Character: Guy Spencer
Actor: Charles Dance
Episode: The White Feather

Charles Dance rose to the challenge of playing Hitler-supporter Guy Spencer - a man whom he claims has no redeeming features.

"He's a fascist, racist and deeply unpleasant man. I've played more romantic leading men than I'd care to mention and there is nothing of that in Guy Spencer. I couldn't empathise with him at all.

"To play him, I just had to pretend very well. For those moments, you have to believe what you're saying and get inside the skin of the character to make the words sound as if they are coming from your own heart, otherwise no-one else will believe it. But once you've finished the scene, you walk away."

Guy Spencer is the leader of The Friday Club and persuades injured Sergeant Paul Milner (Anthony Howell) to attend one of their meetings.

"Milner is curious about it at first, but the sort of bigotry that Spencer demonstrates pretty soon shows Milner that he's not a follower of this man or his kind."

Charles believes the issues raised by the film still have relevance today.

"Nationalism unfortunately raises its ugly head in every generation somewhere in the world and there are a lot of people who still find views of people like Spencer attractive. When the divide between rich and poor gets greater, then people look around for scapegoats and they tend to be Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, blacks or other minorities. It goes on all over the place and it's horrible."

Charles was attracted by the chance to work with Michael Kitchen, who plays Foyle, and by the strength of Anthony Horowitz's writing.

"I was born in 1946, the year after the war ended, but my parents and relatives and their contemporaries were always talking about it - war stories and the Blitz spirit. It provides a great backdrop for Foyle's War. A lot of crime dramas are boring and formulaic but every now and again a couple rise to the top like cream. Hopefully this will be one of them."

Charles' many other screen credits include The Jewel in the Crown, Rebecca, First Born, Nicholas Nickleby and the feature films Hilary and Jackie, Michael Collins, Last Action Hero, Alien III, White Mischief, Plenty and For Your Eyes Only.

He recently shared the stage with Jessica Lange in a production of Eugene O'Neil's Long Days Journey Into Night and has also worked on two new feature films, Black and White, with Robert Carlyle, about a harrowing trial in Australia, and Swimming Pool alongside Charlotte Rampling. Charles has also written a screenplay that he hopes to direct next year.

September 2002; Publicity Release