Charles Shaughnessy, the actor who plays Saint John Powell, talks about his favorite line in Mad Men and finding a bit of London in Los Angeles.

Q: After playing so many romantic Brits, how does it feel to play Saint John Powell?

A: It was great. Matthew Weiner was very careful not to say "the bad guy." He said he's not a bad guy, he's a businessman who's doing his job. He was never overtly mean... He was wheeling and dealing behind the scenes to make as much money as possible. But it was a really fun role, and in the final episodes when it all comes to a climax, it was fun to be the boss man who comes in and leaves this trail of destruction and then gets the rug pulled out from under him.

Q: Do you have a favorite line?

A: I think my favorite line has to be the last line you ever hear him say, when he's shouting on the phone and says, "You're fired for lack of character." Here's this guy who is basically trying to sandbag an entire company and throw hundreds of people out of work and he's screaming down the phone, "You're fired for lack of character."

Q: Your character spends a lot of time on the phone. How are those scenes shot? Is there someone on the other end of the line?

A: It was just one-way calls, and there was just an [assistant director] reading lines off-camera. In fact Jared Harris wasn't even there. I think they shot his other side a couple of days later because he was away doing another job or something. I loved that set [of the London office]. They even caught the view out of the window -- this sort of gray, overcast London skyline. I walked into the set and I sat at the desk and there was something about the way they lit it. I was like, "Oh my god, I'm back in London."

Q: You were in Days of Our Lives and The Nanny for years. How would you compare the daily demands of doing a soap or sitcom with the unique challenges of a guest role?

A: Days of Our Lives was an insane schedule. You're doing a whole one-hour show in a day. You do a very cursory run-through with the director telling you where you're going to be standing, then you do a quick rehearsal on camera and you shoot it. The sitcom, on the other hand, The Nanny, was the easiest job in the world, because once you've got it running it's such a smooth machine. You hardly have to show up for work until the Friday night when we tape it. Doing a guest spot on an hour show is a bit more like film. The director will run you through [a shot] and maybe get a couple of rehearsals before you put it on camera. Then you always have a couple of takes, so there's a few more opportunities to refine the performance and get some little nuances.

Q: You were a teenager yourself in the '60s. Has the show triggered any memories?

A: The attention to detail is so incredible. There was one thing in particular, a bottle of glue. You have those glue sticks now, but this was a funny-shaped bottle [that] had a red rubber tip with a slot in it. It was really old-fashioned and inefficient but that's how I remembered doing all my projects in school.