When I saw this series advertised in the TV guide I thought I'd give it a go even though I hadn't seen any trailers on TV and it was being shown on BBC4; a channel usually showing 'cultural' programmes and the occasional subtitled European series... certainly not where one would expect to find a US spy drama. I'm glad I did watch it as it was gripping through out even though it had little of the action typical of the genre; in fact much of the drama took place in an ordinary looking room where the characters discussed various pieces of intelligence they had received. The series follows Will Travers, an analyst at an intelligence agency in New York, who finds himself promoted to head of his department when his friend and mentor is killed in a railway 'accident'. He and his small team follow a lead that starts in the Middle East but leads to an imminent terrorist attack in the United States; if this isn't enough for him he is also investigating a local conspiracy which will put him personally in real danger.
I've tried to keep plot description to an absolute minimum as this is the sort of series best watched with no prior knowledge of what is going on; that way the story will slowly draw you in and as each episode draws to a close you will be left wanting to know what happens next. Of course a good series needs more than a good plot; it needs a great set of characters and it has them here; Will Travers, played by James Badge Dale, might not be an action hero in the Jack Bauer mould but he is believable and doesn't seem invulnerable. The rest of his team are equally ordinary; they are after all analysts, it is their job to identify threats, not to eliminate them. The only character that has any real sense of danger about him is Will's superior Kale Ingram, excellently played by Arliss Howard, you get the sense that he is the type of person who knows how to make people disappear. The only disappointment I had with this series was learning that it had been cancelled after only one series... without a proper resolution.
