What inspired The Indestructibles? Whose idea was it, and how did the concept develop?

Well, the man to thank (or blame, if you're either of the Petri Twins) is Gary Monaghan, or "Mono" as we call him. He's a seasoned bigwig and produced Banzai among other things. In fact, he once helped make a sort of proto-Indestructibles type of show called X-Perimental. It investigated such pertinent issues of the day as, how many alcoholic sweets would it take to get a child over the legal limit for driving? And how often can you ask for extra cheese in an Italian restaurant before the waiter gets miffed? Mono sort of built on this idea with The Indestructibles, with the aim of making science-based telly more entertaining.

What led to you starring on the show? What's your own background?

I ended up doing the Indestructibles because of my background in Escapology. I'm a professional escapologist and as such I have a keen interest in exploring the limits of the human body. In my own work I have been hanged, buried alive and locked in a box with 50,000 bees, so a knowledge of my body's limits isn't just important to me - it's essential. As such I was approached by the production company to play the part of a guy who will stop at nothing to put his body through the most extreme physical things in order to see what will happen.

Could you tell us a little about your strangely-named co-stars?

Well, the team is made up of Doc Damage (that's me), Data Girl (or Victoria Kruger, to use her Clark Kent name) and the Petri Twins. And I wouldn't want to shatter their mystique by revealing their civilian identities.

Victoria's a science graduate and, as Data Girl, she's kind of like our resident reporter, whose job it is to go and meet people who have incredible physical abilities and put them to the test. For example, she meets the man with the world's stretchiest skin, and a karate expert who can knock someone out cold with one chop. The Petri Twins, meanwhile, are basically human lab rats that do experiments on themselves. They actually race to see who can lower their sperm count the most, or who can grow the biggest fungal infections. They do it so you don't have to.

What was the most challenging bit to film and why?

I thoroughly enjoyed filming The Indestructibles, and got to try out some very cool stuff. One memorable task involved going up in a high performance light aircraft to see at what point I would pass out through G-force, which was fun. I was also blindfolded and then pursued through a wood by an army attack dog. But, all things considered, the most challenging thing I faced was skin hanging - the act of piercing the skin with 12 meat hooks and hanging from them. It was quite literally the most painful thing I have ever experienced. Interesting, yes. Would I do it again? Definitely not.