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The 456 Ambassador is the central antagonist of Torchwood: Children of Earth, the third season of the British sci-fi show Torchwood. As the name suggests, it is the ambassador for The 456 which comes to Earth to take 10% of the world's children in order to harvest drugs from their bodies.
It was voiced by Simon Poland.
Biography
1965 Event
The ambassador made contact with humanity in 1965, when it contacted the British government through radio waves. It informed the government that the recent Indonesian influenza outbreak would kill millions if left unchecked, but they would give them a cure if they gave them twelve children, promising that the 456 would give them eternal life. After these numbers were confirmed by scientists, the government were forced to give in and sent Torchwood Three to hand over twelve children from Holly Heights orphanage. The children were taken to a location in Scotland and ushered into a white light, where they were claimed by the ambassador. Eleven of them were hooked up to the 456 and had drugs drained from their bodies; however, the twelfth, Clem McDonald, was returned to Earth because he had passed puberty and as such no longer produced the drug. Clem was driven insane by the experience and confined to a mental hospital.
2009 Event
Day One
In 2009 the 456 took control of all Earth's children and had them chant "We are coming back!" in unison in order to scare the British government. This lead to the government ordering the destruction of Torchwood Three in order to cover up the 1965 incident.
Day Two
A message was sent to MI5 containing detailed instructions for the ambassador's arrival. The instructions mandated the construction of a large, gas-filled chamber to house the ambassador.
Day Three
On the third day the ambassador appeared in its chamber in a pillar of fire. It was greeted by Earth ambassador John Frobisher and relayed the 456's demands: 10% of the Earth's children in return for not releasing a virus that would destroy humanity.
Day Four
The ambassador allowed a cameraman to enter its chamber, where he came across a child taken in 1965 hooked up to it. Meanwhile the British government decided to refuse the 456's demands, offering them 6,700 asylum seekers as a compromise. As they did not produce the drugs, the 456 rejected this proposition, taking control of the children again to relay their demands to other governments.
The now-adult Clem and Torchwood Three members Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones arrived to talk to the ambassador and told it they would never take the children. The ambassador responded by killing Clem with a hypersonic signal before releasing the virus within the building, killing everyone inside except Jack (who was immortal) and MI5 security chief Dekker (who managed to shield himself). The 456 then announced that the virus would be released worldwide if their demands were not met, forcing humanity to give in.
Day Five
Prime Minister Brian Green decided to take children from Britain's lowest-performing schools to give to the 456. During the crisis, UNIT commander Augustus Oduya asked why the 456 wanted the children. The ambassador admitted that they were going to be used to harvest drugs. Although horrified, the government had no choice but to continue gathering children.
Fortunately, as the 456 were on the verge of victory Jack figured out that he could direct the hypersonic signal used to kill Clem back at the ambassador if he routed it through a child. He did so using his grandson Steven, killing the ambassador with the signal but also killing Steven in the process. The ambassador's corpse was teleported away by the 456, who were unable to continue their plans without a representative on Earth.
