Character: Captain John Kieffer
Actor: Jay Benedict
Episode: Invasion, All Clear

Jay Benedict got his inspiration for Captain John Kieffer from classic American war movies.

"I was born in California and raised with all that. Saturday mornings for me were going to see war movies. Gavin Millar the director and I decided Kieffer was a cross between Henry Fonda and The Duke. He's also a bit like my old dad. He was in World War Two and wound up in the Philippines. He had all the ideals, like Kieffer."

Captain Kieffer leads a company of the 215th Engineers, part of the first wave of American soldiers who come to Britain to establish bases.

"He's a quiet American, a studied educated man and softly spoken. He has suffered tragedy because his brother went down on a ship and he has old-fashioned American values.

"It was great to get the haircut, though it's pretty short! Getting the uniform on does it for me every time. I've just played an American general for a French mini series about De Gaulle so I'm back in uniform again. In fact, since I've hit my 50s, I haven't been able to get out of uniform - captain, general, whatever - but long may these parts come in.

"I loved working with Michael Kitchen in Foyle's War. We were at the National together and he is a thoroughly decent chap and very easy to work with, low key and no fuss or starry business."

Although Jay was born in the USA, he has lived in England for 33 years.

"I've only played an English man twice in 33 years of living here, although I play Englishmen when I work abroad, strangely enough. Life is varied for me because I can work in French and Spanish, too, and I do a lot of co-productions because of my languages.

"When I'm not working I run an ADR loop group, providing re-voicing sessions for actors in French films. I can rewrite scripts in other languages and I've just translated a film called The Card Player into decent English for the cult Italian director Dario Argento."

Jay's other TV credits include Sharpe's Honour, Death Train, Harnessing Peacocks, Only Love and the films Saving Grace, Rewind, Carmen, The Russia House and Aliens.