For six years, Spike was the ultimate Buffy bad boy. He was a leather-clad vamp whose razor-sharp put-downs- and couldn’t care less demeanour set him apart from the show’s more well-meaning characters. But, by the time he was ‘toasted and ghosted’ in the show’s apocalyptic finale, Chosen, it seemed as if the blond blood sucker had been through just about everything.
How wrong could we be?
Resurrected for Angel’s new-look fifth season, Spike has taken the corridors of Wolfram & Hart by storm. From barely escaping the jaws of oblivion to swapping body blows with Angel in Destiny, the character’s rediscovered zest for life is there for all to see.
One person who’s particularly delighted to see Spike back in action is his real-life alter-ego, James Marsters. dreamwatch catches up with the popular actor to hear in his own words why he’s still undead and loving it…

Dreamwatch: How does working on Angel compare with working on Buffy?
I’m having more fun that I ever had in this universe. I had a lot of fun with Buffy, but I’m having even more fun on Angel.

After brooding his way through much of Buffy’s seventh season, Spike seems to have really rediscovered his zest for life on Angel. Are you enjoying playing the character more this year?
Totally, because I tend to internalise the character. I really feel like you have to have that inside and not worry about what’s showing, and then te camera’s going to document you really feeling it.
During the scenes over on Buffy where Spike was depressed, I really was depressed. I had gotten myself into a state of mind that was bad. Probably no therapist would tell you that acting’s healthy. I got all my crying out on season six and seven of Buffy. I’m serious. I had to

dredge up every painful thing I could find and wring it dry. I don’t think I’ve had a cry since then. Not that I couldn’t use one – it just hasn’t come out. I was coming up and whipping myself with everything I felt guilty about during my whole life, because I was trying to approximate what it would feel like to wake up with a soul and have to face 120 years of mass murder.
On Angel, I’m basically functioning a lot like I did originally on Buffy, which means I’m grit in the ointment, and I get to just have fun making Angel’s life really dark. This is the interesting thing. You would think that after having gotten a soul that the character would take off in a whole new direction that we’ve never seen before. But this is the surprise – that he goes back to the beginning. This is more like the Spike that we originally saw – he’s having fun and making it hard for other people.