Lynda, for excessive joking. Spike often consciously uses humour to lighten the tone, such as in "Monday-Tuesday" when he tries to cheer up Lynda after she feels responsible for David's suicide. The character was originally written as English, until producer Hastie felt that an American character would enhance the chance of overseas sales. This meant that English-born Fletcher had to act in an American accent for all five years. Moffat says that he isn't "sure [that] lumbering Dexter with that accent was a smart move." The American accent had some fans surprised to learn that Fletcher is actually English. Kenny Phillips (Lee Ross) is one of Lynda's (few) long-term friends and is her assistant editor in the first three series. Kenny is much calmer than Lynda, though is still dominated by her. Despite this, he is one of the few people able to stand up to Lynda, in his own quiet way. Although he identifies himself as "sweet", he is unlucky in love: Jenny (Sadie Frost), the girlfriend he meets in "How to Make a Killing", dumps him because he is too understanding. His secret passion for writing music is revealed at the end of series two, which was influenced by Ross' interests. Colin organizes and markets a concert for him, and the second series ends with Kenny performing "You Don't Feel For Me" (written by Ross himself). Lee Ross was only able to commit to the first six episodes of the 12-episode series three and four filming block because he was expecting a film role. Thus, by series four, Kenny has left for Australia. Colin Mathews (Paul Reynolds) is the Thatcherite in charge of the paper's finances and advertising. He often wears loud shirts, and his various schemes have included marketing defective half-ping-pong balls (as 'pings'), exam revision kits and soda that leaves facial stains. Rosie Marcel and Claire Hearnden appear throughout the second series as Sophie and Laura, Colin's mischievous young helpers. Julie Craig (Lucy Benjamin) is the head of the graphics team in series one. Moffat was impressed with Benjamin's performance, and expanded her character for the second series. However she had committed herself to roles in the LWT sitcom Close to Home and Jupiter Moon, so the character was replaced by Sam. The character returns in the opening episode of series four as researcher on the Saturday morning show Crazy Stuff. She arranges for Lynda and