Whatever worries Kiefer Sutherland may have had about reprising the role of Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day (Sky1, Wednesday), learning his lines for episode one won’t have been one of them. After a four-year break, the show returned with its trusty digital clock standing at 11.00 a.m. — and, as ever, the events took place in real time. Yet it wasn’t until around 11.43 that Jack spoke his first words.
Not that, after four years of being hunted by the authorities for saving the world in too maverick a way for those pen-pushers in Washington, he was having an uneventful day. By the time he broke his silence with the command ‘Take me to her’, Jack had already been tracked down to an abandoned warehouse by a CIA team; beaten a few of them up; had a gunfight with the rest; raced through a crowded street-market leaving any number of scattered boxes in his wake; been arrested; been interrogated in a CIA centre; and — with his hands literally behind his back — knocked out the armed escorts leading him to the ‘Special Activities’ section for some proper torture.
All of which might have been enough for the first 43 minutes of some programmes. But not for 24. At this stage, other elements in the mix included worldwide protests against America’s use of drones, the growing power of China and, rather less topically, a US president in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
After a couple of slightly tired series, and that four-year absence, such full-throated, old-school action came as a huge relief. This time, though, there’s also the fact that Live Another Day is set in London, which for British viewers adds a whole new layer of fun.
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