[caption id="attachment_1849" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper in Torchwood: Children Of Earth. Photo courtesy of and copyright of the BBC"]
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SPOILER ALERT!! - Continuing the Q & A leading up to the BBC America broadcast of Torchwood: Children Of Earth (July 20th @ 9 p.m. EST/PST). The show's leading lady, Eve Myles, who plays Gwen Cooper, sits down for a chat.
Eve Myles landed her dream role in 2006, when she was given the part of feisty Gwen Cooper in Torchwood, which Russell T. Davies created especially for her.
EVE MYLES - I was so excited when I got the scripts. It's a five-hour psychological action-packed thriller. With a movie, you're looking at maybe 90 minutes of action, but with this new series of Torchwood, we've got five hours. It's an event. It's not just the third series, where everybody is used to what Torchwood is, this series will actually terrify people.
For Eve, the new series and the single storyline across all five episodes felt like the right evolution for Torchwood.
EM - We've tipped the series on its head and given people a whole new format. It's a completely different style of Torchwood, and is exactly what we should have done. It feels brand new all over again. It's exciting and it's positive.
[caption id="attachment_1851" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Gwen and Dr. Rupesh Patanjali (Rik Makarem) are on the run in Torchwood: Children Of Earth. Photo courtesy of and copyright of the BBC"]
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Of Gwen's role in the team she says:
EM - Gwen is still the heart and emotion of Torchwood, but she also realizes the responsibility she has as a member of the team. Everybody's got to lose something to gain something, and as harsh as Gwen comes across sometimes, if she wasn't, people would die. She's got a huge responsibility on her shoulders. A few years ago she was working as a young police woman in Cardiff. A couple of years later, here she is saving the world with Captain Jack (John Barrowman). One way or the another something has to give.
Viewers will see Gwen forge a close relationship with Clem, played by Paul Copley - the survivor of an horrific ordeal who is still haunted by his past. The scenes Eve Myles filmed with him proved to be a major highlight for the actress.
EM - He's absolutely fantastic. I was completely overwhelmed - he's so right for the character. Gwen inevitably becomes his guardian because that's what Gwen does - she's Torchwood's social worker. She's a social worker who can run and fight and stand in her own corner and win. With Clem, she has this incredible desire to protect him. She's his protector and he's the key to what's going on.
[caption id="attachment_1852" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Paul Copley as Clem in Torchwood: Children Of Earth. Photo courtesy of and copyright of the BBC"]
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In contrast to the tender moments of some of the scenes she filmed, there was still plenty of high-octane action for Eve - a self-confessed adrenalin junkie. Of the action-packed scenes, Eve Myles says:
EM - It's the best part of the job for me. It's the only job where you can really push yourself. We've got the most amazing team - you know you're in safe hands. You go through things a thousand times before it ever happens. In rehearsals, you don't have the pyrotechnics, you don't have the explosions - so when you actually do the take, you get the realness of it - it's all genuine. It's real shock, fear - every kind of emotion you can think of that would come if you were really caught up in that. I'm an adrenalin junkie, so it's the perfect job for me.
But for Eve, the adrenalin-fuelled action is on the back burner as she is five months pregnant. Having just completed filming for the new BBC One drama Framed, in which she stars opposite Trevor Eve, she is now taking time out to concentrate on her pregnancy.
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As noted above, all photos courtesy of and copyright of the BBC, so please no copying or duplicating of any form. Thanks!
EM - I'm not working now until the baby is born. I've worked continuously recently, but now it's my time to concentrate on the baby.
[caption id="attachment_1853" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Eve Myles with her co-stars Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones) and John Barrowman in Torchwood: Children Of Earth. Photo courtesy of and copyright of the BBC"]