Forget Doctor Who's weeping angels or The Walking Dead's zombies, James Purefoy feels his murderous cult leader in new US TV thriller The Following, ranks highest on terror.
"Without a shadow of a doubt I think (he's) one of the most scary characters ever to appear on television," he said.
Purefoy plays the fictional Joe Carroll, a university English lecturer who killed 14 female students and ended up on death row.
In the series opener, Carroll escapes from prison.
The troubled detective who put him away the first time, Ryan Hardy, played by Kevin Bacon, is called up and a new chase begins.
'Sniffing Bacon'
Purefoy, who's appeared in TV's Rome and films including Solomon Kane and John Carter, hadn't met Bacon before they were matched for The Following's pilot episode.
"Kevin Bacon and I got together in a room and sniffed around each other like a couple of dogs in the park," admits Purefoy.
"We realised we weren't going to bite each other," Purefoy adds, "and then the deal was done."
James Purefoy and Kevin Bacon
Future series
As is standard with US TV shows, James Purefoy has signed up for a potential seven series of The Following but admits he only knows what's going to happen "up until the end of series two".
The UK is getting the grisly drama one day after it airs in America and early reviews have focused on the blood and gore on screen.
As for any social responsibility TV shows hold, Purefoy cites Dexter, Natural Born Killers and even Shakespeare's Macbeth to back up his viewpoint:
"We as a race of people enjoy watching this kind of thing and I really don't genuinely think that what we do on television has any bearing whatsoever on what people do in real life.
"I think those people in real life would do those things regardless of what they saw on TV."
The Following starts on 22 January at 10pm on Sky Atlantic.
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