F Now Anthony Head is back with a new role. A new BBC comedy series that has been dubbed "Sex in the City" for male 40-somethings. We're going to be talking to Anthony in a moment but first Manchild
They then show the railway carriage clip
F So go on then tell us what it's about. Manchild. It's about 40-something men.
ASH It's about men in their sort of mid-life, being children basically, which I think most women can identify with. What sets this apart is that the men are independently wealthy and have the means to have all the toys and the access to all the things we are supposed to want.
M And they have all their divorces and families out of the way by now.
ASH Exactly and, um, it's what we're told that we should have in our mid-life or what we apparently crave. So there's 4 of us all chasing after it and, um, apparently quite successfully at first or we crow about it and say how wonderful our life is but actually its … um … it's, it's not all it's cracked up to be but it's very, very funny in the process.
M Well it sounds good.
F And you're starring alongside Nigel Havers as well.
ASH Nigel Havers, Don Warrington, Ray Burdis.
F Great cast.
ASH Just 4 complete stars of comedy which match together very well. We had a fantastic time.
M And you're not sharing a flat or anything like that?
ASH Nooooo Nooooo (he says in Scottish accent). No we've got beautiful places my pad was just, um, in the city and it was just next to one of the entrances to, I think, Fenchurch St. Station or one of the stations so when we were filming there we didn't get an awful lot of sound recording. There were lots of trains going in and out but it looked gorgeous overlooking the river.
F So quite a change from BTVS then
ASH Just a bit
F Just a little bit yes which has been a huge success for you, hasn't it?
ASH It's been a fantastic, absolutely wonderful I couldn't - I couldn't have dreamed of the success that it`s been.
F How many years have you been there?
ASH Five I did as a regular and now I'm a guest …um … recurring....person
F Right so you will be going back for a few episodes later in the year?
ASH Yep. Yes I'm going to go for the end of the season and then I don't know what happens - they say there's going to be one more season.
M Well for Buffy fans we've got a clip we're going to show you
ASH Cool.
Clip from Season Five Giles driving RV and gets speared
M Just another average day in the life of a school librarian
ASH (laughing) They never let me drive is all I can say.
F How did you get that role, I mean a lot of people obviously know you from the coffee adverts from years ago.
ASH I went out - I went out there about 6 or 7 years ago. We agreed as a family it would be a good idea to see what the market place was like out there and we all went out there on holiday and I got an agent and then I came back , we all came back then I went back for a couple of months. I did do a series, um, for Fox called VR-5 then came back again, went back, did all the you know. There was a lot of toing and froing and it came up I went and auditioned, um, they said they were doing a series of this thing. I remembered it vaguely as being a film sort of 10 or 11 years ago and remembered that it wasn`t highly successful but it had a great cult following. Um, I met them and when I read the script I just fell about, I thought it was brilliant, brilliant scripts so I was bit put off when I watched the movie which was completely different. It wasn't the same.
M There's a plan for a British spin off now
ASH We're still talking about it. Joss is very keen to do it. Joss Whedon, who is the creator. The Creator. He has always wanted to do a BBC show. He was here for 3 years, um, doing his O levels or A levels one or the other. It was at Winchester and, um, he loved the BBC production values so he's desperate to do a series and it fits with my character. I've come back and I've pitched it to film in the West Country where I live.
F I bet your family are glad to have you back because they were here all the time you were there.
ASH Well we did -- they were largely here but the girls they went to school a couple of times over there a couple of months at a time, but it still, nevertheless the phone bills were just enormous and a lot of travelling backwards and forwards between us
F Wow
ASH We are all extremely happy, this is the first Christmas we've had for 5 years that I wasn't, that we all weren't looking at the calendar going "you're going to go in a few days time."
M Well that's it. Thank you very much
ASH Well thank you very much
F Manchild. Tomorrow. Watch it.