BBC Plans New Buffy Spin-off
| THE BBC is planning to make a darker,
more adult spin-off of the American cult television series Buffy the Vampire
Slayer.
The show, provisionally called The Watcher, is being developed with Joss Whedon, the anglophile creator of Buffy, a show centred on the surreal adventures of Buffy and her friends. The BBC series will star Anthony Head, the English actor who plays Rupert Giles, the librarian, in the American show. As a "watcher" his job is to guide Buffy about dark forces and help her in her fight against evil. According to Head the show will be like Cracker with ghosts, and any demons will probably be of the personal variety. An English location for the spin-off would fit into Buffy lore, as the Watcher's Council, which monitors the activities of slayers, is based in England. Head is best known in Britain for his role in the Nescafé Gold Blend adverts. He left Los Angeles earlier this year to return to Bath, where he lives with his family. Making a spin-off based on Head's character in Buffy and basing the series in Britain was Whedon's idea. He plans six episodes of The Watcher, but American television companies prefer to buy up to 22-episode series. Head said the BBC might make the six episodes feature-length to get round this. Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays Buffy, met a violent demise at the end of series five. Head will appear in a few episodes of the next series, but will spend more time working in Britain. He said that after Buffy "died" he felt the time had come for him to return to England because he was missing his family so much. A spokesman for the BBC confirmed that discussions had taken place, but said the idea was "still embryonic" and that it was "very early days". Buffy already has a successful spin-off, Angel, set in Los Angeles, starring David Boreanaz as a 240-year-old vampire. It has done almost as well as Buffy here and in America. The Buffy series has come to an end on Sky TV following Buffy's demise, but BBC2 is still running series four. Head is also to star in a new BBC2 comedy show, Manchild, with Nigel Havers and Don Warrington. |
<< back