Alan Barnes has had a varied career... editor, producer, director, writer, he's had a thumb in a lot of pies, if you can excuse the phrase. Transfering comic book creation Izzy to audio was just one of the challenges I talked to him about when I hid behind a corner and caught him in a bag as he made his way from Big Finish Towers, and it took two of us to get him into The Mind Probe...

Sometimes, interviews come along and they are easy to sort out – a quick phone call, a beer, an email and Bob’s yir K9 creator. Some you think are going to be a nightmare organizing – a Doctor for instance – and they go so smoothly it’s almost surreal. Sometimes you do an interview and it gets embargoed – oh yes, you would squee if you knew who we can’t print because, apparently, we’re not “legitimate media” – and sometimes you think, right, this time, and it goes pear shaped for a variety of reasons.

Richard Franklin – Captain Mike Yates to you and me – has almost been interviewed by me three times, Jaded once and now Ping. We’ve chatted on the phone, emailed, organized meetings and something has always cropped up, either from Skaro Towers or Richard’s busy schedule. Thinking it almost dead an email out the blue made it happen again and then, low and behold, I got an urgent last minute thing I couldn’t get out of and it looked like it was gone again. But good ol’ Ping stepped into my breeches at the last minute and, armed with questions, a knowledge of ol’ Yatesy and half an hour to spare saved my bacon. So handing Ping the Mind Probe – and spare batteries – we set off.