Lunch in LA with Anthony Stewart Head: how could we resist?
David Richardson meets the man who watches over Buffy, as the show returns for Season Four

If you can’t wait for the next episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, just bear in mind that you are not alone. Even Anthony Stewart Head, who stars as the now-disgraced Watcher Rupert Giles, admits that he looks forward to each story with mounting enthusiasm.

“I can’t wait to get the scripts because it’s always an exciting read,” he enthuses. “It makes me laugh. I still get the same buzz that I got when I first read the pilot script. I remember I was sitting in a restaurant thumbing through it and desperately turning over the page to find out what happens and just laughing out loud.”

It’s obvious, as Xposé meets with Head at a restaurant in Beverly Hills, that this is a man who remains unaffected by the trappings of Hollywood and celebrity. A down to Earth Brit, the actor divides his time between his own country (where his family still live) and Los Angeles, where Buffy is filmed. And this eclectic lifestyle all resulted from a cup of coffee, with a run of famous commercials for Taster's Choice and Nescafé Gold Blend. These allowed Head to secure an agent and seek work in Hollywood...

A spin-off from the maligned movie, Buffy The Vampire Slayer began life in 1996 as an untransmitted 20-minute presentation for the WB network. Looking back to those early days, Head recalls his first meeting with leading lady Sarah Michelle Gellar at the audition. “She said afterwards, ‘I couldn’t believe it – I’m sitting next to the coffee guy!” he laughs. “She was testing for the role of Cordelia and they said, ‘Try this [the role of Buffy]!’ It was very cool.”