On the lookout for a new boxset to spend your evenings devouring? Each week, hmv.com will be recommending you a series that you will have wishing those cold nights would go for a good while longer. This week, we recommend 24, which is on the way back to screens, but is well worth revisiting…
On the lookout for a new box set to spend your evenings devouring? Each week, hmv.com will be recommending a series that will have you wishing those cold nights would go for a good while longer
We recommend 24 the complete seasons 1 - 9 box set.
What is 24?
The concept is a simple one. The 24 complete series, features 24 episodes in each season, with all the episodes lasting for an hour each as we follow the life of Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) agent Jack Bauer.
Needless to say, these are fraught, tension-filled days, so there's no sleeping and little time for eating. Throughout the show's 8 seasons, we saw Jack battling presidential assassination attempts, nuclear bomb threats, deadly viruses and everything in between.
Who's in 24?
Kiefer Sutherland starring as the aforementioned Bauer is the show's only constant, appearing in every single one of the 24 complete series. Other regulars were Sarah Clarke (who recently starred in Twilight) playing Bauer's close colleague Nina Meyers, Elisha Cuthbert (The Girl Next Door) who played Bauer's daughter Kim and Major League's Dennis Haysbert is also a regular, playing President David Palmer.
The only other constants in the show's life are Mary Lynn Rajskub, who played Chloe O'Brien, analyst at CTU Los Angeles, and Carlos Bernand, who portrayed Tony Almeida, another member of Bauer's CTU.
Why should I watch 24?
What set 24 apart from any other show was its format. All the events happen in real time, over the course of 1 day, giving us 24 hours (episodes) in a season. Don't let the real-time element fool you, there's no downtime in 24, it's one of the most high-octane, thrilling TV shows in history, full of drama and action!
Describe the show in three words...
Gripping, gobsmacking, great. All the Gs...
24 facts about the 24 TV series
Here's 24 interesting facts about the 24 TV series. It contains some plot spoilers, so look away now if you’ve not yet seen it...
1. In total the show has 192 episodes...
2. The show started in 2001 and ran until 2010...
3. Awards: 24 won two Golden Globes, had 191 nominations and won a further 62 awards...
4. 24 has two spin off shows “24: Redemption” and “24: Live Another Day”...
5. During filming the actors weren’t told what would happen from each episode to the next...
6. In 2008, 24 was ranked the sixth greatest TV show of all time by Empire Magazine...
7. It was a requirement that all the cast had their hair trimmed every five days...
8. Approximately 25 hours of footage is edited down for just one show...
9. During season two, Kiefer Sutherland injured his leg whilst filming. To explain his limp, his character Bauer pulled a piece of debris from his leg in the aftermath of the plane crash...
10. Whilst filming season two, Elisha Cuthbert who plays Kim Bauer was bitten by a lion...
11. Completing a season (including post-production) takes approximately 42 weeks...
12. It was revealed that Jack Bauer had a tattoo in season three. Instead of recreating this each time with make-up, Kiefer Sutherland had the tattoo done in real life...
13. Season one is the only season that doesn’t feature the President of the USA...
14. Kiefer Sutherland signed up for three more series, during the filming of the fifth series...
15. After working together on the show, Freddie Prinze Junior said working with Kiefer Sutherland nearly made him stop acting for good...
16. Season one is the only season that takes place over a single day...
17. Kiefer Sutherland has never seen a full episode of 24...
18. Jack Bauer has killed a total of 267 people throughout the 24 complete series...
19. In season 3, the canister which contains the virus changes colour and size throughout the scene...
20. Sarah Clarke, who played Nina Myers, had to spend the entire first season in the clothes she wore to the audition, as she was cast on the morning filming began...
21. The series is produced by the Fox network...
22. 24 is the only Fox network drama to win an Emmy (as of 2015)...
23. Every even-numbered season features more kills than an odd-numbered season...
24. 24 was originally supposed to be a romantic comedy, showing 24 hours in the day of a wedding...
