Eleventh Hour

Channel: Nine
Day and time*: Monday 9.30 p.m.

(*as at June 2009)

Last gasps

Eleventh Hour is the latest in the emerging genre of US-series-starring-a-notable-Brit. Perhaps surprisingly, it's a genre that's quite heavily populated, with shows like Life, Lie to Me and House among many others. The Brit in question here is Rufus Sewell, whose good looks and imperious air have graced many a UK film production. Clearly actors of his ilk are in high demand Stateside; so you can hardly blame him for jumping the Pond to take on this role. Sadly however, the show itself isn't up to scratch.

The show is actually a remake of a British mini-series of the same name that starred Patrick Stewart. The attempt to expand from a mini-series to a full series is ambitious but doesn't always hit the mark. Perhaps that's why its US parent CBS has already announced there won't be a second series.

Probably the biggest drawback of this show is the lack of a defined path for Sewell's character Dr Jacob Hood. According to the official website, Hood is a "brilliant biophysicist and special science advisor to the government". Is it just me or is that a way of fudging exactly what it is that Hood does? This vagueness is possibly deliberate, as it allows the writers to place the good doc in the centre of a myriad of arguably scientific scenarios without too much question. Oh, and according to the synopsis, "his jurisdiction is absolute". What the? You know, due process, reasonable cause and all that. Surely that hasn't been suspended for the sake of a guy who's not even a cop?

Anyhow, whatever Hood's actual qualifications and expertise and whatever the convenient plot devices, the idea of the show - a la the likes of The Mentalist - is to team Hood up with the impossibly glam FBI agent Rachel Young (Marley Shelton) to solve - or hopefully prevent - crimes. He is apparently called in at the eponymous "11th hour" when all hope seems lost. Then he has to use his enormous scientific brain to unravel the conundrum posed.

The scientific concepts are pretty diverse - from cloning through flesh eating bacteria and drug delivery systems. Problem is these seem to be fairly indirectly connected with the crime (or possible crime) that's the subject of each episode. Maybe I'm missing something, but I couldn't quite work out how Hood's work related to the outcome of the case. Compare this to the similarly-themed but superior Fringe, where everything made a kind of wacky sense.

Another difficulty is that Sewell's performance appears lost in the scientific mumbo-jumbo. He rarely gets the chance to make any real impression on the show. Maybe that's because he's playing an American, and as a result loses his trademark Britishness; but he's certainly more beige here than in his film work. In that context then, it's left to Marley Shelton to step up to the plate. It has to be said she pretty much does so, providing some much-needed impetus to the series.

While Eleventh Hour has some decent moments, it's largely indistinguishable from the slate of cop/crime-solving shows around at the moment. Amidst the crowd, it really needs a distinctive hook to elevate it above the pack; but unfortunately, that's sorely missing.

Phil James

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