12.11 | Who will save our Sunday nights?
Andrew Neil, gentleman publisher of The Business, media writer for The Scotsman and The Evening Standard and presenter of the BBC's 'Daily Politics', has written about the Beeb's failure to capture the rights to the next series of '24':
It is nothing short of a catastrophe. I’m talking, of course, about BBC TV’s failure to conclude a deal with Fox in America for the rights to the third series of '24', the award-winning television drama starring Kiefer Sutherland, pictured right, as anti-terrorist agent Jack Bauer, in which the action takes place in 24 "real-time" episodes.I used to work in the same building as this bloke, you know. Maybe we'll have something to talk about next time we bump into each other in the lifts.It was due to return to BBC2 in January, and plans were already advanced in the Neil household for the usual Sunday-night ritual: a gathering of the "24 clan" for a pre-programme "curry out", dishes cleared, glasses filled for the start at 10PM, total silence during the broadcast (we were once forced to ask someone to leave because she asked too many questions), quick switch to BBC Three just before 11pm to watch next week’s episode, followed by 'Pure 24' on the same channel during which that night’s episodes are dissected. It sort of gives the word "anorak" a new meaning.
