P.W. Let's talk about "The Arrow." Tell us a bit about your character, Jack Woodman.

RW: He was based on a real character. He was in the air force and wanted to be involved in the creation of this fantastic plane. The air force put in the order which got the A.V. Roe Company running to build this plane, so my character was on site making sure that it was being done, watching it develop. The character ends up having a tremendous affection for the plane, and meets friends along the way, and then suffers like the rest of them do when Diefenbaker does his outrageous action.

PW: I'm trying to remember that last scene--doesn't Jack help them steal one of the planes before it can be destroyed?

RW: Well, they're about to hijack the plane and take off, and then his boss comes screaming down and says, "What are you doing?" And it looks like [Jack's] going to get caught. But [his boss] ends up giving the thumbs up, so I get on the plane with the character played by Aidan Devine, the designer of the plane.

PW: Who had never ridden in it...

RW: Right. So he and I take off in the plane.

PW: Wasn't it Woodman who was the test pilot for Avro?

RW: He certainly wanted to be the first test pilot, but then they brought Jan Zurakowski in.

PW: Ah, right, Jan Zurakowski--played, of course, by Lubomir Mykytiuk. And yet, you're still speaking to Lubo after he aced you out of the first flight of the Arrow! [laughs]

RW: It's just the movies! But yeah, it was pretty hard for Jack Woodman to watch somebody else take the controls of the plane for the very first time. But, you know, he's a cool guy, and he swallowed it and took it up the second time.

PW: That was a wonderful miniseries.

RW: Yeah, it was great. I really enjoyed it.

PW: I hope more people in the States get a chance to see it sometime. I don't think it's aired down there yet.

RW: I don't think so. People don't know what the Arrow is. It was such a psychic wound in this country that people remember that. But they have no reason to remember it in the United States.

PW: Not to mention that we Americans don't exactly come out looking good in that story!

RW: Well, the Bomark missile system was purported to be the greatest national defense tool known to man, and we were forced to buy it for almost five hundred million dollars, and two years later we scrap 'em all and have to buy jet fighter-interceptors--guess from whom?

PW: That would be, um, uh, ummm...

RW: Gee...the Americans maybe? [all laugh] I love America though. But I have some issues!