Ashley Jensen

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, Special Advisor to the government’s Joint Sciences Committee, who troubleshoots threats stemming from or targeting “scientific endeavour.” He is joined by Rachel Young, 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. Stephen Gallagher 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.