What I’m finding is that audio drama in particular is where there’s lots of risk taking and innovation going on.

Yeah. That always happens, really. I think back to my time in children’s television, back in the 1970s, and the amount of innovation that was going on then. Because the mass market wasn’t focused on it, so you had a freedom to do amazing things, like Vision On, and Tiswas. And in a way, again, with this type of thing, it’s not being focused on like television or film is. You can experiment. It’s not as expensive. If this works, just think what you could do with it!

I remember watching you in the late 80s, and you did a children’s TV show there called What’s Your Story, where children rang in to suggest the following day’s storyline. What I loved about that was the risk. Although I suspect most of the kids rang up wanting Doctor Who stories! The Minister Of Chance is just as bold, though, isn’t it? Because you really can tell the stories you want to tell, just without the checking process?

Absolutely. That particular one [What’s Your Story], I thought the first series was the most successful, but the BBC suddenly decided to bring a producer of drama in. It was never quite as good, the second series, although he was massively adventurous.

There was one point where I was talking directly to the camera, live, and the set behind me had caught fire. And they were trying to make me stretch. And my brain was breaking apart, my cells were coming out of my ears! And all I could do to spread was talk slowly, while they put the fire out! It was great fun.