Ianto Jones is a fictional character from the BBC television series Torchwood and its parent show,Doctor Who, played by Welsh actor Gareth David-Lloyd.
Within the series' narrative, Ianto Jones is the "general support officer" for Torchwood Three team of alien hunters, the Cardiff branch of the fictional Torchwood Institute. His job primarily sees him function as the team's administrator, often charged with covering up their covert activities, although he can also capably accompany the team on field missions. In addition to his professional role in the series, Ianto is notable as the main romantic interest of the series' lead male Captain Jack Harkness, and his character is similarly bisexual.
anto is conceived in series one as the quiet and reserved tea "general support" man. In conceiving the character, creator Russel T Davies drew upon his large pool of recurring names; 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.[29] Ianto shares the surname "Jones" for instance with Doctor Who characters Martha Jones and family as well as Harriet Jones, Torchwood character Eugene Jones ("Random Shoes"), and Stuart Allen Jones in Davies' earlier Queer as Folk. Davies also created the unrelated character named Yanto Jones, also played by Gareth David-Lloyd, appearing in his 2004 comedy-drama Mine All Mine.[30]
Development
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"In Series One, Ianto was much more into himself, so the one-liners were few and far between. By Series Two, he'd got no secrets, his personality came out, and I think the writers enjoyed giving him lines that other characters couldn't get away with." |
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—Gareth David-Lloyd on Ianto's development.[31] | ||
Initially, in series 1, Ianto is a quiet and more reserved character. Throughout the first series, Ianto's secrets are exposed to the team, particularly in "Cyberwoman" when his motives for joining Torchwood Three are exposed. From this point, Ianto's focus changes and he begins more and more to come out of his shell. Appearing in series 2, Ianto now assists the team in field missions and is used by the writers as a vehicle for one-liner jokes. Commenting on this, portrayor Gareth David-Lloyd notes that "This season it's much more relaxed and he's not all about keeping secrets, he's about Torchwood and Jack - he's found his meaning and his place so his dry humour comes out a lot more and he’s happier."[8]
In Torchwood Magazine #5, actor Gareth David-Lloyd comments on some original character developments intended for Ianto. Originally, the character who was supposed to die at the end of "Reset". However in a discussion with executive producer Russel T Davies and Burn Gorman, who portrays Owen, it was decided that Owen would experience the zombification storyline as he is a character who more overtly enjoys life, making it more interesting from a narrativeperspective.
In developing the character's attire, costume designer Ray Holman comments: "Ianto has a very distinct look but his suits actually vary quite a lot. He started off with some nice but boring Marks and Spencers suits in Series 1, which were top-end fitted ones but always very sober. Towards the end of series 1, I also got him into a waistcoat, and everyone thought that looked really good. For series 2, we evolved the look quite a lot, and now his suits come from all over the place. It's just a question of where I see something that looks right for Gareth, so I've brought him a suit fromSavile Row and suits from Zara and Next. We realised we could be a bit more flash with Ianto now he's come out of the background and started to assert himself a bit more. So we moved him into coloured shirts and snazzier ties. He started off in white and grey shirts but we realised his skin tones can take the extra colour and now he's evolving into something much sharper, which looks really good filmed in High Definition."[32] Holman links how the character's costume changes reflected changes in the character in the second series.