You can say that again. Like the ‘I am not Spock’ crisis of the seventies, Tony Head has a problem of being confused with his character.

When people ask, are you anything like Giles? Tony answers with, "Uh, no. Not an enormous amount. I'm not very intelligent, don't read a lot and don't stammer. And I dress a little funkier than Giles." Try silk shirts, jeans and an silver jewelry. Even Tony’s co-stars have had their share of double-takes when seeing him in ‘non-Giles mode.’ "The first time I ever saw Tony," says Charisma Carpenter who plays Cordelia, "he had an earring in, and he was dressed in baggy pants and converse high tops. He’s very hip and very cool and nothing like his character."

Does this mean he’s tired of playing the stodgy watcher from across the sea? Certainly not. For Tony, most of the fun comes from giving people a shock when they see him off camera. "I turned up for this photo shoot for the WB and I was kind of funked out. The makeup man gave me this look as though he thought I’d had sex all weekend or something. He said, ‘wow, you’ve got a spark in your step’. Then someone said, that’s how he is normally. He’s not Giles you know."

Now if you really want to talk shock value, take a peak at Tony’s photo album from his days in the theater. That’s him all done up in a wild wig, lacy teddy and fishnet stockings, all for the part of Frank ‘N Furter in the London stage version of Rocky Horror.

Tony talks about coveting the role, "When I first saw a couple of productions, the show was a few years on. I saw Tim (Curry), and he was brilliant and I saw these Franks frightened of their own sexuality. I saw one that was like Mrs. Thatcher which is bizarre and very frightening for all the wrong reasons. Either they made the character very butch, and stomped around, as a slightly pale imitation of Tim, or they made it camp. I thought, what these guys were missing is that both sexes should be attracted to Frank and a little scared by him too. I remembered when I first saw Tim, I felt uncomfortable, it didn't turn me on, but there was something extremely cool about it. So, I thought for the first time, I could do this. Then, I want to do this. So I audition, get the gig and here I am in rehearsal, and it’s time to do the first entrance, suddenly it’s ‘oh god, now, I've got to do it’. Whoops."

He needn’t have worried. Tony was a smash hit as the Sweet Transvestite belting out the tunes, putting hecklers down with a single glance and earning himself the fan-given title of the Sexiest Frank to hit the stage. But not everyone was enamored with the roll.

"There was a friend of ours from Bath (Tony’s home town), very down to earth, forthright girl, knows me very well -- couldn't talk to me. Came backstage to the dressing room and could NOT talk to me until I took off the makeup. Her jaw dropped to the floor when she first saw me, and she kept saying ‘But you're such a nice man’. Cause I'm fairly wicked as Frank, I’ve always thought of him as a little demon. He's a dirty little soul who will do anything that it takes to make it with someone. Doesn't matter which sex."

Sex? That’s a dirty word on Buffy it seems. Not that it’s not allowed, but hey, Buffy did it and her boyfriend turned into one of those things that goes ‘bump in the night’. And poor Giles, finally thought he was going to dish the dirt with his new girlfriend, Ms. Calendar and she ends up dead in his bed. Is there no justice in Sunnydale? Maybe as the some fans would have it, Giles needs to have a romantic tryst with his slayer. What does Tony think? "I think I would be arrested." But he does admit that there was a time when the thought was in question. "In the beginning, the moral police used to measure the space between me and Sarah (Buffy star Sarah Michelle Geller). They had to be sure there wasn’t any misinterpretation of our relationship. But now that’s changed because our relationship is established. It's much more father and daughter. Make that Uncle, cause I am actually too young.....yeah Uncle. Benevolent Uncle."

Are you sure Tony? "That ain't ever gonna happen and shouldn't. It really shouldn't." Ah, never say never on the Hellmouth, and maybe all we really need is a good old fashioned hug.

"The trouble with hugging is that Giles is not a very tactile person. I mean, I used to watch my father with my mother and bless his heart he's a very sweet man, but he's not hugely tactile and there is a bit of my father in Giles. His answer to putting his arm around mum and giving her a hug was to sort of rub her back a bit and that's it. Personally, I'm a very tactile person and I'll give anybody a hug...and happily. And it's not a sexual thing, I like contact. And I do actually hug men and have been known to kiss men on the cheek which surprises Americans to no end."

There he goes shocking people again. Have to warn him about that. Don’t be shocking Tony, be Giles.