H is for... Hart, Captain John (2)

Captain John was once, like Captain Jack Harkness, a member of the Time Agency, originating in the 51st Century. He and Jack were friends once, even becoming lovers for a time, before something happened to ruin their relationship. They became enemies, though never forgot the bond which used to exist between them.
Jack had not seen John since finding himself stranded on Earth and joining Torchwood. However, just after he had rejoined his team in Cardiff after his encounter with the Doctor and Martha Jones, Jack received a hologram message from John to say that he was in the city. The team had just investigated the death of a mugger, who had fallen from the top of a multi-storey car park. A fissure in the Rift had opened here a short time ago - which is how John got here. It was he who had killed the mugger. John invited Jack to meet him at a bar where, after a fist fight, they kissed and had a drink. At the Hub John explained that he had come to prevent a disaster in the city, as a umber of powerful bombs had been planted. The team split up to find them, but this was a ruse by John to separate them. he left Gwen incapacitated in a cargo container at the docks, shot and wounded Owen, and pushed Jack to his death from the roof of an office block. The bombs were actually components of an alien device which would lead John to a fabulous jewel. However, his deceased partner in crime (whom he had killed) had set a trap for him. Instead of providing him with the jewel, an explosive device was created which attached itself to his chest. He was shocked when Jack reappeared unscathed and learned of his immortality.
John took Gwen hostage at the point where the Rift had previously opened, as Jack intended to push him through before the device exploded. The device was coded to his genetic make-up, so Owen injected him with all of the team's blood to confuse the device. It detached itself and was thrown into the Rift before it could cause any damage. Before leaving, John told Jack that he had found his missing, presumed dead, brother Gray.
Some time later John lured the team into another trap - a derelict building rigged with explosives.
On escaping, Jack was confronted by a hologram of John who had Gray with him. It appeared that John was holding Gray captive, but this was not the case. Gray wanted revenge on his brother for abandoning him to cruel alien abductors as a child, and he controlled John through another device attached to his body. John was forced to help Gray bury Jack alive in the Cardiff of 27 AD. John threw a tracking beacon into the grave, allowing the Torchwood team of 1901 to locate him and dig him up. Jack later managed to overpower Gray and had him placed in cryogenic suspension in the Hub. John tried to argue that he would be just as hell bent on revenge if released in a hundred years, and suggested it would be best to kill him, but Jack refused to do this.

Played by: James Marsters. Appearances: TW 2.1 Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang & TW 2.13 Exit Wounds (2008).

• Marsters is best known for playing the vampire Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.
• He also played recurring villain Brainiac in Smallville.