Jsfx1

The Spike Who Loved Me

He was voted Best Actor by you lot. He's the coolest vampire badass on TV. He's James Marsters and he's been talking to Jayne Dearsley.

He's the Big Bad in a leather coat. The bleached god of all things undead. The scheming nemesis of Buffy and all her friends. He's Spike, the Vampire Slayer Slayer. He's the coolest bad guy of all time... but his biggest secret has just been revealed. Before he got bitten, he was a nerd.

"He's one of us!" James Marsters cries, impersonating all those folk out there who resemble Early Spike, hopefully not encouraging them to follow in his dastardly footsteps. Yep, it's true. In one of the latest season five episodes of Buffy, "Fool For Love", Spike is revealed to have been a budding poet with flowing locks and spectacles - a far cry from the fists and fangs of the Spike we know and love.

"That was a scary episode, actually," he muses. "Until then, the character had been set up pretty much as 100% cool, and we found out that he is, in fact, not that at all, but that he actually made himself. And I was concerned that we were undercutting Spike's 'cool' for comic effect for a year now, with his Hawaiian shirt and the jokes and stuff like that. What I hadn't copped onto was that Joss [Whedon] was leading me from cardboard villain to a fleshed out person. That script, when I read that he was an absolute fop... you know, it took me about 24 hours to change gears. Then they gave me the full script and I realised how it fit within the story that was being told and I thought it was brilliant, I was so excited!"

He also has a message for anyone yet to see the latest season. "You'll get enough of Spike," he warns. "I hope you don't get sick of him, because he's always around!" The chances are pretty remote, seeing as Spike is as much a part of the never-ending Buffy phenomenon as the Slayer herself. Nowadays, an episode doesn't seem complete without an obligatory Spike-ism, that poisonous comment guaranteed to draw a laugh from the audience but a scowl from its victim, accompanied by the bleached vampire's cocky glare and smug, satisfied smirk. Since returning to Sunnydale in the show's fourth season, Spike has captured the hearts of critics and audiences alike, failing only to capture the heart of Buffy herself. Marsters is happy to discuss his role, aware that telly rarely throws up such a dark and evilly comic a character as this. Or, for that matter, one that defines the very concept of "coolness".

"I don't think that 'cool' is interesting to Joss," Marsters states, thoughtfully. "I think that he can set up cool within 45 seconds, effortlessly, but it's usually a set-up for something more interesting, something more human, something that has to do with vulnerability and getting humbled by life. That's why he's a good writer. I love him to death."

Filled with an almost evangelical worship for both his character and the world Spike inhabits, James Marsters doesn't see Buffy as your average TV show. Instead, he sees it as something special - a cut above the rest, hidden within a package that only the canniest of audiences can penetrate. "The vampires are really just a sideshow," he explains, fervently. "It's just a magic trick, so that the jester - Joss - can speak about issues more directly than other straight drama genres can. Party Of Five could never talk about the issues that we do. We have tackled incest, we have tackled gay relationships, we have tackled subjects no-one else can touch. 'Cos, you know, we can always say, 'Hey, it's just vampires! Just kidding!'"

But isn't that annoying for him as an actor, working on a series that mainstream audiences find hard to take seriously? He shrugs off the stigma, believing that viewers have the intelligence to decide for themselves. "I think that that's the beautiful thing about the name of the show. Joss is such a rebel! He is daring you to be stupid not to check it out when he called it Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You know? I'm serious! Unless you have an open mind, go watch Jag!"

Marsters good-naturedly downplays the importance of coming third as Sexiest Male in the latest SFX Readers Poll ("Who beat me? Sipowicz, from NYPD Blue?"), but is pleased to hear that readers voted him Best TV Actor. "Really, that's fabulous!" he says, with the enthusiasm of a man who's just been told that he's won the lottery. "Wow, that's really wonderful. Thank you!" This accolade clearly means more than the others, seeing as it reflects his talent as opposed to simple sexiness. However, he's quick to acknowledge the transient nature of such any actor's success; after having joined the show as a "bit" part, fame was slow in coming. "You know what? Support actors and regular actors are exactly the same people, only at different times of their careers," he points out, as though he's given the matter a lot of thought. "I'm in the fat part of my career. Careers go in cycles, and this is the fattest cycle I've ever had."

Those people plugged into the Buffy rumour mill may have thought that his cycle was coming to an end a few months ago. A hornet's nest of whisperings began to circulate pondering the vampire's impending demise: possibly at the hands of a jealous Riley (Marc Blucas), outraged that the blond bad guy had developed a crush on his missus. What could have been a sticky end for Spike was, in reality, a clever ploy to divert attention from the fact that Marc Blucas was leaving the series. When reminded of this, Marsters laughs heartily and heaps yet more congratulations on his pal, the almighty Whedon.

"That's Joss again," he smiles. "He loves that. He's a trickster! He threw a big disinformation campaign about how I got cast in the next M Night Shyamalan movie. That was a very kind rumour!" Unfortunately, he wasn't sure what to make of the fan reactions to his demise. "I think what was found out was that the fans felt I was moving onto better things, and they wouldn't miss me. That was disconcerting. I was hoping for a firestorm! But that was all to take away from the fact Riley was leaving."

It's no secret that Marc Blucas' exit from Sunnydale was sudden, despite the legions of Riley-hating viewers who called for his removal. Marsters recalls consoling his colleague during his last few days, admiration and sympathy evident in his voice. "He's scored some huge films. I told him he would. He was all worried about leaving the show and I was like, 'Dude, you have no idea where you're gonna end up!'" As to the future of Agent Finn, now chasing demons somewhere in South Africa with his Initiative buddies, Marsters is philosophical. "I don't think Riley's dead. I think that nobody's ever really gone from Buffy. It all depends on his increasingly busy film schedule."

The departure of Buffy's boyfriend has, of course, left the door open for the lovesick Spike to pounce. After giving up on trying to kill the Slayer in every episode, the suddenly amorous vampire has taken to stealing her underwear and sniffing her sweaters, hopelessly attracted to his worst enemy. Asked whether the future could hold another vampire/Slayer courtship for the show, Marsters cackles devilishly and teasingly refuses to spill the gossip. "Later we're gonna have another good - oh my god! - good excuse to have Sarah and I canoodling. Oh yeah!" He won't go any further, but the glee in his tone conveys just how happy he is with the recent turn of events. Did he, by any chance, offer Joss Whedon a bribe in order to secure snogging opportunities? Marsters good-naturedly shakes off the accusation. "No... I think that [Joss] is finally seeing the world through Spike's eyes, and this is his vicarious fantasy. I think that the fans have been calling for that from the very beginning. I think that [the writers] have been finding ways to get Sarah and I together in kind of a fantasy way, so we've had an alternate reality inflicted by Willow - that was in 'Something Blue' - then we had a dream sequence earlier this season."

Spike's new obsession has so far managed to walk the fine line between comedy and tragedy. Spike himself has walked that tightrope for a while now, by turns the show's comedian and then its nastiest villain. Somehow, through it all, he has retained that all-important "cool", constantly delighting audiences before reminding them exactly how bad the Big Bad can be. After such a juicy role, where does Marsters see himself in the future? Is he worried that he'll be typecast by Spike's success? He takes a moment to consider the question, clearly unbothered by the implications. "Typecast as the cool guy?" he queries. "I think that without the blond hair and the English accent, I can transform into something almost unrecognisable. Yeah. I think that if there's still a career in Hollywood, that would be nice, but if not then I'll go back and do stage like I did for ten years before I moved down here."

Until then, he's more than happy. "I am currently drinking very good coffee in the middle of my wonderful kitchen, listening to Charlie Parker, and I couldn't be more pleased with myself!" he says expansively. "You SO wish you were me!"