10 Doctor Who Fan Theories That Became Fact

Eve Myles first stepped into the Whoniverse in the 2005 episode The Unquiet Dead, as Mr. Sneed's clairvoyant servant Gwyneth. A year later, Myles then joined the cast of Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood, as police officer Gwen Cooper.

Though her second Doctor Who character was wildly different to her first, fans understandably speculated that the two were connected somehow – even though Russell T Davies firmly denied any such connection. When asked about it by Doctor Who Magazine, he replied that there was, “None at all… we’re not about to reveal that she’s a parallel-Gelth-ghost-from-the-Time-Rift or something.”

However, it appears that Davies then changed his mind – or perhaps all the fan theories caught his attention? In a throwaway comment, Series 4 finale Journey’s End explained that Gwen was indeed connected to Gwyneth, and that "spatial genetic multiplicity" had resulted in their physical similarities.

Because nothing beats a bit of good old sci-fi technobabble!

Doctor Who is no stranger to actors taking on multiple roles. Sometimes, these are justified in-universe – like the Twelfth Doctor borrowing a familiar face – and sometimes they’re ignored, like Colin Baker and Karen Gillan playing random side characters before assuming their main roles.

Gwen and Gwyneth is one of those strange cases where an answer was never planned but was retconned in, and it’s likely that all the fan speculation was a key reason for Russell T Davies to go down that route.