CAST NEWS - ANTHONY STEWART HEAD

IF IT'S A BUFFY APOCALYPSE, IT MUST BE GILES
ADDED: 20.11.02. SOURCE: ZAP2IT

Anthony Stewart Head is happily ensconced in a guesthouse in Santa Monica, Calif. - or maybe not.

Asked during a telephone interview if he is at home, he says, "No, I'm in the UK. No, that's in England. God, where am I? I'm in Santa Monica."

If he's a bit lost geographically, Head is also running to catch up with this year's storylines on UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which so far appear to involve murdered potential Slayers, a vampire with a soul (no, not that one - Spike), visits from the dead, and the slouching toward Sunnydale of the biggest Big Bad of all.

And if Evil and its minions are about to sweep across the face of the Earth, it's time to call on Buffy's British Watcher, mentor and subtitute dad, Rupert Giles.

"At the moment, I'm shooting episode 10, I believe," says Head, who has played Giles since the series pilot. "I've lost the plot, honestly, of where we were in terms of the storyline. But actually, I haven't ... It's a very complex sort of storyline as we weave this tale."

"It's difficult sometimes to know exactly where you are, but it's very, very cool. But, as always, the writers and Joss have got a really cool theme."

As always, Giles fulfills his main duty - imparting the details of impending doom, embellished with tongue-twisting demon names, obscure incantations and lots and lots of exposition.

"Absolutely," he says. "My first big scene up was five pages of me telling everybody what was going on. I am the Englishman who says the big words. But that's cool. A couple of guys on the show said, 'Thank God you're back. I don't have to say the words anymore."

"I think it's that the English accent does make it supposedly sound intelligent. Not if you're an Englishman, because if you're an Englishman, you're surrounded by Englishmen, and we don't make anything more intelligent than anybody else."

Throughout the run of Buffy, Head maintained his residence in England with long-time love Sarah Fisher and their two daughters. Over the last couple of seasons, the role of Giles has been scaled back to guest-star appearances, so Head could spend more family time. But every so often - especially when things are going very badly - Giles is sorely needed as the voice of caution and sombre warning.

"Absolutely," Head says, "which dynamically works very well, because you put it in amongst the excitability of the rest of the gang. That's partially why he was always an important part of the equation, and that's why Joss originally made her Watcher not Puerto Rican."

"Also, initially his concept of life was so at odds with Buffy's and then, progressively, with everyone else in the gang. It's the fact that she really didn't want any of this thing, and all he could see was the enormous honour of it."

Head been trying to catch up on the episodes of Buffy so far this year, but that plan was derailed when his daughters hijacked the tapes for an early-morning viewing session during a family holiday in Santa Monica around Halloween, then decamped back to England with them [although they'd have to have an NTSC video to play them on].

"I've got to get them back," Head says.

At this point, Giles is intended to appear in a total of 10 episodes. "That's the plan," Head says. "I don't think we're counting them down, going, 'Right, that's another one out of the way, only five left.' Basically, at the moment, it's as needed. Whatever comes up, I'm doing. We're trying to see at the moment whether I'm in episodes 12 and 13, but I'm not sure."

"They had a meeting with Joss yesterday to talk about how the story arc was going, and it has to be said, he was taking that meeting while he was directing an episode of Firefly."

Also waiting on a final decision is Ripper, the current title for the proposed Buffy spin-off series on BBC2 that would Giles and a new team of acolytes as they solve dark, twisted paranormal mysteries in England.

But, with Whedon busy with Buffy, The WB's Angel (which has had a turnover in show-runners this year) and the struggling Fox series Firefly, Ripper has been put on the back burner - but the heat's still on.

"It's still there, it hasn't gone away," says Head, who can currently be seen on BBC America in the racy comedy series Manchild. "I had lunch with [BBC2 head] Jane Root just before I came back. We were talking about Manchild. The next eight, I guess, will be coming in the spring on BBC America, and they're funnier and slightly changed. I also couldn't resist the opportunity to say, had she heard anything about Ripper and what were her feelings."

"She said she basically knew as much as I did, which was that Joss is just up against it. With these three balls up in the air, there's absolutely no point in throwing another one up there. I guess one would fall, and there's no need for that."

"Ultimately, along the line, everything can find its place and its time and succeed. Jane thinks we're still going to do it. I haven't even bothered to talk to Joss about it. The last he said, he really wants to do it. He's got three or four scripts he's got in progress with Jane Espenson." BACK TO THE TOP

HEAD: BUFFY ENDING SOON
ADDED: 16.11.02. SOURCE: SCIFI WIRE

Anthony Stewart Head told Sci Fi Wire that he believes Buffy will end at the end of the current seventh season. "It's not winding down. It's coming to an end," Head said in a telephone interview. "It's gone its full [course] ... [Joss Whedon has] brought it really neatly back into a full cycle. It's come back to the high school. And in terms of telling Buffy's story, in terms of saying how she has learned to deal with her gifts, if you like, and how it's affected her life and also the lives of all around her, it's reached the end of the story. ... It's not a surprise to anybody who's working on the show that it feels absolutely right."

Speculation has been running high that the series will end this year, especially since it's thought that Sarah Michelle Gellar might not come back after her contract ends at the end of the current season. Publicly, Whedon and UPN have said that a decision about an eighth season remains up in the air, with or without Gellar. For her part, Gellar has said it's too early to say whether she'll be back.

But as far as Head is concerned, the creators of the show are ready to wind things up, and he doesn't think the show could continue without Gellar. "We've all talked about it," he said. "Who knows? In the world of TV land and network studios, nothing that the creative team ... wants always necessarily happens. ... Somebody may slap a wad of cash on the table and say, 'It must not end.' But at the same time, you know, as far as the creative team is concerned, this was the way it's always been perceived. ... It's good to get out on a high. It's not something you want to drag on. Now, at the same time, there are many plans afoot for how [a] franchise can be developed and be extended. So ... it may be the end of Buffy's story, for the moment. Now who knows? Somewhere down the line, we may pick up Buffy's story in another space or another form. I don't know. I would love ... that [Whedon] gets to make the movie that he always wants to make. That depends on a number of factors. I don't know."

Spoilers follow

Head is back in Los Angeles to shoot several episodes in which his character returns to Sunnydale. It's unclear how many more episodes Head will do, though he's belived to have committed to at least 10 this season. "We're in debate at the momnent ... because I've got to go back ... to England," he said. "And we're just ... looking at whether they need me to come back before Christmas or not. ... People keep asking me how long I'm here for, and I keep saying, 'I haven't the vaguest idea.' And it's true. ... Sometimes it's useful for me to withdraw and not be here to help out. I do know that my first big scene back, I had all the exposition. Give the English guy the big words." BACK TO THE TOP

A BBC VERSION OF SEX FOR MALE MIDLIFE CRISIS SET
ADDED: 31.07.02. SOURCE: SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Anthony Stewart, 48, faced the onset of middle-age angst a few years back by taking acting lessons. James, the impotent dentist he plays on BBC America's new comedy series Manchild, stared down the barrel of his midlife crisis by having his todger surgically enhanced.

Todger?

Head, relaxing over a diet cola in the lounge of a Pasadena hotel, has been trotting out this British slang for the male organ pretty frequently these past few days as he promotes his sarring role in Manchild The show, tagged in England as Sex and the City for men, debuts in the United States on Friday, with four back-to-back episodes beginning at 7pm, then continues at 8pm Fridays through August 23.

"When the character was pitched to me, yes, there was my own ego to consider," says Head, who lives most of the year in England with his wife and two daughters. "But you get over that very quickly because it's not me we're talking about. It's my character, and he seemed like it would be very fun to play. James means well, but he's just a bumbling ... he's an idiot. He's a millionaire, he's separated from his wife and he can't get it up. So what do we have in common? Basically, none of the above."

Head's character is one of four rich, middle-aged blokes in Manchild who, in the view of divorced narrator Terry (Nigel Havers), are no longer "burdened" by young children or old wives. They are, at last, free to flaunt their wealth and date women half their age. Creator Nick Fisher got the idea for the series when he read an article reporting that the average owner of the Jaguar XK8 luxury sports car was 49 years old.

"Men approaching 50 having midlife crises and dealing with self-doubt - it's an area that's been looked at before," Head says. "But when I actually read the script, it blew me away because the subject was approached from a fresh point of view. The thing that makes Manchild different is, these characters are all independently wealthy. We have the means to get the lifestyle that all men apparently want: to be able to play with the toys, to play with the models, to enjoy all the trappings. Ultimately, it's an extremely hollow existence. But it is entertaining to watch people failing at something you think ought to be wonderful."

Some British critics maligned Manchild as a misogynistic romp early in its seven-episode run on the BBC last year. But the series eventually won over the sceptics, earning warm reviews and a strong following. Head, Havers and their co-stars Ray Burdis and Don Warrington begin work on Manchild's second season later this month.

"At our first read-through, the episode was very edgy," Head acknowledges. "The characters were basically pretty obnoxious, and the script didn't allow much warmth to come trhoguh. Nick realised, OK, we need a little bit more humanity because otherwise no one's going to watch these guys."

As the season progresses, Manchild emerges more as a cautionary tale than a smug how-to manual for late-blooming swingers, Head says. "The balance shifts in the later episodes and you realise Manchild is really about the shallowness of that dream. It's not necessarily something to be coveted."

Head is best known to American viewers as Rupert Giles, the erudite librarian he's played for seven years on TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

But it was his role as a suave mystery man in a long-running coffee commercial that put Head on the map in Hollywood. He's clearly sick of talking about the ads, purring "God bless you" to a reporter for not beginning an interview with a barrage of Taster's Choice questions.

"The commercial limited people's perceptions of me in terms of what I could do, but at the same time it opened up horizons over here," Head says. "So I came to Los Angeles to check out the marketplace. When I first arrived, I was sitting on my ass for two months, waiting to hear if Fox was going to pick up this pilot I had done and biting my nails and calling my wife and telling her" - Head suddenly whimpers - "'I want to go home.' And Sarah said, 'Do something while you're out there - go take classes or something!'"

So Head began studying with drama coach Milton Katselas, who changed his entire outlook.

"He's this wonderfully intuitive teacher and his premise is basically: The only real barriers are the ones we put in front of ourselves. If you say, 'My character wouldn't do that' - bollocks! Ultimately it's you who wouldn't say that. Who knows what your character might do."

Head's Fox series, VR-5, did get picked up, but for only one year. Then he got cast in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, playing the mentor to a crew of teenaged warriors. To research the role, Head says, "I went up into this high school cafeteria where kids were having their lunch, and I was struck by this extraordinary feeling: Their world was so alien to me. And I realised, this is exactly what Giles is about. Here's a man who's full of learning, yet he's completely out of his depth and at odds with the world around him."

Head has not been shy about bringing his quirky acting approach to the television soundstage, where he's confounded Buffy co-stars and Manchild colleagues alike.

"They're called 'arbitraries,'" says Head, describing one of his favourite techniques. "An arbitrary is something completely unrelated to the scene that just becomes a part of the action. It's about finding a life outside of the scene (as written) because if you just play what's on the page, then the scene has no life, no richness."

Head keeps it fresh any number of ways. Playing librarian Giles, he stuffed mothballs in his pockets to lend his bookworm character a musty quality. He absent-mindedly wiped dog waste from his shoe while swapping dialogue with two of his Buffy co-stars. On Manchild, he surprised his cast mates, trained in the read-the-speech/hit-the-mark school of English acting, by pouring a pitcher of water over his head in the middle of a swimming-pool sequence.

But the really big surprise came when Head decided to jolt the other actors during a scene in which James reveals the results of his vanity surgery.

"I wanted to present something to the boys in reality," Head recalls. "We had to cobble something together kind of quickly and it involved a prophylactic, some sausage meat and some fake blood strapped on with a piece of elastic. Slippery bugger it was! It looked like road kill. And it got a fantastic reaction."

If the men of Manchild approach their 50th birthdays obsessed with Jaguars, todgers and babes, Head has navigated his 40s with considerably more grace.

"The more I look at the world, the fuller I get," he muses. "I'm finding myself in a really good place, whereas the guys in Manchild are finding themselves in an empty place. They're not looking inside. They're not looking at what life can give them. They're looking at what they can take from life." BACK TO THE TOP

SEASON 7 BUFFY'S LAST
ADDED: 12.07.02

Anthony Stewart Head told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that he expects the upcoming seventh season to be the show's last. "It's supposed to be, from what I know," Head told the newspaper. "If it is, it will be born out of everyone wanting to move on."

But the good news is that Head told fans to expect to see more of Giles in the coming season. Last year, Head appeared in only seven episodes; next season, "I'll be a minimum of 10 and maybe more than that," he said. As for how his character will fit into the now-grown-up Scooby Gang, Head said, "I don't know how they're going to do that. It will be interesting to find out." BACK TO THE TOP

ANARCHY IN THE UK
ADDED: 04.06.02

Anyone who's seen the trailers for Spooks over the last few day will have seen Anthony Stewart Head, who guest stars in tonight's episode. Digiguide describes it as:

Drama series set behind the scenes of the modern British Security Service. Anti-capitalist demonstrations are growing in intensity as President Bush prepares to visit the UK. MI5 hero Peter Salter [Tony Head], in a joint operation with MI6, aims to infiltrate a known anarchist's group - but is he really working for the sake of his country, or has he fallen under the spell of an entirely different cause?

TRANSMISSION DETAILS:

Tue 4 Jun, 9.30pm (BBC One)
Wed 5 Jun, 11pm (BBC Choice)

It's probably best trying for the BBC One broadcast to avoid BBC Choice's "slob TV" DOG and other nonsense presentation. THANKS TO SUE WELSH. BACK TO THE TOP

NO MORE WATCHING

09.03.2002 - There are few things cooler than having Rupert Giles, the Watcher from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as your dad. So it's little wonder that Anthony Head's daughters were torn when he decided to surrender his status as a regular on the cult show to spend more time with them in Bath, western England.

Granted, they would have their father at home for more than the four months of the year that they had become used to during the previous five years. But what Head himself calls "the cool factor" did come into play, too.

"It's always been a family decision as to how long I'd be out there, so when I first asked them what they thought of me leaving, they said: 'Please don't. It's a really cool show and we like you in it.' When we eventually agreed that I'd become a recurring regular rather than a series regular, Emily (13 years old) found it especially difficult to come to terms with the fact I wasn't in the opening creidts any more."

He grins affably, exposing a neat row of very American-looking teeth.

The difference between being a series regular and a recurring one doesn't just mean that Head has a lot more time to spend with his family; he is also free to work in Britain. The first example of this is the BBC comedy drama Manchild, which looks at the lives and loves of four forty-something men who, by contemporary standards, have it all. Head plays James, whom he describes as a "sweet idiot" coming to terms with impotence.

"The subject of men of a certain age has been dealt with before, but usually it's about them yearning for something they don't have. These guys have the cars, the babies and the money, but what's missing from all their lives is reality. They don't have their feet on the ground and they don't know who they are. Each of them goes along an interesting journey and, on those journeys, there's so much scope for drama."

At 47, Head has caddish good looks and a charming, disarming manner. In a battered leather jacket and with a diamond stud in his left ear, there is something quite rock'n'roll about him. In another life, he could quite easily have been a lothario. Not in this one, though. Hear him talk about his "immensely beautiful and immensely wise" partner, Sarah, and you are left in little doubt of his devotion.

"Sarah is an amazingly cool, down-to-earth woman. A beautiful spirit. She has taught me that there are more important things in life than acting.

"Ultimately, we're extremely fortunate to be paid for what we do; it's dressig up, and it's fun. It's taken me through my 40s to try and become more centred. Life is about learning and some people try and sidestep the lessons. I think if you don't learn, you end up doing them all over again," Head says.

"Life gives you whatever you need at that moment to learn whatever you need to at that moment. I wouldn't change a moment of my life. It's cool being here."

You believe him, regardless of how hippyish it sounds.

While one generation only knows him as Giles, another knows him as the Nescafe Gold Blend man, whose slow-roast romance with English actress Sharon Maughan in the mid-'80s coffee advertisement enchanted the UK. Yet, contrary to what you might exprect, he sees neither role, iconic in their own way, as a curse.

"If the commercial didn't do anything else for me, it did give me a comfort zone in which I could say no to stuff. I did have to go to the States to change the perception of me as being a bit lightweight, a bit of leading romantic froth, but I have no regrets."

And now that he's back, there are even meatier roles on his roster. Next up is a part in BBC TV's eagerly awaited MI5 drama, Spooks.

"I play a dissolute spook who is questioning everything he has done with his life. There were three or four speeches which encapsulate that and I read them and thought, 'This is a phenomenal TV script.' Then I turned back to the front page and it said: 'Written by Howard Brenton.' I was like, 'Wow.'

"I worked with Howard years ago at London's National Theatre, so you know TV is moving in the right direction when you see someone like him writing for it."

So Head's career is thriving, but will any new role keep his cool with daughters Daisy, 11, and Emily?

"I fly back out to LA soon to do another couple of episodes of Buffy, but while I am cool now, there will come a time when I am so desperately uncool it will be painful.

"We will undoubtedly encounter the problems that all parents do. When the hormones start flying, you can take it personally, or you can think: 'There's nothing she can do about this.' Children set themselves up in opposition to their parents because otherwise they'd never go out and become individuals.

"We're lucky in that we've got two beautiful girls - you know that teenage boys undergo a chemical change in their brains that actually renders them speechless?"

All of which brings us back to Manchild, in which four men (Head, Nigel Havers, Ray Burdis and Don Warrington) enjoy/endure a second adolesence.

"I think it will appeal to men and women because, ultimately, it's about how there is a little boy in all men, much to the chagrin of women who have to put up with them," he says.

"We got some Ikea stuff the other day and I found myself sadly looking forward to putting it together. The old Airfix days came flooding back..."

Source: The Melbourne Age, 28 February. Back to the top

EXCELIS DAWNS

12.01.2002 - Previously on Planet Buffy we reported that Tony Head was due to guest star in Big Finish's Doctor Who: Excelis audio trilogy

The cover and blurb for the first in the series, Excelis Dawns have now been released (thanks to John Campbell Rees for the heads up), showing a somewhat different looking Watcher - (click on the cover for a larger version).

The blurb: That terrible old reprobate and transdimensional adventuress Iris Wildthyme has gone and locked herself up in a nunnery on the savage world of Artaris.  Here she is discovered by the Doctor and reasonably brutal warlord Grayvorn.  Together - with a peculiar nun they pick up en route - they must travel the forests and swamps of this ghastly world in Iris's double decker bus in order to tussle - to the death - with a horde of flesh-eating zombies for a mysterious and holy relic of unfathomable value and questionable pedigree.

But what is the Mother Superior's part in all this?

Starring Peter Davison as The Doctor, Anthony Stewart Head as Lord Grayvorn with Katy Manning as Iris Wildthyme, the double CD is released on 11 February.   Planet Buffy's sister site, Planet 14, will be reviewing the story in due course (when I've caught up with the backlog!)  Back to the top

THE WATCHER COMES HOME

24.12.2001 - Note this interview on ITV1's Teletext contains a general spoiler for season six:

Buffy fans will be saying goodbye to Giles for a brief spell this winter when he returns to England in season 6.

But actor Anthony Head is BBC2-bound for a new drama about men having a mid-life crisis, called Manchild.

"I've done things before where you think 'Phew, we got away with that.'  But with Manchild you really want to watch more of it," he tells TV Plus.

It also gave him the chance to spend time in his beloved Blighty.

In BBC2's Manchild Anthony Head plays a handsome but somewhat confused 40-year-old in search of fulfillment.

He takes up scuba diving and hankers after excitement.  TV smoothie Nigel Havers co-stars.  "In the TV business too much is made of stuff that isn't terribly well written.  But this will run and run."

"I didn't know how it was going to turn out but it is so refreshing.  I like things that are innovative and muck around with the genre."

TV Plus caught up with Buffy actor Anthony Head as he promoted his new BBC2 drama Manchild.

This was the first UK autumn Head has seen for six years and he was loving it.  "I'll be at home for Christmas and New Year with the family.

"I'm waiting to hear when I'm needed back in LA.  It might be February.  I can do jobs around the house that have been neglected for years.  There has been a serious log-jam.  I did a flat-packed Ikea table yesterday."

Buffy actor Anthony Head has earned seriously good money from the hit Sky drama.  So it's surprising to learn that he loves doing DIY jobs around his home in Bath.  He tells TV Plus:

"I've been in the attic the last two days and it's full of that horrible glass wool.  It was all over my shirt.

"My girls are 10 and 12 and we were clearing their playroom and taking their toys up to the attic.  It was a totally emotional experience for me.  It was closing a chapter in a way."

Being separated from his partner Sarah Fisher and daughters Daisy and Emily has been tough for Anthony Head.  He tells TV Plus:

"I would spend up to eight and half months in the US and parting from them used to cripple me.

"It would be very hard for a couple of days.  We tried to work it so that they came out for a couple of months at a time.  And we did enroll them in an American school for a while, to give them another experience."

Anthony Head has two more years of shuttling across the Atlantic before he leaves mystical Sunnydale.

"I was contracted to do seven years of Buffy and I have done fine.  Now I am under a new contract as a regular player," he tells TV Plus.

"Josh [sic] Whedon, who created the show, won#t allow it to go on for ever.  What's been so good about it is that Buffy has reinvented itself.  Season 4 may not have quite worked but season 5 was cracking, as it 6."

A British-based Buffy spin-off is in the proposal stage.  It means Anthony Head, 47, could work here rather than the US.  He tells TV Plus:

"There is definitely room for a project like this.  There is a ready made audience for it.  Giles has a whole side to him that we haven't seen."

One can think of many places in the UK that sit on a convergence of the undead.  Sunnydale won't be the same without it's book-loving mentor.  Back to the top

MUSIC FOR ELEVATORS/DOCTOR WHO

18.11.2001 - First up, the press release for the Anthony Stewart Head/George Sarah project, Music for Elevators, which is available for pre-order at www.musicforelevators.com:

A unique collaborative project between Anthony Stewart Head, 'Giles' on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and acclaimed electronic producer/composer George Sarah, formerly of T.H.C., Music for Elevators is a sophisticated, stylish album with a subtle electronic feel.

Head has garnered international acclaim in numerous theatre, film and TV productions, but is probably best known for his role as 'Giles' on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Despite his critical success with acting, Head originally intended to pursue a career in music.  He attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and got his first show business break as 'Jesus' in Godspell in the West End of London.  He also starred in the London stage musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show as 'Dr. Frank-N-Furter.'  Most recently, his vocal talents have been showcased on occasional episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

George Sarah is a highly regarded composer and producer who has worked with many of electronic music's pantheon of talent.  Since the launch of his career in 1983, he has gained the attention of national press, released two full-length releases, an EP, and a 12-inch single.  His music has been heard in several films and television shows, including a performance of four songs on season four of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The combination of Head's accomplished vocals and lyrical brilliance and Sarah's orchestral electronica create a rich and lush sound, accented by contemporary flourishes in the form of samples and organic instrumentation.  Music for Elevators also features guest appearances by additional Buffy cast members.  Music for Elevators also includes special contributions by Holly Palmer, Jay Bellerose and Veikko Lepisto.

Back in June we reported that Tony was lined up to play a villain in one of Big Finish's Doctor Who audios and it's now been confirmed that Head will play Warlord Grayvorn in next year's Excelis trilogy, with recording starting next week.

Presumably because it's the god-like Buffy rather than a series that they actually own themselves, BBCi will probably be devoted lashings of space to this.  It quotes Big Finish co-producer Gary Russell as saying, "As a Buffy fan, I'm overwhelmed to be directing such a great actor."  Back to the top

HEAD-MASTER?

16.06.2001 - According to Sci-Fi.com, Anthony Stewart Head has been approached to play the Doctor's nemesis the Master in a future Doctor Who story, but the production company has denied the story.

The site claims that Head was approached by Big Finish Productions, which produces audio adventures of the long-running BBC series, and claim he is considering the offer seriously.  However, Big Finish's Gary Russell has denied the story, and their website's FAQs would seem to confirm this version of events.

According to the Sci-Fi version, Big Finish first approached Anthony Ainley, who played the character on the TV series from 1981-89, but he turned the role.  The production company supposedly hoped to use Head's desire to remain in England as a way to land the actor.

Apart from Ainley, the role has also been played by the late Roger Delgado from 1971-73 and by Eric Roberts in the 1996 TV movie.  Peter Pratt in 1976 and Geoffrey Beevers in 1981 also portrayed the character in a decayed state following his final regeneration.  Back to the top

TONY HEAD IN NEW BBC2 COMEDY

04.05.2001 - Buffy star to appear in new comedy that's even funnier than Don't Wait Up.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Anthony head will return to Britain to appear as a retired dentist with impotence problems in Manchild, a new BBC2 comedy centering on the lives of four middle-aged men.

The series also stars Nigel Havers as a businessman with a penchant for models and Alan Partridge actor Steve Coogan.

Havers believes many will identify with his on-screen character.

He said: "They've got a wedge of money in their pocket so they've got that right but, for instance, my character is still in love with his ex-wife.

"It's the funniest thing I've ever read."  Back to the top

BUFFY'S FRIGHTFULLY ENGLISH MENTOR, GILES

20.03.2001 - From loaded, February 2001:

Anthony Stewart Head is The Watcher.  His role, as stammering Englishman Giles, involves looking after the rebellious Buffy.

"I teach her, train her and make sure she's doing her job," he explains.  "The Watcher does have a dark side, though.  He was a rebel in his teens, went on to dabble in black magic and ended up killing somebody."

But there are much worse things in Anthony's own past.  Black magic and murder are one thing, but playing the lead in those will-they-won't-they Gold Blend ads that plagued the nation in the early '90s should be a crime punishable by death.  They told the story of two neighbours who fell in love over their shared love of instant coffee.  Did he flee to America to escape the shame?

"Well," he laughs, "the ads made my TV career kind of go into hibernation in England - I just couldn't shake off the Gold Blend image.  People said I was too high-profile, but here high-profile is a good thing.  So it was a good move."

And do you drink Gold Blend, or is the punch of a good US cup of Joe just too hard to resist?

"I'm a cappuccino fan now.  But my first drink of the day is still a cup of tea."

I bet he still pines over that lady with the thin blonde hair piled on top of her head like instant cream on top of a boozy trifle, though.  Or have the septics stolen his heart?  If he had to marry one girl, who would it be?  Buffy, the coffee bird or our cover girl Anya?

"Anya?  Good grief.  Anya is barking mad.  Buffy's a little young for me...I wonder.  I suppose it would be the girl from the coffee ad."

Aaaaaah, sweet.

"Well, you know, you need to give me a few more choices!"  Back to the top

CEEFAX REVIEW OF SILENT WITNESS

13.02.2001 - Silent Witness BBC1, Monday

Amanda Burton strikes again as the curt forensic pathologist with a passion for doing everybody else's job but her own.

Asked to identify a body in Norway, uncovered by a dramatic avalanche.  Sam finds herself embroiled in an unsolved murder case from 15 years earlier.

Improbably, both murders point to one family - with the slippery uncle Henry clearly Enemy No 1.

Anthony Head's insidious villain is masterfully played, but it can't be him - it's all too easy - as Sam's newfound profiling skills will no doubt prove.

Tony's appearance was flagged up in last night's Evening Advertiser, the local paper here in Swindon:

All About... Anthony Head

Tonight: Silent Witness, BBC1, 9.10pm (See Pick of the Day)

Image: Elegant English actor

Best Known For: Being the Gold Blend Man in the 80s adverts.

Early Life: Born in 1954 in London.  He caught the acting bug at the age of six, when he first appeared in a school play, and went on to join the London Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Career: After starring in the Gold Blend ads, Head made some coffee commercials in America.  These brought him to the attention of the producers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - and his role, as librarian Rupert Giles has won him a new generation of fans.  He was even voted the third sexiest man in sci-fi.

Love Life: He and his long-term girlfriend, Sarah Fisher, have two daughters.

Don't Mention: His youthful attempt to make it as a New Romantic pop star.

Quote: On that ultra-smooth Gold Blend Man: "He's a bit of a pompous ass."

In the Pick of the Day feature, Silent Witness was described thus: "The dramatic landscape of Norway, the story of a serial killer and Amanda Burton are the ingredients for this dramatic crime series.  Pathologist Professor Sam Burton returns for a two-part film probing the murder of two teenage girls strangled and buried naked in the snow."  Back to the top

MURDEROUS NEW ROLE FROM BUFFY STAR HEAD

11.02.2001 - Ceefax ran a similiar feature on Tony's guest appearance in Silent Witness to the one Teletext carried:

Murderous new role from Buffy star Head

You could not get two more different characters than the ones Anthony Head plays in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the latest Silent Witness mystery.

But one thing links Buffy's mentor Rupert Giles and his new unsympathetic role.  Both enjoy the company of young women - though in very different ways.

"He just fancies teenage girls," says the actor as he describes Henry Hutton, his character in Two Below Zero.

"When a series of girls end up being killed, he becomes the prime suspect."

Rare villainous role for Buffy boffin

Having played librarian Rupert Giles in teen scream hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Anthony Head was keen to get his teeth into a more villainous role.

"It's been a great area to explore as an actor because I didn't want him to come across as being just evil," Head says of his Silent Witness character.

"I don't want people to see him as black and white in any way," he adds.

"I used to play a lot of baddies when I was younger, but I always used to try and make them interesting."

Gold Blend actor heads home for Witness

Taking a role in the new Silent Witness two-parter meant a rare return to the UK for Anthony Head, who first made his name in the Gold Blend coffee adverts.

Butwhile the commercials made him and Sharon Maugham [sic] household names, screen roles began to dry up in Britain.

"I was box office, I could put bums on seats in the theatre," he says wryly.  "But TV roles just weren't happening."

So the 47-year-old actor decided to go somewhere else.  "That's when I decided to try my lot in the States," he says.

No overnight success for Silent's Head

Moving to America after making his name in the Gold Blend coffee ads did not mean instant success for Anthony Head, who stars in the latest Silent Witness.

But he has his partner Sarah to thank for snapping him out of the doldrums.

"I was sitting over in the States twiddling my thumbs, while she was back in England having to cope with work, our two daughters and the home.

"Frankly, she told me to stop moaning, get off my bottom and do something positive, like taking acting classes."

Life on two continents for slayer Head

Since landing the role of Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Anthony Head has had to get used to dividing his time between California and the UK.

"I work long hours and I'm away from home for periods of time," he explains.

"But the family comes out to America for months at a time and when I'm home I can spend a lot of time with them."

It was during one recent trip to these shores that he took a rare bad guy role in the latest two-part Silent Witness mystery, alongside Amanda Burton.  Back to the top

TELETEXT: "SHOCK NEW ROLE"

11.02.2001 - In addition to the Mirror feature below, Teletext's Sci-Files also covered ASH's appearance in Silent Witness, covering pretty much the same ground, but here it is anyway:

Buffy Anthony in shock new role [sic]

From playing the mentor of a teenage girl in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, actor Anthony Head is turning predator.

Anthony, 46, from Camden, north London, stars in the latest episode of BBC crime drama Silent Witness with Amanda Burton.

But admirers of his bookish, good-guy Giles in Buffy will be shocked.  He plays a man infatuated with teenage girls who becomes the prime suspect in a series of chilling murders.

Buffy star Anthony Head is returning to British TV to play a man with an obsession for teenage girls.

"He's an ex-military type who becomes infatuated with them," says Anthony of his Henry Hutton role in a Silent Witness two-parter beginning on Monday on BBC1.

"He's not a paedophile for which there can be no sympathy and no excuse.  He just fancies teenage girls."

Actor Anthony Head has relished playing a man infatuated with teenage girls in Silent Witness.

He said, "I wanted to explore the scenario of when is it all right for an older man to like younger girls.  When does it become too much - when does it become unacceptable?

"When some girls end up killed he becomes the prime suspect.  It's been great to explore as an actor as I didn't want him to be pure evil."

He's best-known in America for good-guy Giles in Buffy, but Brit actor Anthony Head has a history of dastardly roles.

"I used to play a lot of baddies when I was younger but I always used to try and make them interesting, otherwise people turn off very quickly," muses the actor.

Head previously starred in IRA movie A Prayer For The Dying, and on the stage he once performed in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Actor Anthony Head will never be allowed to forget the coffee ads.

With Sharon Maughan as his co-star, the cheesy ads about a blossoming relationship between a pair of yuppie neighbours became a cult.

"There's no doubt they enriched my life," laughs Anthony, looking back on the 1990-7 campaign.  "It gave me a salary for six years.  What actor gets that?  I was able to do theatre tours and provide for my family."

It was in the mid '90s that Camden, London-born actor Anthony Head decided to take his chances in the US.

He took the lead role [sic] in sci-fi series VR-5, but that was pulled after only a handful of episodes.

Then came Buffy.  "The first time I read it I was sitting in a restaurant and started laughing out loud.  They handed me a contract before the audition which turned out to be for seven years.  But it's been fun."

As part of hit US show Buffy, Anthony Head's future lies in the US - but his heart remains in England.

Head spends eight months of the year in California and the rest of it with his family at their country home near Bath in Somerset.

He is married to aromatherapist Sarah and they have two daughters Emily, 11, and Daisy, 9.  "I work long hours and I'm away from home a lot, but we work hard to be close," he says.  Back to the top

HEAD HUNTED

11.02.2001 - Tony Head's appearance in BBC1's Silent Witness next week has produced a couple of features, contrasting his guest appearance with his regular role as Giles (it's called acting).  Here's what the Mirror had to say:

Buffy star Anthony Head has returned from huge success in the US to star in a new Silent Witness story.

There are many great mysteries in life, but for handsome actor Anthony Head one stands out above all others: At what age can you officially be classified as a dirty old man?

The question came back to haunt the former star of the Gold Blend ads while filming Two Below Zero, this week's two-part Silent Witness story, which is his first work for British television for four years.  In it, the 45-year-old - best known these days for his co-starring role in the hit American series Buffy The Vampire Slayer - plays a suspected murderer who, when in his twenties, had an affair with a 13-year-old girl.

"He still has an eye for young girls," Anthony explains.  "So when the bodies of two teenagers are discovered, he finds himself in the frame for their murders.  He's an interesting character to play because he has no scruples or morals whatsoever.

"Someone once asked me when I thought it was no longer acceptable for a man to look admiringly at a young woman.  The question has haunted me ever since and I have no idea of the answer.  I'm sure it's something that a lot of men think about at some stage in their lives."

Not that he loses any sleep over it.  The only young girl Anthony is concerned about are his daughters Emily, 11, and nine-year-old Daisy.  These days, he sees precious little of them, or their mum, his long-time girlfriend Sarah Fisher, an animal behaviourist.  At least eight months of each year are spent filming Buffy in Los Angeles while his family stays behind at their home near Bath.

"I get a few days off every five weeks so I come back to see them," he says.  "We talk all the time on the phone and the bills are astronomical.  I often wonder if it's fair to ask Sarah to be a single mother for most of the year for the sake of my career, but she is a remarkable lady.  She knows this is an opportunity I could not pass up and that I won't be doing it forever."

He owes his American stardom to those TV ads for Gold Blend in the 1980s, which also went out in the States where the coffee is called Taster's Choice.  When the ads ended, Anthony struggled to find work and, after lengthy discussions with Sarah, moved to the US.  First he won a part in the sci-fi series VR5, but it was Buffy which turned out to be the big one.  In it he plays English librarian Rupert Giles, opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar.

"It's been a phenomenal success, not just in America but in other places around the world," says Anthony.  "It's a No 1 show in Australia, for instance, so I would love to work there at some point."

He is thrilled at the way things have turned out and is delighted to be able to resume his career at home in England in Silent Witness.

"I can see Buffy continuing for another couple of years, but I am keen to work on both sides of the Atlantic," he says.  "Working on Silent Witness was the perfect job for me because I was able to commute to the set in Hertfordshire every day."

"My biggest thrill in life is heading back home when I've been in America.  When I'm driving from the airport and reach my turn-off on the M4, I know I'm nearly there - back with those who mean the most to me."

Silent Witness, Monday, BBC1, 9.30pm [should be 9.10pm]  Back to the top