AE: Do you think you would have been a Torchwood fan even without your brother’s role on it?
CB: Oh yeah, there’s
no doubt about it. In fact, both John and I are big sci-fi fans. I’m a huge Battlestar Galactica fan, and I teach a
course on the future in film and in fiction at the college where I teach, so I
would absolutely be a fan even if he weren’t Captain Jack. In fact, you know
that episode of Doctor Who where they
make that connection that Jack is the Face of Boe? When he read the script, he
was so excited, but he didn’t know who else to call. So he called me in my
office probably pretty late, and he said, “You’ll never believe it!” and I’m
running around my office just screaming because that meant something to me …
The ancient Face of Boe. One word of advice, Jack: "Moisturize!"
AE: Have you visited John on the set?
CB: Many, many times.
When we were working on [his autobiography] Anything
Goes, I
spent seven weeks pretty much shadowing him, and a good deal of that time was
on the set when they were filming the second series. And then I was back over there in October and
spent about two or three weeks on this new series that’s coming, Children of Earth.
AE: I hear rumors from time to time about how wild the set
is, with all kinds of raunchy pranks. Is that the case?
CB: They get their
work done and are very professional. But they have a good laugh. They’re good
friends with each other, and when you work that closely with people you kind of
become a family. You know if you get along with your family and hang out
together every day for a long time, you’ll get pretty silly. And if you’ve read
Anything Goes, you know John is
always up for a prank. But as soon as the director would call places, then
everybody is very professional.
AE: You mentioned Children
of Earth. Can you drop any hints about that for us?
CB: Oooh. Let me just
say it is pretty amazing. [Series creator Russell T. Davies] has outdone
himself. Russell has definitely risen to a new height in terms of the writing
of this arc. It’s everything that you would want. But I honestly cannot say
anything else about it.
AE: That’s okay. I’m just happy to hear your enthusiasm
about it.
CB: I did hear John
let something out, though. That you might get to see a bit more of Jack than
you’ve ever seen before.
AE: Did he mean that literally?
CB: Yeah. He did …
it’s going to be brilliant, just brilliant.
AE: Have you ever been the victim of one of these notorious
pranks we hear about?
CB: Oh yeah, oh man.
We’ve got stuff we used to do to each other as kids that he’ll still do to me.
Neither one of us likes to have our necks touched or our faces touched —
whispering sweet nothings in my ear isn’t going to do much for me — and when my
kids were little he of course told them that. And so any time Uncle John was
around he’d hold me down and then my kids would lick my face.
AE: I hope you found a way to get back at him.
CB: Oh, there’s
always ways you can get back. And you have to be really careful because you
know whatever you do, you’re going to get back a thousand times.
Photo credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Next page! Carole's favorite Torchwood episode and more.
by