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2009 sees AGA marking a momentous anniversary – it’s 300 years since events at the historic Coalbrookdale foundry triggered the Industrial Revolution.

To celebrate the tricentennary of the AGA foundry, we’re tracking down 300 AGAs and their owners, each with fascinating stories to tell.

That search has led us to AGAs in many unusual places, including at the South Pole and in a castle in China.

Now we can add an AGA at the heart of an alien invasion. The latest adventure in the BBC’s Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood sees a government official – and AGA owner – at the centre of an inter-galactic storm when a pillar of fire descends on Whitehall from outer space and ambassadors for a species known only as 456 arrive on earth.

The civil servant placed in charge of the 456 incident, Frobisher (played by Peter Capaldi) is passionate and driven. But his job becomes increasingly difficult when all around him begin to shirk any responsibility for the disaster unfolding around them and the world waits in terror while Torchwood leader Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) works undercover to save the planet.

But, although Frobisher is the alien invaders’ first point of contact and they seem far from friendly, all is not bleak. When things calm down a little at the office, he’ll be able to head home to his wife, Anna, their two daughters, Holly and Lilly, and their beautiful cream AGA, which was featured in a scene from Torchwood: Children of Earth, Day One, screened on BBC 1.