Back in 2001, I remember sitting down with my family at 10:00pm to watch 45minutes of pure adrenaline and suspense with no adverts and commercials on BBC2. I would look forward to every Sunday night as I was properly obsessed with 24...it had it all, suspense, action, romance, espionage and believability. Of course, this was all before Jack became an action hero and the "real-time" factor became lost. I liked the fact that in the first two seasons, 20 or so minutes were given to Jack driving or an episode was given to him purely in a jail cell...why? because it made it believable, the fact that the entire season was 24hrs in real time had never been done before, and was done so brilliantly.

Season 1 starts first of all with introducing the characters and then once that's done things get rolling. We meet Jack Bauer, a CTU (counter terrorist unit) agent with a wife and daughter (Elisha Cuthbert). What happens then is that there's a threat against a Presidential Candidate and that Jack must solve the threat. However, things get complicated when his family is put in danger by the same people after to kill the candidate...so jack must now do two jobs at once; save his family and protect the next president, which also includes sniffing out a mole in his workplace. It's all very tense stuff and extremely entertaining, i've since bought the DVD box-set and re-watched seasons 1 and 2 3 times now.

Season 2 is more violent and action packed and also has a very good story, but it's not up to the same standards. However, everything is still believable and the series still holds you captivated. However, it's after this that the series goes downhill... I might be biased because after Season 2, 24 went to SKyOne...which meant advert breaks every 15minutes which ruined the pacing of the show. The real-time factor also seemed lost, with Jack travelling to Mexico within about thirty minutes and driving from one-side of LA to the other in a matter of 2 minutes....the rest of the series (including the now airing season 6) isn't a matter of real-time but how can jack save the world or the USA within 24 episodes. The series has truly gone downhill, and over the last 4 series it's been agonising to watch favourite characters get killed off or disappear..and just when you think the series might end...it doesn't, it's revived for the next year.

It's a shame...what started out as possibly the best show ever, unfortunately transformed to the run-of-the-mill action series. What made the series such a hit was that it was unpredictable, you didn't know who would be a mole and who would die next...nowadays it's all predictable and you KNOW Jack will in the end save the day.

So I'm giving 24 a 9/10. The first two seasons rock my socks off, they're the best TV can offer us but as always, the best things in life never last...and 24 is pure proof of that.