Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Jon Voight, Mary Lynn Rajskub, James Morrison
Directors: John Cassar, Brad Turner, Milan Cheylov, Michael Klick
Screenwriters: Joel Surnow, Brannon Braga, Manny Coto, David Fury

Jack Bauer is having a very bad day, but it’s not for the reasons you might think. In the previous six series, our nigh invincible hero has smashed conspiracies, overcome a dodgy heart, battled heroin addiction, survived a two year interrogation at the hands of the Chinese government and disarmed countless bombs, bio-weapons and nukes; all without breaking a sweat.

As we rejoin our hero for the first instalment of 24’s seventh series, we find Bauer (Sutherland) facing his greatest enemy yet – a high ranking judge, determined to make him stand trial for all the people he’s  tortured.

However, it’s not only Bauer that’s on trial. After seven increasingly formulaic years, and a critically panned sixth season, which saw Bauer brutally torturing his own brother, 24 now finds itself in the dock.

Although the real time structure and the amusingly complex conspiracies remain firmly in place, the series’ latest incarnation has undergone a drastic reinvention. Series seven is darker and more personal than ever before, and the moral questions opened by Bauer’s trial give the series an impressive dramatic weight.

Over the series’ run, Jack’s methods are doggedly questioned by newcomer Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) who finds herself treading a perilous tightrope between ideas of right and wrong as she teams up with the disgraced Bauer. The new series is as much hers as it is Jack’s story, and through Walker’s eyes, viewers are offered a less heroic (and altogether more human) view of their beloved Bauer.

But it isn’t only Jack that’s undergone a transformation. The writers have thrown out some of the series’ most tired clichés, including the Los Angeles setting, and CTU – Jack Bauer’s former base of operations.

Most of the series’ favourite characters are dead, save for a handful of excellent cameos, leaving a space for a new gang of supporting eggheads to give Jack the tech support he invariably needs. The new faces, including Janeane Garofalo, are unaware of the hardships of being in on one of Jack’s ‘bad days’ – and their occasional ineptitude brings further humanity to a show about Presidents and immortal action heroes.

The rejuvenated series also brings a more flexible attitude to plotting than in previous seasons. Gone is the slavish devotion to plotlines that don’t push the story forward (see Kim’s encounter with a mountain lion in series 2). Each episode of the new series rewards the viewer with an important plot detail, instead of brushing them off with an episode designed to pad out the run time, as in previous series.

In all 24 makes an impassioned plea for viewers to remain faithful. From the very first episode, the new series grips like a vice, delivering a steady drip feed of questions and intelligent, dramatic revelations that will keep viewers up late into the night, howling at the screen and promising ‘just one more’.

Special features: 14 deleted scenes, UK created featurette – ‘24 in 24’ (not on US version) behind-the-scenes footage, production details and 12 audio commentaries.

24 Season 7 is out now on DVD and Blu-ray via Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

By Philip Reynolds