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AE: Yeah. Well that's true right across the board, really, isn't it?
JB: Well it is, but it's predominantly true of the US at the moment. You know, they need to pass a law, they put the factor up to red. You know,“we're under a threat”. It's all that kind of stuff. And [gay marriage] may take fifty years, but--but this is what I love about Oprah--she has started doing shows that have been about, you know, gay men and women talking about [their sexuality. Cause [Oprah] believes that you're born that way also.

And the fact that she is doing that now is a huge thing, because what she's saying is that everybody needs to be educated. And the more people are educated, the more educated [straight] people we have, that can ask questions and understand questions, and make those choices in their own heads [about what to think about gay people] - the better off we as a community will be.

AE: Yes. Yes. Well...... moving back again to Doctor Who, I wanted to ask you, given that Captain Jack has been such a popular character. What is it about him, do you think, that people respond to so well?
JB: I think it's his sense of humour. When he was introduced, people didn't like him. And that's what I wanted, I didn't want him to be likeable [straight away]. Because then towards the end of Episode Ten, there's a complete turnaround of his character, and he becomes passionate. He loves these two other people, the Doctor and Rose, and so he fights and sacrifices things for them.

Basically, I think people see a lot of themselves in him. Because a lot of people would love to say the things that Jack says, and do the things that he does, and make those kind of commitments to people - but some people are just afraid to. And Jack does it, on camera.

AE: When I look at the comments on websites like TelevisionWithoutPity.com, I get the impression that people just really like the openness of him. Just how much he enjoys life.
JB: In a way, and I'm not, you know, stroking my own ego here, but that's a lot like John Barrowman. And anybody who you might talk to who knows me, knows that I love life, I love to have fun, I'm very open, I don't mince my words, I say what I feel, and, you know, that's just the way I am. I put a lot of my own personality into Jack. [laughs] So maybe that's why they like him.

AE: [laughs] I think that must be why.
JB: It's probably because it's honest and truthful there.

AE: Yup. And then of course there's the fanbase of people who have a huge crush.
JB: [gasps, laughs]

AE: They love the episode with the Defabricator [Episode Twelve, ‘Bad Wolf', where Jack falls victim to a couple of makeover-show hosts who zap his clothes off]. [laughs]
JB: Well, the Defabricator... I don't know if that's gonna happen again. But the Defabricator was fun. The first time I said to Russell [T. Davies], “You can do anything with the character you want, Russell, nothing frightens me”, I said, “nudity doesn't even frighten me.” He said “OK.”

AE: [laughs] “OK, we'll put that in.”
JB: But the funny thing was, because it's before nine o'clock [pm, the watershed in UK television separating family-oriented viewing from more adult shows], they couldn't show me completely nude. So they had to pixellate my butt out.

AE: Oh, how funny. Yeah.
JB: They showed, you know, the rest, they showed a full frontal covering just a bit of my crotch with the gun, which was very funny. But I love the bit when I pull the gun out of my ass. And that was 'cause Russell was like “He's gotta have a gun, he's gotta have--” I said “Just leave it to me.”

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