The Last Enemy (TV series)
| The Last Enemy | |
|---|---|
Official DVD Cover | |
| Genre | Drama Thriller Science fiction Adventure Mystery |
| Written by | Peter Berry |
| Directed by | Iain B. MacDonald |
| Starring | Benedict Cumberbatch Anamaria Marinca Max Beesley Robert Carlyle Eva Birthistle Geraldine James Chipo Chung Tom Fisher James Lance San Shella David Harewood Christopher Fulford Paul Higgins Nick Sidi |
| Composer | Magnus Fiennes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 5 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Patrick Irwin Justin Thomson-Glover Adrian Bate |
| Producers | Gub Neal, Rebecca Eaton (for WGBH) |
| Production locations | London, UK; Bucharest, Romania |
| Camera setup | John Hembrough |
| Running time | 85 minutes (Episode 1); 60 minutes (Episodes 2–5) |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC One |
| Release | 17 February – 16 March 2008 |
The Last Enemy is a 5-part BBC television drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch and featuring Robert Carlyle and Max Beesley. It first aired on 17 February 2008.
Plot
Set in London beset by terrorism and illegal immigration, it features the introduction of "TIA" (Total Information Awareness), a centralised database that can be used to track and monitor anybody, effectively by putting all available government and corporate - i.e. credit card and bank activity, phone use, internet use, purchases, rentals, etc. - information in one place. The story deals with a political cover-up centred around a rogue batch of vaccine that seems to be causing a deadly virus, as well as the moral, social and privacy concerns of such a system in a post-7/7 world. The story is told through the eyes of a mathematical genius, Stephen Ezard, who is portrayed as a recluse showing some signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder. But the shy genius, played by Cumberbatch with many pre-echoes of his later, celebrated Sherlock Holmes' brittle reclusive, the character Stephen overcomes his own inhibitions to burrow into a highly compromised British government using his brilliance and their TIA system only to find himself ultimately trapped by the people he most trusts and to learn he is a pawn in government cover-ups and manipulative Security State machinations which take the people he most loves from him and compromise him forever.
Viewing figures
| Episode number | Season | Original airing | Total viewers | Audience share (average) | Season viewer average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Season 1 | 17 February 2008 | 4.2m[1] | 18% | 2.7m |
| 2 | Season 1 | 24 February 2008 | 2.5m[2] | 10% | |
| 3 | Season 1 | 2 March 2008 | 2.3m[3] | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Season 1 | 9 March 2008 | 2.5m[4] | 10% | |
| 5 | Season 1 | 16 March 2008 | 2m[5] | 8% |
Distribution
- The Last Enemy aired in the United States on PBS stations on Masterpiece Contemporary.
- In Australia, The Last Enemy TV series commenced airing on free-to-air-TV on ABC1 (the national public television channel) from 8:30pm on 19 July 2009[6] and concluded on 16 August 2009.[7]
- The Last Enemy aired on TVO in Ontario, Canada from 9:00 pm on 1 April 2009 to 29 April 2009
- The Last Enemy aired weekly in Denmark on DR1 from 10:45 pm on 26 January 2012.
- The Last Enemy is available on Amazon Prime Video and on YouTube.
References
- ^ Holmwood, Leigh (18 February 2008). "TV ratings - February 18: Kingdom reigns over The Last Enemy". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Holmwood, Leigh (25 February 2008). "TV ratings - February 24: To see you nice, say Brucie's 6.5 million". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Esposito, Maria (3 March 2008). "TV ratings - March 2: Lewis beats BBC enemy". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Holmwood, Leigh (10 March 2008). "TV ratings - March 9: ITV1 hits 9.6m Sunday peak". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Holmwood, Leigh (17 March 2008). "TV ratings - March 16: Dancing on Ice final wins for ITV". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "ABC1 TV Guide Program Information". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- ^ "ABC1 TV Guide Program Information". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.