DWN: Like any long-running franchise, the 'Torchwood' brand carries the weight of expectation on its back - how much pressure did you feel to satisfy its devotees in producing the new series for Big Finish?

JG: Massively. The Torchwood fans care enormously about that show - there was no point in just doing half-a-dozen stories that would fit nicely in the 2015 Torchwood Annual. We wanted to make something really special and make the fans as massively excited as we are.

Based on the production experience to date, how smooth a transition do you feel the show has made from TV to audio? Has having John Barrowman, Eve Myles and many of the other 'Torchwood' regulars aboard helped in this respect?

The cast have been enormously, enormously supportive. They're all tremendously busy but have made time for us, somehow. John records in a studio in Palm Springs, Gareth came in straight after finishing a gruelling theatre tour, Kai travelled halfway across the UK for the recording... the list goes on. And they're an utter delight in the studio. At every single recording the engineer spends most of their time laughing. It's that much fun.

It's really great to decide we're going to just tell stories concentrating on brilliant Torchwood characters. There are so many of them, and it makes each release feel special.

We'll of course learn more about how the Committee factors into Torchwood's ongoing history as more of Season One hits shelves. Was the lack of references to team members, events etc. aside from Gwen in 'The Conspiracy' an intentional move to allow newcomers to experience it without feeling bogged down by past continuity?

Yes. David Llewellyn did a very clever job of making it easy to get into. People are always worried that it's going to be difficult, or require complicated knowledge. We've worked hard to make sure that it's not.

The Conspiracy is just a thing that's around, ticking away in the background, nudging events here and there. It's building towards a grim conclusion... eventually.

What for you has been the most fulfilling element of working to bring Big Finish's latest endeavour to life so far?

That's totally unfair. Getting the first one recorded and announced while I was in Spain was very strange, and not the most relaxing holiday (leaping around a swimming pool in the dark trying to get enough signal to find out what Twitter was doing). Recording with Gareth was staggering - it was a truly remarkable performance, the most fun you can have with Ianto Jones. The joy of getting Eve and Kai back together and watching them recreate the magic of the Welsh Steed and Mrs Peel. And then, last week, spending a day in studio with Tracy-Ann Oberman. She turned up with a spare pair of high heels in her handbag, and the whole day was like that.

It's such a delight heading to the studios - the writers have done such great, great work. They really love the show and that makes it feel so worthwhile. Emma Reeves has written Gwen and Rhys perfectly, and Joe Lidster throws all of Cardiff at Yvonne - you almost feel sorry for her.

Looking ahead, can you tease what fans and newbies alike have to look forward to as Season One progresses and as a whole new season of adventures beckons from March 2016?

We learn of Captain Jack's unique way of interrogating robots, we meet Mr Pugh, the one man who can say No to Torchwood, and two very interesting people go monster-hunting across London and stop for ice cream.

It’s been three weeks since the Mayor of Cardiff was killed by a shop dummy and the fight is on to see who will replace him.

Yvonne Hartman is visiting the city to retrieve an invaluable alien device. She's in charge of Torchwood One, she's saving the British Empire and she doesn't care about local politics. But she is going to find herself caught up in that fight. There’s a bloodthirsty alien stalking the streets and there’s a special offer on at the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.

It’s the 26th of March 2005 and it’s the day that everything changes.

When we presented the idea of using Yvonne, Matt Nicholls at BBC Worldwide came up with a brilliant caveat – he suggested we could have Yvonne, but not the all-powerful Queen Bee of Canary Wharf. Instead he wanted her to come thoroughly unstuck in Cardiff.

Torchwood was my first piece of writing for television and it remains my favourite series. Not just the television episodes but the books, audiobooks, radio plays, all of it. I'd have been gutted not to have been involved in some way - I'd have happily gone into the studio and made the tea!

James Goss gave me a choice of available characters but it was Yvonne who leapt out at me. She's one of my favourite characters to have appeared in Doctor Who - she has questionable beliefs but she genuinely thinks she's doing the best thing for her country. She's also incredibly funny and brilliantly performed by the magnificent Tracy-Ann Oberman.