Blood brother

IT’S a dog’s life for Sam Trammell, in sexy vampire series True Blood. But not all the time. His character, bar owner Sam Merlotte, has a supernatural secret – he sporadically turns into a dog.

“I really like that he is damaged person,”

says the actor. “I came from a very normal American family which is great, I don’t want to put it down, but Sam’s parents abandoned him when he was 14 because he turned into a dog and that is a real scar on him.

“It’s interesting to play someone like that, who has had to fend for themselves on the streets and who didn’t have parents.

Who knows how he found the money to buy the bar?

“That to me is the most interesting thing about Sam. More than the fact that he’s a shapeshifter, just the fact that he had a difficult childhood.”

Merlotte runs the bar in the fictional Louisiana town of Bon Temps, where vampires live uncomfortably alongside their human neighbours.

His bar stocks synthetic blood (called Tru:Blood) alongside draft beer and vodka shooters, so fanged customers can drink with their human counterparts.

But problems brew in the town after a string of unsolved murders and Sam’s waitress Sookie (played by Oscar-winner Anna Paquin) finds her relationship with vampire Bill (British actor Stephen Moyer) questioned by all.

Despite its far-fetched premise, Trammell thinks there is enough in True Blood to which people can relate.

“I guess, in a way, our show has a lot of universal themes that different cultures can latch on to, like the archetypal themes of good and evil. These are very simple themes that are cross-cultural as opposed to say, an American doctors show or something like that. There’s a real fascination with vampires and fantasy in general. It’s an interesting time.”

Some have argued that the meltdown in the world’s economy and the accompanying symptoms of unemployment and depression have prompted the dramatic rise in popularity of the genre.

Trammell agrees that when real life isn’t great, who wants to watch entertainment about real life. “That definitely could be part of it,” he says.

He’s not a great believer himself. “Well, I’m not really one who believes in ghosts.

I mean, I don’t have a whole lot of supernatural bent in me, but it’s fun to be part of it. I love the fantasy and the imagination and the world of it.

“It’s so much more fun than just doing a by-the-book series and playing a lawyer or doctor or fireman.”

He’s also happy to report that his character, who spent much of the first series gazing longingly at Sookie, is in for a romance of his own, “There’s a little bit of a love story for him and it’s requited this time – which we all love to have. So it’s nice to see Sam open up a bit. We see another side of him.

But he still has a lot of weight on his shoulders, a lot of responsibility for the town and he feels very protective.”

WHENEVER heavy metal is mentioned, the image of sweaty, leather-clad head-banging men springs to mind. And with good reason too. Although there are female exponents of the genre, it’s fair to say that the vast majority of band members and fans are blokes.

It all began in the late Sixties and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

Now BBC4 dedicates an evening to Metal’s biggest and best British exponents.

The whole movement began with such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest. Although they appeared to be inspired by Satan, their dedication to the occult was often tongue-in-cheek.

As punk came along, metal’s future seemed to be threatened, until new wave bands, such as Saxon, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, came to the fore.

Lemmy, Jon Lord, Ian Gillan, Bruce Dickinson and Tony Iommi are among the interviewees.