Character: Rex Talbot
Actor: Mark Umbers
Episode: Among the Few

Mark Umbers loved playing air force hero Rex Talbot - even though his plane never left the ground.

"I spent a lot of time in the Spitfire, which was so great. I had to run into the cockpit for a scramble in my helmet and mouthpiece. It was difficult because I'm about three feet too tall. We have skies projected on to a screen and it looks like I am flying. My dream is to go up in one.

"My father is obsessed with Spitfires and I gave him a flight up in one as a present for his 60th birthday. He was dead jealous that I was going to be working in one and I'm sure he'll be watching the episode closely. He also gave me lots of research and information about the war."

Mark describes Rex as a 1940s version of alpha male.

"He is an ace pilot, one of a very brave group of men who believe in old fashioned values and stick up for each other. He has a beautiful girlfriend and appears to be pretty conventional.

"Rex flies with Andrew Foyle and they are old school friends. He always defends Andrew and in one scene gets involved in a brawl. I was told to run into the middle of the bar, flatten Damian O'Hare and then spin around and pull off this guy who was punching Julian Ovenden. It was great.

"I loved playing Rex and I was determined not to give anything away. I got to wear the original uniform, complete with mothballs. When the make-up artists gave us all a severe parting, we looked like our grandfathers!"

As well as 'flying', Mark also had to dance.

"I had to learn the foxtrot, but I'd just done a play called The Vortex at the Donmar Warehouse, where I had been foxtrotting for four months so it was ingrained in my brain. I moved from the 1920s in The Vortex to the 1940s for Foyle's War."

Twenty-nine-year-old Mark studied Classics at Oxford University and portrayed the role of Freddie Eynsford-Hill in the National Theatre and West End production of My Fair Lady. His other television credits include Midsomer Murders, The Merchant of Venice, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Silent Witness and The Student Prince.

"I also have an agent in America and I am going out to Los Angeles for a holiday and a bit of work - I'd just like to see what it's like out there."

October 2003; Publicity Release