced eggs which the male then carried in their mouths. They implanted an egg into a host body through their bite. The embryo grew rapidly, with birth following within 24 hours. 
The mother would then hunt down the host to tear it open and release the child - which would use the host's body as its first feed.
The mate of the dead Nostrovite, posing as a woman named Carrie, tracked Gwen to her wedding venue, where it killed a number of staff and guests before copying others, including Captain Jack and Rhys' mother, Brenda.
The female of the species proved much harder to kill than the male but she was eventually shot dead.
The child was destroyed by Owen using a laser scalpel device seconds before the birth.


Played by: Collette Brown (Carrie). Appearances: TW 2.9 Something Borrowed (2008).
  • John Barrowman and Nerys Hughes (Brenda) also appeared as Nostrovite copies of their characters.
  • Liver Birds star Hughes had previously played Todd in Kinda.
  • Brown began her career as a children's TV presenter, on series Hangar 17. She later featured in the drama Our Friends in the North.

No comments:

Post a Comment