SW = Steve Wright

ASH = duh!

*** claps ***

SW: Let me set this up for you …Can I just say …

ASH: You do that for real. The clapping is real!

SW: Yeh, you like that, don’t you?

ASH: I always thought you stick a little tape in

SW: No, it’s for real. Hey wait a minute - aren’t you the guy out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

ASH: Strangely, I am.

SW: Oh my goodness. It’s that guy … the intelligent looking guy - I’m just setting it up for you Tony. He’s the intelligent-looking guy with the glasses. He’s Anthony Head - used to be in the coffee Ads - he’s the coffee ad guy - so, here he is, he’s in the coffee ads and I’m watching the coffee Ads one year, the next year I’m there in America, up comes Buffy the Vampire Slayer and there’s Tony Head who used to do the Tasters Choice/Nescafe or whatever it was, I don’t know and there he is, so how long have you been doing Buffy now

ASH: **laughs**

SW: How was that? That was very good.

ASH: I was deeply impressed. … but then I am easily impressed.

SW: You’re all set up now.

ASH: I am but I don’t know where to go **laughs** I’ve been doing it for about 5 years.

SW: 5 years. Now did you move to Los Angeles, Tony?

ASH: No, basically the idea was to commute. It is the longest commute in the history of mankind and I chose not.. . as a family group we chose not to sort of move everybody out lock, stock and barrel. We have a very, very nice home out near Bath and so the kids and my missus stay there and I basically commuted to LA and what I’ve recently done is I’ve sort of changed the balance back, because it became about me working and living there and commuting back home which didn’t make any sense so now I’ve taken a little bit of a back seat on the show and now I’m based here and I’m commuting out there - which is what it should be.

SW: Remind me what you are in it? You’re kind of a thinking guy aren’t you?

ASH: I am the Watcher which is Buffy’s mentor. It’s basically, it’s like, you know, the grown-up who gets to do all the exposition and says "now everybody this is what we’re doing this week" because you can get lost very easily and I also do the voiceover at the beginning of the show which says "previously on Buffy" ***laughs***

SW: Nice work

ASH: Just in case you don’t know what you’re doing. No, but I don’t get paid for that which is really sad.

SW: I don’t want to know that. What do I want to know that for?

ASH: It’s one of those things you think: "oh, I’ll get a residual every week" , no, no, you don’t - its part of your gig.

SW: You’re in every show, aren’t you? You’re in every show.

ASH: Well not now but I have been for 5 years. I’ve gone from a series regular to a recurring role.

SW: So why would that be?

ASH: That’s just because I wanted to come home, because I wanted to spend more time with my kids and my family.

SW: Were the Buffy people upset about that?

ASH: Joss Whedon who is the creator and the person that we all …

SW: Bow down to.

ASH: Bow down to and worship massively. Basically, when I said "Look, can I leave?" He said "No I don’t want you to leave but do less, basically, I don’t want to kill you off." Even if you’re killed off on Buffy it doesn’t mean you go because you can always come back as a ghost.***giggles****.

SW: You can’t kill vampires, can you?

ASH: No, no you can’t.

SW: You’re not a vampire though?

ASH: I’m not a vampire - they could make me a vampire and then I’d keep coming back. Basically, we’re talking … we’re talking with the BBC about a spin-off show for me. Joss was here for three years in his formative years - he was at school here at Winchester - and he loved the BBC Production, he loves BBC Drama so he’s basically approached the BBC. He’s got a series called either "Ripper" which is my sort of nickname in the show or the "Watcher" which is my role and it’s gonna be kind of .. his brief was "Cracker with ghosts" basically.

SW: Great so it’s gonna be kind of a spin-off but made partly in Britain.

ASH: Made ALL in Britain. We’re setting up a production team now. He’s written the first episode and I’m pitching a couple and we trying to put some writers together and, you know, the BBC actually when he said "Do you want this?" they said "Yep, can we have it now?" But he’s been a bit busy he’s doing a film I think in the new year and we’ve just finished doing a musical episode so …

SW: So this is how it happened: you were doing the coffee ads - I mean you’re a jobbing actor of course - but you were doing the coffee ads and then the ads got picked up in America and did they dub your voice?

ASH: No, no, no I was American.

SW: Oh, you were American

ASH: I was American.

SW: Oh god ***ASH laughs*** you were smooth enough as a Brit!

ASH: I know, I know, I know, he was sickeningly smooth! And I did keep trying to build in you know human flaws like there was one episode where the lift doors shut and I managed to do one of those things where you just trying to sort of lean forward as the **makes weird noise***

SW: Make you kind of more vulnerable …

ASH: Well, yes! Because he was sickeningly smooth, I must admit you know but, um, we pulled the Campaign here because it was having an interesting effect on my career but there they eventually pulled it because it did very well for everyone else’s coffee but uh ***laughs***. People were saying at the time "the Maxwell House campaign?" No, it’s Tasters Choice, alright? But um I was just going to say that the thing about change brings me to the thing I came on to talk about

SW: Can I talk about that in a minute?

ASH: Oh go on then.

SW: Stay there - the Buffy guys here.

ASH: He’s breaking off!

Part two:

SW: We’re here with Anthony Head - you all now Anthony from the Tasters Choice and the Maxwell House coffee ads and then of course he went to America and he became a huge star there but now He’s …

ASH: You see I put Maxwell House in your mind, you see?

SW: I got it wrong it was Gold Blend wasn’t it?

ASH: Yes, it was Gold Blend.

SW: No it was Foldgers (?)

ASH: No it was Tasters Choice. Ohh you see this is where it all went hideously wrong.

SW: You’re talking American brands now … so how did you make the leap from the coffee ads to Buffy - was there a direct link between those two?

ASH: No, none at all. Basically we had to do something because my career here was … it was sort of … I was doing a lot of plays on the circuit and I was coming into the West End a couple of times, did something at the National Theatre and it was great, it was all very good but in terms of TV and film my Agent was getting things like "this is a serious drama we don’t want people reaching for their coffee jars." Sarah, my other half, and I sort of we sat down and said well lets take advantage of it because it was a big success in America - lets see if we can, you know, change the way people perceive you. Go over there and open up the market place and so I went over there and I hung out for a couple of months and did the pilot season and all the stuff that you do and sort of twiddled my thumbs for a while and basically Sarah … I was sitting on the phone saying "what can I do? I don’t know what to do? Shall I come home?" and she said "go and take classes, there’s no point in just sitting there waiting for something to happen, put something out and see what comes back." And I went and found a teacher - at the time I was looking to change, a change in the way I perceive myself and the way the world perceived me and the way the industry perceived me here and his whole thing was about change: the only thing that stops you from being who you want to be and what you want to be is yourself. And you can change that but change is the hardest thing, certainly for an adult to envisage, for a child its something, you know but as you get older you become more imprinted you have less choices about what you do with yourself and your life.

SW: It’s because you’re less confident though

ASH: Absolutely but there are various things, also you tend to get, well this is me, this is who I am, so accept me for what I am or …

SW: failings and all

ASH: Yep, failings and all.

SW: Or forget it basically.

ASH: Yeh and something that Sarah said to me "you can change, you don’t have to be rooted in the person you are and there are things about you that are not necessarily working." **laughs** like I really used to have a short fuse with the kids and I needed to find out why and what that was about and it was actually about pressure and you know trying to get them out for School and I used to "GO! GO!"

SW: Could you just write down then what changes you made in order to turn yourself into a big TV star in America - we’re just gonna make notes. We’ll make notes and copy that.

ASH: **laughs*** as it happens doing this class. Basically, Miltons whole thing was you can be anything you want to be and do anything you want to do what you have to do is stop stopping yourself and part of the thing about Centrepoint is that they give young people, the homeless people a chance to change the way they perceive themselves.

SW: Well, that’s nicely linked. Centrepoint is a fund raising campaign, the "Who wants to be Celebrity Challenge" is the thing that you’re involved in. It’s a charity that cares for the young Homeless, its been established over 30 years and it provides young people of all backgrounds with emergency medium and long-term accommodation. Is that right?

ASH: Yes, but also one of the things they’re campaigning about is the fact that education is something you can offer to homeless kids and give them the chance to choose for themselves and get back into the system. So there’s 3 things they’re trying to set up with the challenge: One is the Centrepoint Challenge is that you do something bizarre or that is challenging ..

SW: Who does it? Celebritites or regular people?

ASH: Everybody and I’m going to get round to you Steve and see if we can find something that you could do.

SW: That’s very nice, Anthony. Thank you.

ASH: Don’t feel any pressure at all.

SW: No, none at all while we’re on the air.

(OTHER VOICE): See if you can get him to put his hand in his pocket and buy a round of drinks?

SW: I won’t do it.

ASH: No, I don’t think that’s going to do it. You see the idea is that you can raise £1000 - its an attainable figure - anything over that is gravy. Ultimately Centrepoint is looking to raise £1million. We can, as individuals, if we do something that is a challenge to us. Chris Tarrant is going to remain silent for 24 hours ***laughs****.

SW: That’s impossible

ASH: That’s a hell of a challenge, lets face it.

SW: How is that possible? That will be a miracle.

ASH: We stand back in amazement. And I - they set up a class, an acting class, on the Monday we did this thing and to be honest, all I did, it was there in my name, but there were some kids from the local drama group that we did sort of strange exercises and I sort of felt guilty because it was like you know people who come to see me in some way and I’ve never taught drama in my life. Using my teacher in LA as a model, God help me, I’m going to try and set up a Masterclass with my old drama school, LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art).

SW: So you’re hoping to raise a million

ASH: Theres a website for that and that’s: www.centrepointchallenge.org.uk

SW: As star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I think you’re perfect to do this because people will know who you are and they know what you’re up to and you know enough people in the business …

ASH: Who am I?

SW: And you’re a big star and, no seriously, I think its good work that you’re doing here.

ASH: Thank you - I came on board and I kind of just got caught up in it and its blinding.

SW: And its very nice to meet you and we’ll see you next time, okay?

ASH: Marvellous

SW: There he goes it’s the guy from Buffy, Tony Head, good luck with that.

ASH: Thank you.