Are you psyched about your first-ever trip to Comic-Con?
I’m very excited. So many people have told me about it. I’m going too late, really, just as I’ve finished writing everything. But better late than never, that’s my motto. I’m a big ol’ science-fiction fantasy comic film fan myself, so they’re gonna have a hard time stopping me running off and running around the halls. I want to see it all!

Has there been any consideration for you to come before?
Oh, there has! They’ve been very kind. Ever since we returned with Doctor Who, they’ve asked every year, and we’ve just always been so busy. That’s all. We simply haven’t had the time to get away from Cardiff. Now of course, I’m just finishing off editing our last episode, so I’ve got more time!

Doctor Who and Torchwood have been huge in the UK, but are you a little surprised at how well they been received here?
I’m delighted, but it’s by no means enough. [Laughs] I want every single household in the world watching these programs! I can’t believe there are some people who don’t!

Like me, most of us come to them by accident or through word of mouth.
It’s a very strange situation. In Britain, the program is 46 years old and has a nostalgia about it and a history and a mythology. Literally, these past episodes were the No. 1 shows in Britain, so it’s quite fascinating to come to America where it’s a very small program. It’s treated with great respect by fans, but in the mainstream it’s not very big at all. I just find that so profoundly wrong. It’s going to be my life’s work to change it, frankly. [Laughs]

What’s great about both of your shows, especially for an American like myself who grew up on Star Wars and other sci-fi franchises, is that even though I didn’t know who Doctor Who was, the show is written in such a way that you don't have to know all the backstory.
That’s the constant juggling act for both Doctor Who and Torchwood, which is to presume there’s a hugely faithful and detailed audience who know every single nuance from every single comma and semi-colon in the script the past 46 years. You can sort of take them for granted — I’m one of those people, so we’re welcome on board, but we always, always have to start reaching for the new audience. That was the miracle of what we did with Doctor Who in Britain: Take it outside the cult and make it mainstream, and it literally became THE No. 1 show, our equivalent to programs like American Idol. It beat the highest entertainment shows, the highest dramas. And that’s getting a whole new audience on board, particularly a whole new generation of children, which I think is important. I think everyone should enjoy these stories.

So is it hard finally stepping away at the end of this year with the final Doctor Who special?
To be honest, no. I planned ahead. I knew that David was leaving at the same time, and having done two Doctors, I couldn’t face the thought of inventing a third Doctor. And also, I don’t think you should invent a third Doctor. It’s time to hand off to someone new. I’ve literally had the best time, and I’m leaving before anything turns sour or before I get bored or before the recession hits. [Laughs] It’s been a miracle, and you can’t hang around and wait for that miracle to die. It’s time to move on.

Are you the George Lucas of Britain?
[Laughs] Not quite that popular. I wish I were. I wish I had a ranch: the Davies Ranch. That would be a marvelous thing. The most glorious thing about Doctor Who is the huge audience of children, and we do so many backstage documentaries that, like it or not, my face does end up on screen quite a lot. I have this remarkable permission to be one of those strangers that children can come up to in the street, and they do. Especially in Cardiff, the home of Doctor Who. Every day, a child will come up to me and say hello and ask for my autograph and talk about what their favorite monster is.