Demons starts tonight (ITV1, Saturday 3 January, 7.20pm) and I went along to the press launch last month. Along with the screening, there was an opportunity to chat to the cast afterwards, which meant seeing Philip Glenister hold court to dozens of journalists. As you might imagine, he’s friendly, charismatic and fun. In Demons Glenister plays Rupert Galvin, a demon hunter sent to London to make contact with Luke – a teenage boy who, as it turns out, is a descendent of the legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing. Over the jump, you’ll be able to read what he said about the part and the show, and what happened when Harvey Keitel rang him to talk Gene Hunt. Enjoy! (By the way, I’ll stick up the Zoe Tapper interview next week).

For all our Demons stuff, go here.

TV Scoop: Was the American accent your idea or was it something in the script?
Philip Glenister: He was written as a Texan originally and I thought bollocks to that, I’m not playing a Texan. They said I could play him as English, but I wanted to have the challenge of playing an American. It was quite funny, because they sent some of the rushes to Sony in New York and this email came back from them saying, “Philip Glenister’s accent is acceptable, but we find out more… Cincinnati.” So apparently I’m from Cincinnati, wherever that is.

TVS: It must be difficult finding new parts after gene Hunt. This is a great part. There are hints at being tough, but did you expect to come out with lines like, “I shall smite thee…”?
PG: No. Those sort of lines you have to say tongue-in-cheek to make it work onscreen, but I just used to add in little bits at the end. Mackenzie Crook’s character is called Gladiolus Thripp, so I had a line where I said: “I shall surely smite thee… Gladys.”

TVS: But you resisted the urge to say, “Fore up the Merc”…
PG: Hahaha! Yes. I’ll have to think of a new one for the Merc. “Make the Merc work”, or something.

TVS: Was part of the attraction of doing this so your eldest kids could watch it?
PG: I’ll try it out on Milly, but it is quite scary in places. Some of the CGI stuff and monsters are quite hairy, but if they’re going for that family slot – eight till nine – it’s a good pitch for it. My eldest daughter is much more resilient than I am. We watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang recently, and I remember being her age and being terrified by the child catcher. She’ll just sit there and she’s fine. I’ve always had this thing about noses, ever since I saw the witch in Snow White.

TVS: What was it like acting on green screens? Are you used to that?
PG: Fine really. That’s one of the things about doing something like this, you’re ready to act against green screens and nothing. You’d have a camera on a crane and we’d be filming at Borough Market or somewhere like that at midnight, and you’d have the lights where the monsters would be. So you’d have to react to that. Someone would be shouting, “And now run Rupert, run!” At that stage you end up thinking, “I’m 45 years of age, in Borough Market on a Tuesday night… what am I doing?” Then you see it all put together and it all looks fantastic.

TVS: Did you do many stunts during the shoot?
PG: I did a few of the stunts, actually. I should have made Christian do a lot more of them, he’s much younger and nimbler. We did a few of them. When I get breathed on by Mackenzie, I have to fly back over the car bonnet. They put this thing on you and there’s a crash mat, and there’s this countdown – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – boof! That was ok. I quite like doing them. As long as it doesn’t involve horses I’m alright. Why? Because they’re stupid. In a word. When we were doing Kingdom Of Heaven, there was a moment where the Spanish stunt guys were ruthless with the animals – they’d lob a stone at their arses to get them moving. We were in this enclosure and Ridley Scott aksed us if anyone didn’t want to do this feel free to put your hand up. It was like a Spartacus moment. I was the first to put up my hand, and then David Thewlis put up his hand and said, “I’m Spartacus”, and then all the main cast put their hands up.

TVS: Did you play Galvin as a father figure?
PG: Yeah, basically to Luke, Galvin is this strange, mysterious character who turns up in his life and doesn’t know why. So I think Galvin is an entity in his own right, and I’m not giving very much away to him. I’m harbouring a lot of information that I can’t tell Luke at this stage. Something happened in his life when he was very young that he doesn’t remember but I do, so I’m there to act as his surrogate father. It’s something that Galvin thinks he can’t throw on Luke straight away, otherwise it would freak him out too much.

TVS: He’s a very cool guy and a dude, how do you feel about becoming more of a sex symbol?
PG: I can’t possibly become more of a sex symbol than I already am! It’s impossible!

TVS: The villains in Demons are brilliantly theatrical, and look amazing…
PG: Yeah, they’re terrific. That was one of the appeals of doing it. I was reading the script and I saw the name Gladiolus Thripp and I was quite tempted to have a crack at that one; maybe I should play Gladiolus. The description of that character in the script was brilliant, and seeing what Mackenzie brings to it – he plays him like some ageing Teddy Boy.

TVS: We’ve heard that you and the character Luke are submerged in water in one scene. How was that?
PG: Not a barrel of laughs to be honest. We filmed that at Ealing Studios. The water wasn’t too bad to be honest, but the very final bit where we’re totally up to our necks in water. We were in a cage, so get out of it we had to swim under it. Because you can’t see very well, you panicked a bit. It was only a very short distance, but it was scary. But the hot tub by the side of the set was very nice. Do I want to go on I’m A Celebrity after all that? No, but it was a case of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of right here right now. And don’t get me out of here when we were in the Jacuzzi.

TVS: You must have had loads of high-profile offers after Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes. What kind of stuff do you turn down?
PG: If it’s too similar to a Gene Hunt role I’ll turn down. You know – copper, in the Seventies, initials are GH.

TVS: Harvey Keitel has been playing Gene in the American version of Life On Mars. Do you think he’s up to the role?
PG: I spoke to him actually. Me and Harvey, my new best friend. I didn’t realise he was playing the role and I was on holiday in the summer and I got a phone call from the guy who owns Kudos saying he was in New York for the read through and he said Harvey wanted to say hi. And I said Harvey who? He said Harvey Keitel, who is playing Gene Hunt. So there I am in Alderney in the Channel Islands, and I get this phone call a few hours later from Harvey. He was absolutely lovely. He said: “You bastard Phil, how am I going to follow you? You played the part too good! Any notes?” I said something very naff, something like, “It’s a wonderful part, just enjoy.” He said, “I’m wearing the white shoes as a homage to you my friend.” I’ve seen the first one, and it’s strange seeing the first one because it’s so similar to ours.

TVS: Is there any chance of you going over there and starring in that version?
PG: No. I’d be in the Priory for six months afterwards! I’d be walking the streets saying to myself, “I’m Gene Hunt… no I’m not, I’m Galvin… no Hunt”.

TVS: Do you worry that TV drama will be cut back in the credit crunch?
PG: Well, if you have an ambitious script you need an ambitious budget to make it happen. ITV, in particular, are doing some very strong stuff at the moment, especially the two and three-parters. Some really grown up stuff there. It’s always a worry, but it’s the same for every industry right now. The purse strings are always going to be pulled.

TVS: What’s next for you?
PG: I’m going to write a musical. No, not really. I’m half way through filming the second series of Ashes, and publicising this and my book. I had a nice break in the summer, writing my book.