On the same day that the BBC reported the end of the 27 year run of the ITV Copusoap The Bill as it has fallen under the axe, sources from the other side of the pond report that Keifer Sutherland’s own personal war on terror is also to come to an end.
Yes, day eight of 24 will be the series’ last.
I’ve been a fan of the Jack Bauer Power hour since the first green LED numbers come on screen way back in 2001, and while I’ve not followed the later series (I was not a fan of Days 5 or 6, particularly the dodgy ending) but it was a unique show, capable of eating up weekend once the DVD box sets were released.
Capable of ratcheting tension like no other, offering a stoic and complex protagonist, 24’s success is perhaps due to its ability to turn the real-time structure from a gimmick to a defining element of the series, and it’s odd to go back to the initial series to see how innocent and fresh it all seemed.
The odds set against Jack got more and more extreme and the twisted bonds of the double and triple crosses between the show’s characters occasionally made for confused, if compelling, viewing.
And I’ll not mourn the passing of 24, it has run its course, but with the oft mooted movie supposedly hanging in the balance, perhaps there is one more day for our man Jack.
/Film gave us the head’s up from the Twitter feed of producer Jon Cassar.
