Torchwood Torchwood's Eve: 'Gwen's a kick-ass mum!'

As Torchwood: Miracle Day continues on BBC1, Eve Myles tells What’s On TV what more to expect from her character Gwen, how she’s loving motherhood and what it was like to film Torchwood in Hollywood...

Gwen’s now a mum, yet we’ve seen her get caught up in the dramatic events of the latest series of Torchwood. Couldn’t she have plumped for the quieter life with her family?
“Being a new mum has meant massive complications for Gwen, and she’s more feisty than ever because of it. The goings on with Torchwood are her adrenalin rush, but she and Rhys are trying to be the best parents to Anwen as possible. Getting drawn into the latest events of the Miracle Day goes against her maternal instincts, but she’s probably secretly excited about it, too. She just loves being a warrior, running about firing guns and bazookas and karate-kicking people - and there’s a lot of her being a kick-ass mum in this series!”

Now you’re a mum to Matilda in real-life and Gwen’s a mum to baby Anwen, did this help you relate to Gwen’s character even more?
“It does help absolutely. Of course, it’s extraordinary what happens when you become a mum, everything else becomes very kind of beige and gets put onto the back seat because my big focus in life is now my little daughter. You know she’s my everything, so I understand the complications for Gwen.”

How was it to experience living and working in the US, as much of the new series was filmed at the Warner Bros studios in Los Angeles?
“I had to learn to drive, because that’s what everyone does in California, otherwise it’s difficult to get about. So hitting the US freeway was my first experience of driving. I was absolutely terrified, plus no one indicates! I also got called all sorts of names, but I became very good at giving feisty gestures back! Gwen would do the same I expect, wouldn’t she?”

How did you find filming Torchwood in America?
“It’s a strange thing - you turn up on the Warner Brothers lot, which is huge, and you feel sick with nerves, shake a bit, get all sweaty then cry and phone your mum. It’s just all on a vastly bigger scale even though essentially we were making Torchwood. I loved it.”

Was it a little sad filming in America but without some of your previous co-stars, like Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto) and Burn Gorman (Owen)?
“Yes of course, I’d have loved them to be experiencing what John Barrowman and myself experienced there because we all built Torchwood together. I’d have loved them to be on the little trip with us, but you know they’re legends aren’t they?”

*Torchwood screens on Thursdays, BBC1, at 9pm