Anthony Head

British actor Anthony Head is always getting involved with the spirit world in some way or other.

As Giles the Watcher in the cult hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he was an expert on demonology and acted as a guardian to Buffy, the role that made Sarah Michelle Gellar famous.

Now, as the host of the new five-part Discovery Channel documentary ’True Horror’ which makes its debut on June 14, he leads a team to investigate the truth behind vampirism, zombies, witchcraft and werewolves.

But it’s not only in his line of work that the 51-year-old Head has to deal with the supernatural. In the home that he shares with his partner Sarah Fisher and two daughters, there is a ghost making its presence known.

"There’s a little girl who used to live in my house. Sometimes she calls out and bangs on the floor. But she’s a lovely spirit and there’s a benevolent feeling about the house," he told a group of Asian journalist over the phone from his home in Somerset, England.

"But what man does to man in the name of belief is far scarier than any horror movie. In Haiti, they use forms of voodoo to mete out justice. If they feel someone has been wronged, they go to a priest and ask him to do something to that person."

Head sounds every bit as wise as Giles, only he’s far more affable - he doesn’t lose his patience with a Malaysian journalist who repeatedly asked questions he had already answered earlier in the hour-long conversation - and the laughs come easy for him.

When Head left the cast of Buffy in its penultimate season, there were rumours that Buffy’s creator Joss Whedon was set on creating a spin-off series for Giles called Ripper. Ripper was the wild alter ego of Giles when he was younger. But that project hasn’t taken off yet, despite anticipation from fans.

"When we spoke about it, Joss didn’t want it to become an hour-long show that would go down the route of Angel. He wanted to get into the psyche of Giles, which fascinated him. Giles is this strange lonely man that never finds what he’s looking for."

And despite having played Giles role for seven years, Head still has no idea what Giles is looking for.

"That’s the crux of the issue isn’t it? I don’t think Giles knows what he’s looking for either, that’s the problem," he said with a laugh.

The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts-trained Head is the first to admit that Buffy "wasn’t exactly Shakespeare".

Nonetheless, Head had a good time working on the show, and formed a close relationship with the cast. In fact, he hangs out with Gellar and Alyson Hannigan (who played Willow) whenever they come to London.

"We did some pretty cracking stuff. It’s quite extraordinary that after seven years we’re still friends. It was such a good show that we came out of it still wanting to talk to each other." - TODAY