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The interview takes place on a bed, which is where a lot of interviews take place with Denise. (On bed with Denise)

Denise: On the bed this morning is an actor who's flown in from LA especially to be with us. [Shouts of "Wow"! can be heard in the background.] "Especially for us" (sung because of the single out by the presenters, "Especially for You") He's the star of the most successful coffee ad ever. He's the star of BBC2's new cult TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Will you please give it up for the richer, the smoother guest who is my kind of man - Tony Head!
[More cheers]

Denise: Tony, you're the man. Everyone is so excited you're here this morning. So do I call you Antony or Tony?

Tony: Whatever comes out of your mouth basically. Whatever you feel like. But before I say anything, I've got to say hello to my daughters Emily and Daisy. (everyone waves to the camera and says hello) ,.. and the Morrells.

D: Who are the Morrells?

T: Their friends.

(Glip in my tape in which Denise is commenting about him having been in the States for a long time and asking what he's been doing there.)

T: Been doing Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

D: All the time you've been in the states?

T: I did 12 episodes of VR5. I did NYPD Blue and things like that and then I got Buffy.

D: Which you've been doing for how long?

T: Three years.

D: So what's it all about then?

T: It's about this girl called Buffy who's a Vampire Slayer. No, basically she's the only one, the chosen one out of everybody in all the world who has the strength to hunt and kill vampires, but she doesn't want to know. She's a schoolgirl who just likes painting her nails, going down to the mall and talking to boys.

D: As you do...

T: As you do.

D: So who do you play?

T: I play her Watcher. I have to watch her.

(raucous laughter and noise from the crew and guests)

D (dubious look): What does that entail? Or shouldn't I ask? (Everyone laughs)

T: I'm the school librarian, but basically in me off-hours, I train her. I'm the one who basically comes to her and says, "You're the Slayer," and she says, "Go away, I don't want to." I'm this slightly confused Englishman amongst all these American students.

D. Is it quite funny to watch?

T: It's very funy. In fact, when I first got the script I was sitting in a restaurant in Santa Monica, as you do, on me own, as you you sometimes do, and I laughed outloud at the script when I was looking through it.

D: That's a good sign - when you read the script and laugh -

T: And I wanted to be part of it.

D: Fantastic. We have a clip now.

[Clip from the beginning of Harvest: Giles and Buffy in the library.]

D. Oh, you're ever so posh, aren't you?

T. Posh (nodding) Very posh.

D: Ever so posh. It's really exciting, that. I'm looking forward to that when it's on over here, because it's a huge success in America, isn't it?

T: It's enormous. It's a cult hit, as they say. It's coming to BBC, Wednesday, the 30th, and they're going to do the two hour premiere at 8.00.

D: Two hours?

T: Two hours, two hours. It's a thrill. It's a non-stop hurly burly thrill ride, and then ...

D: I'm there, baby.

T: And then from thereon in, it's on from the 6th at 6.45.

D: Now your character's a bit of a toughie, a bit of a meanie being the guardian ...

T: No, basically, I got knocked out a lot in the first season (laughs). Because I'm the adult, I ought to be in there sort of, you know, righting wrongs at the end of the show, but that's her job, so basically the only way they could get around it was to knock me out a lot. So I get knocked out.

D: Ahhh (in sympathy).

T: Then the secod season they sorted that out. We're in the third season and they're knocking me out again.

D: Oh well, never mind.

T: (tragically) I must have done something wrong, I don't know what.

D: But you did do something right, because you did all those coffee adverts.

T: Yes.

D: You're Mr Popular.

T: Yes.

D: Does that kind of haunt you a little bit when you go for acting jobs?

T: No, no. It gave me a face over in the States. Doors were opened. Basically both of the main gigs I got, they said afterwards that they hadn't known I was the coffee guy until afterwards. They put me picture up in the office and they'd all go, "Look, it's the coffee guy."

D: It run over here - I'm reading - for six years.

T: Six years. The whole thing from beginning to end - because we started to do it in America about half way through - it was ten years, ten years of my life.

D: Wow. But you didn't actually get the girl in the advert in the end.

T: We sort of sorted it. We drove around in a circle in this square. (laughs and gestures) the circle in the square.

D: The never-ending circle in the square.

T: In the square, in the city, talking about how we were going to go off somewhere and she's left two cups and a jar for whoever was taking over her apartment. But we didn't end it in America at all. We met her husband and she had a son and all sorts of things.

D: Really, oh?

T: Yeah.

D: Ooohhh

T: But we never finished it.

D: We cleared that up (Tony laughs) So what's the audition process like for top US series these days like over in the States?

T: It's bizarre. You go in Basically you have to test for everyone. You test for the studio, You test for the network. Before you go into this room in front of 25, 30 prople to do your bit - and it's a tiny room and they're all perched all over the place.

D. So before you go in, you have to learn the script and go in and do your bit before ...

T: But before you go in, they ask you to sign your contract. You're sitting out in the corridor with this contract and it's put in your hands and you're leafing through it. I'm not very good with contracts. But you're looking through it to see if it's all there, and there's people walking past. And you've got to sign away five years of your life.

D: Before you go in? (in disbelief)

T: Before you go in. Well, otherwise, if you know that they want you, then you can go and ask for more money. So they do it all when you sort of still want the job. Well, you want the job anyway, but ...

D: That's very clever. I'm going to start doing that with the fellows that pass through my door. (Tony cracks up) Sneaky. You sign a contract if I like you for the next five years and then you're out! (Tony is still laughing)

D: So finally, what's next for you then?

T: A few things.

D: This series is a huge success.

T: Yeah, it's doing very well. It's *worldwide*, as they say. In the meantime, I've got a musical that I wrote which we're turning into an animated feature - an *adult* animated musical feature.

D: Ohhh

T: And I've got a series I'm working on to go on over here. There's a movie and a movie of the week that I'm working on over there.

D: So, you're a busy guy then, Tony.

T: Busy, busy, busy

D: No time these days for coffee then, sweetheart, is there?

T: No, not a lot, no.

D. Thak you very much coming to see us. You came in *especially for us* [Sung. Another plug for the Christmas single] - Tony Head.

Loud cheers from an increasingly raucous crew and guests.

He was there for the rest of the show. When the morning papers were held up, he had the Sun, took part in a mock quiz on puns, etc. A lot of the banter in the interview had to do with shifting accents.

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Page created January 1999; updated January 13, 2001. Original material © Betsy Vera (bentley@umich.edu). This website is for information and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to infringe on copyrights held by others.