Removal of a Beloved Torchwood Memorial Marks the End of a Doctor Who Era

Doctor Who fans are, as most of them will freely tell you, occasionally an odd bunch. From hosting conventions and traveling to filming locations to cosplaying their favorite Time Lord on the regular, it’s a fandom that loves its chosen subject hard. (And I say this as someone who’s part of it.) Now, Whovians worldwide are mourning the true end of an era: The removal of Ianto’s Shrine, a fan installation in honor of a popular Torchwood character that has existed in Wales’s Cardiff Bay for nearly two decades.

The shrine was created following the broadcast of Torchwood’s third season. Subtitled Children of Earth, it’s particularly memorable for its dark themes, super creepy aliens who wanted to steal kids, and the unexpected death of Ianto. The show had only recently begun to focus on Ianto’s romance with the series’ lead, Captain Jack Harkness, and many viewers criticized the decision to kill off such a fan favorite character as a prominent example of the “bury your gays” trope in action. Fans were so upset at this development that they not only created websites lobbying for the character’s resurrection and raising money for charity, but also an honest-to-goodness real-life memorial in Mermaid Quay, near where the fictional entrance to Torchwood headquarters was located in the show. 

Visitors from all over the world would leave messages, flowers, stuffed toys, and other trinkets. (And a surprising amount of Starbucks cups.) But all good things must come to an end, and it seems the shrine will be officially dismantled this spring to make way for necessary maintenance work on the area’s lower boardwalk. It will apparently not be restored, though there’s no word about what will happen to all the materials already on display there.

Fans everywhere are quite upset about this development, and not only because Ianto’s Shrine has become a regular stop for tourists in Cardiff. It’s one of the only real pieces of public Doctor Who history left in the area where the series does the bulk of its filming. The Doctor Who Experience, a permanent museum-style exhibition that once hosted costumes, sets, props, and even a TARDIS, closed down in 2017. 

But while the shrine itself’s days are numbered, the legacy of Ianto will live on. Per the Radio Times, a spokesperson for Mermaid Quay has confirmed that they “hope to work with the local community to explore a new plaque for Ianto once the maintenance works have completed.”