All4 Adds All 5 Seasons Of ‘Angel’ To The UK Streaming Service This September

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Fans who have been binging their way through ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ on All4 and E4, we have some great news! The spin-off series ‘Angel’ will now be joining the teen vampire slayer this September!

Angel follows the vampire Angel (David Boreanaz), who is cursed with a soul. Following events that occurred in Sunnydale, the troubled vampire moves to Los Angeles to aid others struggling with their supernatural powers, whilst on a quest to search for his own redemption. Charisma Carpenter reprises her role from Buffy, again playing Cordelia, alongside Alexis Denisof as Wesley and J. August Richards as Charles.

Originally running from 1999 – 2004 and developed by Buffy creator Joss Whedon, the show received universal critical acclaim, with The Guardian stating “Dark, brooding and altogether more menacing than the original on which the character cut his fangs, it was a welcome addition to Joss Whedon’s cult canon.”

‘Angel’ made it to a respectable 5 seasons, but despite the “critical acclaim” it was still cut down very much in it’s prime. Ironically the fact it was doing well in its timeslot possibly contributed to its demise… The series was a fairly expensive show to produce, and because of this, The WB Network (which later became the much fluffier and more forgiving CW) usually left it until very late to sign the renewal, just in case something better/cheaper came along (which it never did). The problem with this was that a lot of cast and crew had to turn down potential jobs on the hope that ‘Angel’ got picked up again. Feeling this was unfair, and on the back of the great reception they’d had for season 5, a confident Joss asked WB not to keep them waiting, and give them a yay or nay on season 6… WB, thinking something else would come along (which of course,  it didn’t) said “okay, we’re cancelling you”… Had they waited until the last minute, as usual, it’s extremely likely they would have got the renewal.

Reps from WB did state afterwards that cancelling the show was a big mistake. However, on the bright side, Joss and some of the other writers did continue ‘Angel’ in comic book form, which had the added advantage of allowing them to do things they would never have managed to film on a tv budget.

“It is pretty special that we are able to bring both parts of the Buffy universe together with Angel coming soon to sit proud on All 4,” commented Nick Lee, Head of Series Acquisitions for Channel 4. “Like with Buffy, there will be many audiences who didn’t have chance to view this the first-time round, so I’m really excited we’ll be able to give you all five seasons in one go.”

‘Angel’ will be available on All 4 from Friday, 18th September 2020 with episodes shown on E4 from late Autumn. All seven seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer can also be streamed on All 4.