In the UK to promote the video release of the first half of season three, Alyson Hannigan was a guest on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast on 13 June 2000.

Thanks to Richard Morgan for the transcript.  Screencaps by me.

Liza Tarbuck: Hey, joining me now is a fast emerging megastar.  Yeah, from a starring role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer to playing a flute wielding nymphet in American Pie - very funny - this actress is one "hot-cookie" it says here.  Please welcome Alyson Hannigan.

[Cheering]

Alyson Hannigan: Hey, thank you.

LT: God do you know what, I'm actually chuffed to meet you as I'm fast becoming a Buffy bore.

AH: Cool.

LT: Well we had the guy who plays Angel down.

AH: Yes.

LT: Who I was very taken with, frankly.  And I had to watch various bits - I say had to - got into it properly.  It's fantastic.

AH: Oh, thank you.

LT: What is it do you think makes Buffy so popular?

AH: Oh well I think the writing is really wonderful, but also David you know, he helps.

[Caption on screen "Alyson Hannigan : She's a jolly good 'Willow'"]

LT: He does help you know, visually, he does help.

AH: Yeah, he helps with the girls.

LT: What made you do it, when you saw the scripts did you just "think this is great"?

AH: Oh, yeah it was just so funny, and then we saw the shows put together it was even better, and it was just so fun to do.

LT: It is good isn't it?  And I think its part ... well, I like Dawson's Creek at the moment, which I don't think I'm meant to be watching, but hours dictate I watch teen television.

[Laughter]

LT: And I really rate the two of them, although over here Buffy goes on quite late, for dirty old men I'm presuming.

[Laughter]

AH: Um, could be the violence factor?

LT: It could be actually, that would be quite terrifying if you were seven.

AH: Yes [Grinning]

LT: Lets have a little look at a clip to see... we'll let you judge what you think about Buffy.

[Clip from Anne, with Oz & Willow discussing Oz returning to school, before being interrupted by Xander]

LT: I like it.  Now, Buffy was originally a feature film, which was actually quite forgettable.  I don't think being I'm out of order saying that. Why do you think it works so much better on the small screen?

AH: Well the writer of the movie is our, like, the God of our show.  He writes, and directs, and he's the creator, and he did this show because the movie was nothing like he envisioned it.  And so this is his baby and he gets to control it, I think that's why it's so good.

LT [mumbles to Alyson]: What's his name?

AH: Joss Whedon, he's a genius.

LT: We met him on the show, he's a friend.  Now the character you play Willow is a real web head.

AH: Yes.

LT: Well I think a rather intelligent young lady would be a better description.  What's the most bizarre rumour that you read about yourself on one of the hundreds of blooming websites about you?

AH: Well, there was a rumour once that I was dead.  And it just so happened that I wasn't working that day and had a beeper and the batteries had died.  So I was just, you know, shopping at bookstores, and people were frantically trying to get in touch with me.  And for about three or four hours people were calling hospitals, and the news people in LA were calling my agent trying to see if it was true, they were like "Well, we're just going to go ahead with the story then."  And I got home and like my whole voice mail was just filled with people going "call me if you're okay".  And you know I'm oblivious to the whole thing, and I'm like, what happened - somebody on the show must have gotten hurt, and they called me and they were like "oh my God! I'm so glad".  They were calling the morgues and the emergency rooms, somebody drove by my house...

LT: And you were just out shopping?

AH : Yeah I was like 'la la la ooh, I have a day off'.  Yeah.

LT: Poof.  Now our viewers will also know you from the hugely successful American Pie.  And, on reflection that film came out at sort of the perfect time and tone, I loved it, I really did.  Did you have any initial concerns about the movie's rather crude subject matter?

AH: No [giggles].  That's what attracted me to the film, I loved it.

LT: It worked didn't it?

AH: Yes, I thought it was brilliant.

LT: Do you mind being within teen films at the moment, or do you have plans to move out?

AH: Well if they're good, I think that's what matters, but right now, like, this summer I'm taking off because I didn't see anything that appealed to me.  You know?  And it was all the same old, same old, and I'd rather vacation and just spend time.

LT: Well that makes great sense doesn't it, and the longer you take to consider the longer your career will be.  I love that idea.

AH: And it's not like, you know, I can play like, you know, a judge or anything right now.

[Laughter]

LT: Yeah, well fine, have a good time while you can, woo-hoo, I like that ethos.

Alyson then took part in a game called Call My Bluffy where she had to guess the meanings of Moloch, Scapulas and Eyghon.  She got the first two right, after some confusion with the rules, but they had to cut to a break before she could finish.

She then popped up in the viewers' phone-in at the end of the show, although the calls were centred around football or David Boreanaz, leaving Alyson with little else to do but nod and smile.

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