| Eleventh Hour | |
|---|---|
Series title card |
|
| Genre | Drama |
| Created by | Stephen Gallagher |
| Starring | Patrick Stewart Ashley Jensen |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Andy Harries |
| Producer(s) | Ken Baker Stephen Smallwood |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV (ITV1/STV/UTV) |
| Original run | 19 January 2006 – 9 February 2006 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Eleventh Hour (US) |
Eleventh Hour is a four part British television series developed by Granada Television for ITV by writer Stephen Gallagher. It follows the adventures of Professor Ian Hood (played by Patrick Stewart), Special Advisor to the government's Joint Sciences Committee, who troubleshoots threats stemming from or targeting "scientific endeavour." He is joined by Rachel Young (played by Ashley Jensen), a Special Branch operative who acts primarily as his bodyguard, as Hood has made powerful enemies through his work. Each episode is 90 minutes long. The first episode was broadcast on 19 January 2006.
When Eleventh Hour went into pre-production in April 2005 it raised considerable interest and media attention, both because of Stewart's involvement and the amount of money ITV were spending on it (reportedly around £4.5 million). Stephen Gallagher (himself a two-time writer for Doctor Who) made the distinction that Eleventh Hour will be "science-based," not science fiction or speculative fiction.
Material was added to the scripts by the producers once the early episodes went into production, and creator Stephen Gallagher is said to have left the series because of it. The subject matter and direction of the later stories appear to differ from what was originally announced. An American remake produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and featuring Rufus Sewell aired on CBS from 2008 to 2009.
Contents |
| # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Resurrection" | Terry McDonough | Stephen Gallagher and Simon Stephenson | 19 January 2006 |
| After the discovery of a large number of malformed fetuses in a field, Ian Hood and Rachel Young investigate a black market human cloning experiment being funded by a father desperate to recreate his dead son. As they investigate the forces behind the experiments they must also try to save the life of a single mother who has been duped into acting as a surrogate for one of the experiments. | ||||
| 2 | "Containment" | Terry McDonough | Gallagher and Stephenson | 26 January 2006 |
| Hood and Young attempt to locate the source of an outbreak of a hybrid Smallpox/Tanapox virus, but things become more complicated when Young is apparently infected and the 'trail' leads in the wrong direction. | ||||
| 3 | "Kryptos" | Roger Gartland | Gallagher and Stephenson & Mike Cullen | 2 February 2006 |
| When a friend of Hood's vanishes while doing research on global warming, he takes it upon himself to decode his encrypted research. | ||||
| 4 | "Miracle" | Roger Gartland | Gallagher and Stephenson | 9 February 2006 |
| Following the miraculous cure of a young boy suffering from cancer, Hood and Young travel to his home to investigate claims that he has been cured by local spring water. The area becomes a focal point for cancer sufferers desperately seeking a cure. When these victims start to experience even worse symptoms Hood becomes convinced that there must be something in the water. All of the tests prove to be negative, however, and it appears increasingly likely that the boy's doctor has made the entire story up. But shortly after Hood reaches this conclusion, the doctor responsible for the case dies in an apparent suicide. A chance phrase in the suicide note referring to a Geiger Counter, a term the doctor would never use due to Hans Geiger's known Nazi sympathies, leads Hood to begin an investigation into her death, and he uncovers a Government conspiracy to produce heavy water (which he is able to demonstrate is found in the spring). By blackmailing a leading government figure, Hood is able to clear the doctor's name, but is not able to expose the secret service's involvement in the whole affair. | ||||
An U.S. adaptation of the series ran on CBS from October 9, 2008 to April 2, 2009 and aired on Thursdays at 10 pm (ET/PT).[1] The series was a joint venture between Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Granada Television International and Warner Bros. Television. It starred British actor Rufus Sewell as the lead character, a biophysicist named Dr. Jacob Hood and American actress Marley Shelton as FBI Special Agent Rachel Young.