Consisted of Steve Wright, Tony …and another person in the studio who is part of the team!
STEVE: There’s so much to talk to you about since I last saw you - you’ve been in Manchild which I thought was fantastic, then of course Little Britain which you were in just a few days ago, which is SO funny and now has come to terrestrial having been on BBC3 and then also, this is NOT, this is NOT a panto.
TONY: It’s NOT a panto.
OTHER: What is it then?
STEVE: I’m going to tell you what it is …wait.
OTHER: Well don’t tell us what it’s not … tell us what it is.
STEVE: Stop. You can see Anthony Head on stage as Captain Hook in Peter Pan from December 15th and as the Pirate King in the Pirates of Penzance from January 6th, both in rep at London’s Savoy Theatre, and you can catch Anthony as Giles in another episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Series 7, this evening at 6.45 on BBC2.
TONY: That was fantastic. I would have thought he was reading that, it was amazing.
STEVE: If you’re not going to be any good you may as well go now! You’ve had your plug. Let me get this straight - you’re in TWO things…
TONY: Two things - we’re rehearsing them now. We’ve got 5 weeks to get 2 shows on and its slightly panicky but its very good. We have an extremely exuberant, vibrant director, we’ve got a very young, exuberant, vibrant cast…and then you’ve got me.
STEVE: You’re Captain Hook in Peter Pan
TONY: Yes and we’re basically…we’ve got an incredible designer who has basically designed the set that will work for both shows that will look completely different for both shows but that works so there’s no get in and get out basically and quite a lot of the costumes double as well. The pirates…
STEVE: Of course…
TONY: It’s a beautiful concept, it’s a great concept because basically what you then do is you widen your audience base. Peter Pan, although we’re not doing, we’re not doing a panto, we’re doing the classic JM Barrie fantasy and it’s a play. We’re not doing a musical; we’re not…none of that "it’s behind you" and "oh yes it is" and all that stuff. And Hook is a truly scary character, the whole idea is to take this kid’s fantasy, and if a kid fantasises "ohh Pirates", well they’re really pirates, they’re like mean guys. So we’ve got a very young, kind of very different version of pirates. It’s like people still appeal to the purists.
STEVE: So what’s that like - rehearsing two things at once. I mean you’ve got them both in your head now?
TONY: It is slightly … I mean I was doing a dance this morning for Pirates and …what am I working on this afternoon … oh yes, they’re doing more Pirates this afternoon. But there was a point every day when I’d suddenly go "If I leave now do you think they would notice?" It was like "I can take any more". We’ve got a great choreographer, she’s really, really, really clever and there’s lots of sort of very high energy dancing and I think … I don’t think Gilbert and Sullivan has ever been done like this before. It’s like it’s been done as a stage musical rather than an operetta.
STEVE: Your life has taken some twists and turns, hasn’t it? Of late - in the last five or six years because suddenly you found yourself making Buffy. Now, here’s a thing: in Buffy … what is your occupation in that, by the way?
TONY: I was the Librarian but then I actually became redundant when I blew the Library up.
STEVE: Yes and then…
TONY: Because there was a large snake in it.
STEVE: And then it was kind of …nobody ever referred after that … people didn’t really refer to you as the Librarian … you were just there looking intelligent.
TONY: I was no longer a Librarian but I am here to say that I … well not me … Joss Whedon actually made Librarians cool and whenever I do fan conventions and things, a lot of Librarians come up to me with copies of "Librarian Weekly" or whatever it is, with my picture in Buffy on the front.
STEVE: You’re kidding?
TONY: No I’m serious, and they say "thank you very much" because actually it has increased … kids come to libraries now in schools cos maybe they think there’s gonna be a vampire in them…you know, quite right.
OTHER: So just clarify for me once and for all what you were to Buffy then, cos you were like a guardian.
TONY: I was her Watcher. I was like "La femme Nikita" kind of …the guy who knows the stuff and kind of trains her and kind of educates her, but the whole idea and it was a very clever idea was the I come to her with this sort of "This is entrusted, I give you your destiny" and she says "excuse me? I want to go down the mall and paint my nails and go out with boys and things, what are you talking about?" So it was that conflict of somebody being completely out of depth and sort of just everything he’d come to expect and all his destiny and everything about his life has all been wrapped up in this sort of mystery and suddenly it’s thrown in his face. So for seven years, we kind of worked on that basis, and she, everybody that was around Buffy kind of learnt and grew and as much as I was able to teach her, she taught me about life and about actually getting on with it.
OTHER: But it must have been really good fun and I bet when they came to you and said "do you want to do this? It’s a story about a kind of All-American blonde, blue-eyed girl who fights vampires".
STEVE: As a trained British actor…
OTHER: Did you think that ain’t gonna work?
STEVE: You must have thought, "well this is absurd"?
TONY: No, as a trained British actor I always…bottom line was, when you’re out in LA you’re given quite a lot of scripts which involve either British idiots or British bad guys and to be given this script, I mean I, when we first talked about it, I knew about the movie but I hadn’t, but it had been a long time since I’d seen it and I read the first 2 scripts and was just bowled over and just thought they were absolute magic. It was brilliant, I’d never read anything that was so … you couldn’t wait to turn the page and find out what happened next and at the same time you were splitting your sides laughing
MUSIC BREAK
STEVE: Back with Anthony Head and you can see Anthony Head on stage as Captain Hook in Peter Pan from December 15th….
TONY: Arrrrrrrrrrr
STEVE: and then as the Pirate King at the same theatre in the Pirates of Penzance from January 6th. So you’ve got a before Christmas and after Christmas. Currently he’s rehearsing both…
TONY: He IS rehearsing…
STEVE: And it’s at the Savoy Theatre.
TONY: What we are actually trying to do is Captain Hook, completely different image, never been seen before. Basically the hook is going to be something more along the lines of Freddie Krueger and Edward Scissorhands.
STEVE: Oh really?
TONY: Yes, It’s like this is trying to update the image … its not like the old King Charles curls and all that, it’s gonna be dreads and it’s gonna be…
STEVE: Seriously?
TONY: Yeah, yeah, it’s gonna be like…
OTHER: Interesting…
TONY: Its just taking what JM Barrie describes and sort of turning it a little bit and I mean the idea is…
STEVE: He’s a bit Goth, he’s a bit dark, he’s a bit…
TONY: He’s a serious gothic pirate who basically likes to dandify himself so basically what that is is like he throws some powder on his face and sort of is the biz.
OTHER: So actually he’s really quite nasty -this is not pantomime caricature stuff.
TONY: Absolutely. This is definitely not pantomime caricature stuff.
STEVE: How did it happen for you in America? Was it the coffee ads?
TONY: They got me out there, I mean basically, it got me out there because here it kind of took the edge off my tv and film career basically I got lots of offers for plays but because I had such a high profile… and so I was thinking "what am I going to do now?" And we sort of talked about it as a family and because it had opened doors in America it was like, this is when you do it - you go and see what happens and take the bull by the horns and go for it. And we went out as family for a holiday and I got an Agent and then we all came back and then I went back out, came back again and then I went back out and I went backwards and forwards several times and it was very much this is the decision let’s see if we can do it. There was one point when I was out there for a couple of months, kind of twiddling my thumbs, thinking "oh god I’ve made a huge mistake" and Sarah, my partner, said "go and do classes, find out what they do, how the Americans do it", so I did that. Then I got a gig and did a Fox show called VR5 and then I came back and then I went back, so it wasn’t just like "here you are, here’s Buffy". I mean I actually, I’d always wanted to do a show that would be seen here, because it has been known before now that English actors go out there, do a series that runs for five years and it’s not seen here and you come back and nobody knows who the hell you are and you’ve got to resurrect…
STEVE: Start all over again
TONY: Start all over again. Little did I imagine what it would be…
STEVE: It’s mega isn’t it?
TONY: Oh it’s unbelievable. The thing that is wonderful about it is that it’s a cult show in itself which is a great thing which means it’s got street cred and at the same time it’s critically acclaimed. So you’ve got both ends of the scale … you’ve got people who actually take it seriously and say that this is brilliant writing and at the same time it’s hip …so I mean it’s like what could be better?
STEVE: Can it be revisited from your point of view
TONY: I don’t think the same show. I think … before the end they talked about a number of ideas for spin-offs and I’m very glad that everything kind of went "no it’s not good enough" because I think anything that followed directly on would have been viewed with a view to "Its not as good as Buffy". It just doesn’t happen that way. But I mean there are a couple of ideas out there. Joss has talked about a spin-off for me that we would shoot here which we might do, you know, it’s about my character and we might start off with a two hour movie sometime.
STEVE: And are you back here for good now?
TONY: Yeah, I’m going backwards and forwards, I mean my American Agents want me to go back out for pilot season and at the same time something very nice, little offers are coming in, there was an offer for something that might start in May here. I’m in such an enviable place at the moment; it’s just wonderful.
STEVE: And what about Little Britain? You know there was the kind of buzz for "The Office", there’s a bit of a buzz about Little Britain isn’t there?
TONY: Yeah, it’s just brilliant stuff. It’s got you laughing hasn’t it?
OTHER I was just thinking of the stage hypnotist … that’s my favourite character.
TONY: Matt and David, I think they are absolute geniuses, they are brilliant, and it’s so refreshing to see comedy like that. It was such fun. I’d play one character - I’m the straight man - I’m the Prime Minister and its just what goes on around him. But they’re also, they’re so receptive to ideas and it’s lovely you can throw something in and they go "yeah!" and they’re not remotely, they haven’t… sort of…. I don’t know…
OTHER: Big time yet?
TONY: Well even …well they are getting big time and I think they will still be receptive because they’re such lovely guys.
STEVE: And that’s because of the great way the BBC is funded … I think.
OTHER: And the way the BBC works …first seen on BBC3.
STEVE: Yeah, first seen on BBC3 and then…
TONY: Well that’s it and I mean I have to say that’s an experiment that seems to be working, I mean to stop BBC2 making comedy shows and to throw all the comedy over onto BBC3…I mean people are … I mean I’m actually thinking "I’ve got to get BBC3 because I’m missing stuff"
STEVE: There’s another one "four non-blondes" that’s pretty good, have you seen that?
TONY: No, I’ve read about it though.
STEVE: It’s pretty good. Now listen let’s talk about you for a sec. You can see Tony - Anthony Head - on stage as Captain Hook in Peter Pan from December 15th and as the Pirate King in the Pirates of Penzance from January 6th and Buffy’s on tonight 6.45 over on BBC2 and give our very best to the cast and everything, might come down and see you.
TONY: I will…do.
STEVE: Is it going to be a frightening experience for me?
TONY: I think you can handle it, Steve…
STEVE: Thanks Tony that’s very kind of you. Anthony Head - good luck with it. Merry Christmas to you.