Angel's co-creator, David Greenwalt, says he will continue to keep apace of developments on the series, but he won't be as hands-on.

Talking to Zap2it.com, Greenwalt said: "I will continue to be consulting producer David Greenwalt... I will continue to watch from afar and work from afar."

He went on to describe his delight at the show being picked up for a fifth season and added, "I believe this show will go another three years."

He believes the relocation of Angel and his crusading crew - Gunn, Wesley, Fred and Lorne - to an office tower courtesy of Wolfram and Hart, will do wonders for the series.

"What you have now," Greenwalt said, "is Angel meets West Wing meets L.A. Law, this whole new look and feel. It's not going to be dreary and dark. He can walk in the sun. I am so sick of this no-sun thing."

Greenwalt also said that he hopes Sarah Michelle Gellar will make an appearance in the series.

"I bet you'll see her,"he said, "but I don't know how all that's going to work out. David's done a lot for her; she's done a lot for David. When we launched the show, she showed up on the set in downtown L.A. in the middle of the night with a cake. She is quite capable of the big, lovely gesture, and I hope to see her in the show."

But one member of the cast who has joined Anglel is James Marsters, for the full 22-episode run. But that apparently will take some explaining:

"Well, yes," Greenwalt says, "because when you see how Buffy finishes, you'll realize that we have a bit of a problem there. But we'll figure it out."