Founded by Queen Victoria in 1879, the Torchwood Institute has been defending Great Britain from the alien hordes for 130 years. Though London's Torchwood One was destroyed during the Battle of Canary Wharf, the small team at Torchwood Three have continued to monitor the space-time Rift that runs through Cardiff, saving the world and battling for the future of the human race. Now you can discover every fact and figure, explore every crack in time and encounter every creature that Torchwood have dealt with...

Torchwood: The Encyclopedia includes details of: the secret of the Children of Earth; operatives from Alice Guppy to Gwen Cooper; extraterrestrial visitors from Arcateenians to Weevils; and, the life and deaths of Captain Jack Harkness and much more. Illustrated throughout with photos and artwork from all three series, this A-Z provides everything you need to know about Torchwood.

Gary Russell has done an incredible job here to produce a book that encapsulates just about everything about Torchwood any fan could possibly want to know. Another nice touch here is that real thought has gone into the layout, with full-colour photographs - something not that common for books of this nature.

However, this is still just a guide book and the majority of the information can be found for free on the Internet if you're a big enough fan.

There are a few odd entries including "Man in Street", "Man in Bar" and "Man". And there's some desperation in trying to stretch out the material with entries like: "Pot Noodles", "Sport, The" and "Weller, Paul" which seem to be included because they played the smallest of parts in an episode. But then, if you dip in an and out of this collection, these little additions put a smile on your face.

While unlikely to be bought by anyone for themselves, this is an interesting gift idea for that hardcore Torchwood fanatic in your life.

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Nick Smithson