During the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, creator/producer Joss Whedon began to realise that actor David Boreanaz – who was playing Buffy’s vampire-with-a-soul boyfriend, Angel – was an actor who had a big enough screen presence and fan base to carry his own series.
Consequently, at the end of Buffy’s traumatic third year, the tragic lovebirds realise that they will never be able to be together – not least because she’s mortal and he isn’t.
Unable to carry on living so near and yet so far from the woman he loves, Angel decides to leave Sunnydale for the rather more Stygian depths of Los Angeles.
Thus, one of the most popular and successful spin-off series ever was born.
Arriving in LA, Angel soon teams up with a half-demon called Doyle (Glenn Quinn), who regularly receives visions from ‘The Powers That Be’ of terrible events that will soon come to pass. Angel and Doyle then set off to protect the innocent and help the helpless.
Soon they are joined by Sunnydale’s very own queen bitch, Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), who’s down on her luck and trying, unsuccessfully, to become an actress.
Angel quickly realises that there is a massive power for evil lurking in the City of Angels – not a demon, not a monster, but an organisation of corrupt lawyers, Wolfram and Hart, who control the demons, monsters and vampires.
Beginning as a “monster-of-the-week” show, Angel soon evolved into a darker, more adult version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, boasting ongoing plotlines that spanned many episodes.
As Angel developed, other characters joined the team – streetwise gang member Gunn (J. August Richards), prissy Englishman (and Buffy alumnus) Wesley Wyndam-Price (Alexis Denisof), hyper-intelligent yet fragile Fred (Amy Acker), and Lorne (Andy Hallett), the green-skinned host of a demon karaoke bar (pictured at right).
Angel was even assisted by his own son, Connor (Vincent Kartheiser, pictured below), for a while – born from an unnatural coupling with beautiful vampire Darla,
For a lot of viewers, Angel was the equal of its parent show – in fact, there were times that the quality of the writing and acting in Angel surpassed that on display in Buffy, and Angel developed a cult following just as rabidly loyal.
Many Buffy fans switched to watch Angel when their own beloved show was cancelled in 2003 – not least because of the transfer to Angel of the fans’ favourite character, blonde vampire and Billy Idol lookalike, Spike (James Marsters).
Sadly – and surprisingly – after just one year of successfully surviving on its own merits, Angel was cancelled by the WB network in favour of an ultimately unrealised resurrection of 1960s vampire soap opera Dark Shadows.
Angel
David Boreanaz Cordelia Chase
Charisma Carpenter Doyle
Glenn Quinn Lindsey McDonald
Christian Kane Buffy Summers
Sarah Michelle Gellar Detective Kate Lockley
Elisabeth Rohm Spike
James Marsters Wesley Wyndam-Price
Alexis Denisof Darla
Julie Benz Lilah Morgan
Stephanie Romanov Faith
Eliza Dushku Charles Gunn
J. August Richards Holland Manners
Sam Anderson Lorne the Host
Andy Hallett Drusilla
Juliet Landau Harmony Kendall
Mercedes McNab Winfred ‘Fred’ Burke
Amy Acker The Grusalugg
Mark Lutz Daniel Holtz
Keith Szarabajka Skip the Demon
David Denman Gavin Park
Daniel Dae Kim Merl
Matthew James Sahjahn
Jack Conley Linwood Murrow
John Rubinstein Connor
Vincent Kartheiser Justine Cooper
Laurel Holloman Gwen Raiden
Alexa Davalos The Beast
Vladimir Kulich Jasmine
Gina Torres Knox
Jonathan Woodward Eve
Sarah Thompson Andrew Wells
Tom Lenk Cyvus Vail
Dennis Christopher Izzy
Mark Colson Marcus Hamilton
Adam Baldwin
You May Also Like
Nasty Boys 1 9 9 0 (USA) 14 x 60 minute episodes This routine NBC action series revolved around…
Adventures of The Seaspray 1 9 6 5 (Australia/USA) 32 x 30 minute episodes Widowed journalist Dan Wells (Walter Brown) is…
Consequently, at the end of Buffy’s traumatic third year, the tragic lovebirds realise that they will never be able to be together – not least because she’s mortal and he isn’t.
Angel quickly realises that there is a massive power for evil lurking in the City of Angels – not a demon, not a monster, but an organisation of corrupt lawyers, Wolfram and Hart, who control the demons, monsters and vampires.
For a lot of viewers, Angel was the equal of its parent show – in fact, there were times that the quality of the writing and acting in Angel surpassed that on display in Buffy, and Angel developed a cult following just as rabidly loyal.
