Angel became a vampire in 1756 his Sire being a then about 200 year old vampire called Darla. Born and raised in Galway, Angel was a drunken layabout much to the dislike of his father so once evil, Angel, the one with the Angelic face, killed his mother, sister, maid and father. The evil Angelus then unleashes his reign of terror upon Europe. Even 'The Master' describes him as the most visious creature he has ever seen.

In 1860 he drove Drusilla insane by killing those that she loved and posing as a priest telling her that she was a 'devil child'. He completed his deed by turning her into a crazed vampire on the day she was to take her vows to become a nun.

However, one fatal night, Darla brings him the gift of a Romany gypsy girl to feed off. Angelus does so willingly but regrets it when the clan finds out and returns to him his soul. "You have no idea to have the things I've done, and to care." He later tells Buffy giving us an idea of just how brutal he once was. Unfortunately, there is one important fact that Angelus doesn't know about the curse, if he ever has one true moment of happiness then he will revert to his old evil state. Ironically, having decided his purpose is to help the Slayer, he falls in love and sleeps with Buffy. The bliss that he experiences results in him losing his soul and once again becoming a visious killing machine.

Angelus plays mind games with Buffy and her friends climaxing in him breaking the neck of Giles' love Jenny to prevent her from re-cursing him. Giles goes on the attack, burning down the factory and forcing Angelus and co. to move into 'The Mansion'.

Having tortured Giles in order to find out the secret of bringing about the apocalypse by using the demon, Acathla, he opens a portal which will suck everything human into the netherworld. The only way it can be closed is by Buffy killing her former love and sending him into hell instead of the world. To complicate matters, Willow manages to return Angel's soul just as Buffy is about to kill him. They share a passionate embrace before Buffy runs him through and saves the world, again.

Once back from hell and once again a nice, helpful, incredibly gorgeous guy, Angel is helped in his recovery by Buffy who keeps his return a secret from her friends. He gets shot by Faith, amongst other things, and ends up leaving to work in LA as a private detective helping those whom the police cannot.