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.”
AE: [laughs] Yeah. Well, so I wanted to ask about Torchwood, because that's going to be post-watershed, isn't it...
JB: That is, that's going to be after nine, yeah.
AE: Yeah. So you said you were going to a read-through tonight--
JB: I can't, I can't tell you anything about the show in itself, except the fact that it's a team of five people including Jack, and we have a place called the Hub, which is near the Opera House in Cardiff [in Wales, in the UK]. It's underground, this fictitious place. We are an organization that fights alien crime, and tries to figure out alien happenings on earth. A lot of the things that have happened with Doctor Who [in the second series, currently showing on UK television], the Torchwood team have been responsible for fixing or annihilating after the Doctor does his bit.
And the Doctor is saying, at the moment, like “Who the hell are these Torchwood people?” because our paths haven't crossed again, and I am frantically trying to find him.
AE: To find the Doctor.
JB: I'm trying to find the Doctor. Because there is something that the viewing public won't know yet, there's something about Jack that nobody knows. And he needs the Doctor.
AE: Right. And that's what will be revealed.
JB: [makes creepy whoo-ooh sounds]
AE: [laughs] It's a great cast that's being put together to play the Torchwood team. I read that they just cast Burn Gorman who was in Bleak House [an acclaimed Dickens adaptation shown January-February 2006 on PBS], who I thought was fantastic in that.
JB: That's right. I was just with him this afternoon, he's been having his make-up testing done.
AE: He's got such an amazing face, hasn't he? I don't know if it was just as Mr. Guppy [in Bleak House]--
JB: He's got a great face. It's so angular on camera, it looks really great. But yeah, it should be fun, it's a really good cast. Eve Myles, who's playing Gwen [Cooper, the lead female character], is just great. She and I have a great laugh together. And that's one of the most important things for me on a set: you must have fun. You must have fun, and that's what we're gonna have.
AE: Yeah. Because I think that carries over to the show. You can really see, with certain actors, when they have a real friendship -
JB: Absolutely.
AE: They have that relationship, you know.
JB: Oh yeah, well hopefully we'll have it [laughs].
AE: [laughs] So, I know that you can't say very much... Is there anything you can say at all, about what's going to happen in terms of Captain Jack's love life? I mean will he--
JB: Nope, nope.
AE: You can't say anything?
JB: I'm sorry.
AE: Oh, but I wanted to know!
JB: I cannot... I'm sorry, I cannot, I promise you, I cannot say a word, it's more than my job is worth. Because we have contractually signed a secrecy clause, and we are not allowed to discuss any of the [things that will happen in the series] prior to us being released to discuss them.
