Alexander Armstrong voices Danger Mouse in the new CBBC series...

Can you tell us about your character?

Danger Mouse is James Bond essentially. A rodent James Bond. Oh and slightly Batman too I suppose. And let's chuck in a little bit Superman while we're there. He's an old-fashion swashbuckling hero. Like Bond, he's sort of insufferable, completely certain of his brilliance in every sphere but because he's our insufferable swashbuckling hero, we don't really hold it against him. He frequently comes a cropper, which also helps to bring him down to Earth. But, dammit, he is actually quite good at what he does sometimes, even justifying his own high opinion of himself. And when Danger Mouse turns up to do his heroic thing we all feel the hairs stand up on the backs of our necks a little bit (or is that just me?).

But the best thing about Danger Mouse is that he has Penfold. It's a very touching, sort of familial friendship. Yes, he's always putting Penfold down and Penfold's always teasing Danger Mouse for his arrogance, but really there's a very sweet relationship at the core there. Penfold is brother and - I sometimes feel - mother to Danger Mouse. If Danger Mouse had a bit of breakfast on his face, it would be Penfold who'd lick his hanky to wipe it off.

So there you are: arrogant, daring, raffish, impressive, a bit annoying, very good at his job and redeemed by his friendship with a hamster in specs. Very much that kind of a character.

Can you tell us about some of the escapades and adventures that Danger Mouse and Penfold get up to?

Whoa, there are so many - there are about 12 escapades in every episode. In each story, the world generally finds itself in massive danger, possibly under attack from an army of toilets or about to be turned pink by a playful princess or it could be that everyone is auditioning to be in a boy band that's going to be amplified to such a massive level that it's going to shatter the Earth - it could be literally anything. But our intrepid duo will always hurl themselves into the middle of whatever ridiculously high-stakes scenario it is and bring us all back back from the brink of cataclysm. It's a circuitous and guaranteed white-knuckle journey but (spoiler alert) it always comes good in the end. Phew.

What's the best thing about being Danger Mouse?

I think when you get to play a character whose title music has swooning girls singing "he's fan-TAS-tic" you've got to go outside and have a little sit down haven't you? Yes, I know it's not ME they're singing about, but still. Everyone loves Danger Mouse. Everyone loves Penfold a little bit more obviously, but you know. But hey, they sing "he's fan-TAS-tic"! It's the closest to playing Bond I'll ever get.

How did you arrive at the voice for Danger Mouse?

Well, it had to sound recognisably like Danger Mouse so at all times I keep David Jason at the front of my mind. He did it SO wonderfully - he made the character so loveable. I have to be careful not to let my voice go too deep when I'm on mic as that's not quite right - well obviously, the guy's a mouse! So I have to keep it high in the register and try not to sound like Richard Briers too much.

It's quite weird because I've only ever voiced a recurring cartoon character once before. The minute you watch your voice back with its proper animated character saying the words, that's when you learn exactly what you need to do next time. The energy levels have to be kept high in the recordings or it'll feel flat in the animation. We all throw our arms about or gesture dramatically with our hands or stand up on tiptoes - it must look like a scene out of bedlam. Danger Mouse is actually a bit of a straight man, so you've got to do everything you can to make him not sound like a straight man - you've got to make him a bit heightened or just fling your arms about a bit more.

Is it hard work keeping those energy levels so high?

Over the course of a long day you do start to flag a bit but the scripts are so funny that you're kind of gee-ed up by them (it's not often you still enjoy scripts when you're that stuck into them). Usually there'll be four of us in a studio so that helps keep the ball in the air - there's a lot of funny stuff going on with the others, inevitably lots of good gossip and general playing the giddy goat and the director is probably the biggest gossip of us all so it's a marvel we get anything done at all...

Does it get quite animated when there are four of you in a booth together?

We all have our own stands and microphones so it's not like a radio production where everyone's hovering with their scripts around a central microphone and having to duck down and turn their pages silently. It gets very hot in the booth full of people - four grown men giving it their all. That's a lot of wattage in there. You could heat a small market town.

How did you react when you found out you had the part?

So happy. Beyond happy! It's ridiculous. I haven't cared about a part like this for so long. I was on holiday when I heard the brilliant news - it was so exciting. Still excited. Get IN!!

Did you watch Danger Mouse when you were younger?

Yeah, I absolutely loved Danger Mouse. What I loved was that it was very English and delightfully silly at a time when so many other cartoons were a bit po-faced. There's no po on DM. Did I tell you he's fan-TAS-tic?

Have you got a favourite line or moment?

Danger Mouse's killer line is, 'Penfold, shush'! Like all good catchphrases it's used sparingly. But it's wonderfully withering. I suspect it was the splendid Mr Jason who decided to rhyme shush with 'flush' rather than 'bush'. Such a clever man...

What's your favourite thing about Danger Mouse?

My favourite thing about the cartoon is just how totally unfettered the writers are in terms of where they can take the story. It can go anywhere. It is bonkers. And it's funny! Reading the scripts, I'm always laughing out loud. Normally, you just chuckle to yourself, but with this I actually honk with proper full-on mirth. It's full of really inventive moments, it's a great script.

Quite often, when things are rebooted in this way, you worry about them because the originals are such precious things and you worry they're going to do something awful with it. The script writers have picked up the Danger ball and run with it from the word go; this takes Danger Mouse off into something really exciting. It's continued on exactly the same trajectory it was going on in its previous incarnation - it's really fun.

Do you like doing children's TV?

I love doing children's TV. You get such extraordinarily positive feedback from your audience too. I've voiced loads things in animation over the years - Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly, and I'm currently narrating on Hey Dougee on CBeebies, which I love. And there's nothing sweeter than small kids coming up and saying they've watched and enjoyed shows I've made. Because they really REALLY believe in those characters and invest so much affection in them.

Now is a great time for kids' animation as there's masses being made, it's bloomin exciting to be a part of this new era. I grew up with all the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, which were really great. Yogi Bear, Top Cat all that, but since then (possibly starting with the original Danger Mouse) a new, more knowing, slightly anarchic cartoon has evolved that can send itself up (think of The Simpsons or South Park). The new Danger Mouse is definitely of that kind. We pretend we're making it for children but this is undoubtedly a show for all ages.