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In Torchwood – Children Of Earth, Rhys Williams, played by Kai Owen, finds himself well and truly thrown in at the deep end, on the run with wife, Gwen, as government hit squads hunt them down.

Rhys is the ordinary guy in the street. He's the normal person's eyes and ears, and says what he thinks about the situations Torchwood find themselves in, bringing the reality back to them. It makes Torchwood real.

"It's fast moving – it's non-stop, no holds barred from the get-go and it gets faster and faster, building to a massive climax. It's got a lot of heart, it's sexy, it's classy. And even though it's a bit extraordinary at times it's very real. I think it has something for everybody," says Rhys.

"It's very different to the previous series. I loved the story arc. We were very used to there being different stories spread across 13 episodes – with the only constant thing being the characters. I was very excited about the scripts for this new series – even more so as Russell had written some of them.

"Every episode gets better and better. The story is so strong that people who watch the first episode will have to watch the other four."

Over the years, Rhys has become fully aware of the dangerous underworld that Torchwood inhabits. But sometimes, as Kai admits, Rhys would probably rather not actually be so involved: "I think he'd rather not get involved if he had the choice, to be honest.

"He doesn't run away from it – he's seen so many things. He's very brave and fully aware of what Gwen does and what she comes across. He also knows that she's absolutely fantastic at her job.

"Rhys wants Gwen safe. If he was sitting at home knowing that the government wanted to wipe Torchwood out, then he'd want to be with Gwen.

"I think he's happy to be more involved in this series because he knows he can keep an eye on her. But he wants to go home to his mam, really, and have a cup of tea."

Being surrounded by so many out of the ordinary events, Rhys has naturally become more aware of what's going on around him.

In this new series, his instincts kick in and he starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together at an early stage: "He's very aware of the weird happenings and what's going on around him. When Gwen phones him he knows something is up with the kids and that this is a job for 'my Gwen'. He's a lot more interested in it now. And he comes up with his own theories about what's going on with the children."

As the new series arrives on screen, Kai thinks Torchwood – Children Of Earth won't disappoint: "I think the whole concept of the series is its strength – the whole idea and concept of the five episodes, the strength of the story, Russell [T Davies], Euros [Lyn], the continuous crew and the guest cast.

"You've got the fantastic John, Eve and Gareth running the show as the lead team. It's very strong and it's very exciting."