Melissa George pouts and punches in BBC1′s identi-kit spy-drama Hunted.
“Sam Hunter, is a spy, a hunter who now finds herself hunted by a ruthless hidden enemy. Trapped in an intricate web of suspense and paranoia, she must discover who wants her dead by confronting her past.“
Prologue to Episode One: over-excited production meeting in BBC HQ:
“We need another Spooks. Bond is out again soon. And Bourne. We need a spy show.”
“But not Spooks. We did that.”
“So what? It was a hit. Do it again.”
“Like Bourne. Only cheaper.”
“What we need is a female Bourne.”
“Yes! Petite, pretty, feisty -”
“Oh no, not feisty again – “
“A real kick-ass chick.”
“But vulnerable!”
“And she’s got to have behavioural problems. Quirks.”
“OCD – “
“And a dark past.”
“Childhood issues.”
“Motherhood issues.”
“Trust issues.”
“It’s a bloody spy show, of course she’s got trust issues. No one can trust anyone. Ever.”
“Something like Spooks. Moody. Edgy. Dark – “
“- Ludicrous – “
“No!”
“What do we call her?”
“A good macho name – Sam!”
“And she’s hunted, but she has to find out by who – “
“Sam Hunter!”
“Is that very likely?”
“Magnum, PI?”
“Point taken.”
“Liam Neeson!
“What?”
“Taken. We can do something like that. Abroad.”
“We’ll need some flashy high-tech sets – “
“With moody lighting.”
“And trashy decrepit sets – “
“With moody lighting.”
“And some whizzy high-tech hacking gadgets.”
“Art department can make something up.”
“Something real?”
“Don’t be silly.”
“Some shifty foreigners…”
“And a bit of violence to liven things up when the script gets dull.”
“Why will it get dull?”
“Stephen Dillane is in it as her boss.”
“He’s good…”
“But dull.”
“Make sure everyone else in it is ridiculously pretty.”
“Include a black actor for no reason.”
“And we need a villain.”
“Patrick Malahide’s available.”
“Good. Make sure the violence is really bloody. She’s got to beat up the stunt guys, like that Gina What’s name…”
“Carano. Or Mila Jovovich.”
“Nikita!”
“Kill Bill!”
“Yes, yes -”
“And she’s pregnant.”
“She gets shot. She has to be in pain.”
“And have PTSD. With flashbacks. Lots of flash-backs.”
“And go away to recover. Run up mountains in Scotland.”
“And come back again.”
“Like Bourne?”
“With a bra.
RC
Photo: Melissa George in Hunted – BBC Press Office.
Related: The Shadow Line, BBC TV
It’s actually a great drama shaping up, who cares if it’s Bond-lite.
Posted by Berezny Berens | October 13, 2012, 9:37 pmI have watched all eight episodes expecting all to be revealed in the last episode.So why did I not find out
1– who was the person with half a finger missing.
2-the syringe guy where did he fit in-no explanation
3-What was in the locker that Sam had the key for
4-Why was the Mother murdered-no clarity whatsoever
5-suddenly Sam has a baby or does shwhat a pregnacy as Sam is battered ,poisoned ,shot drowned while pregnant ,yet she must have been at least six months pregnant, but nothing showed then a month later this baby appears.
,What a frustating finish.
I thought perhaps all these would be reveald in a second series.No second series so we will never know unless thwe writers explain online.
Posted by ERIC SILVER | November 24, 2012, 5:20 pmI agree with all of the above…i thought she hadn’t really lost the baby but just let someone else care for it whilst she did her mission….
Please can we have a second series to answer these questions?
Thanks
Posted by Sarah Porter | November 26, 2012, 2:19 pmCould not agree more – such a disappointment
Posted by Michelle | November 26, 2012, 2:44 pmI agree – very disappointing ending. More holes than a leaky sieve and hanging threads than a cheap cardi.
Posted by Sarah Crooks | November 29, 2012, 12:43 pmThanks Eric – I thought it was just me that had missed something!
Posted by Ian | November 28, 2012, 12:21 pmHave finally got round to watching all 8 recorded episodes (wanted to watch the end of Homelands before getting involved with Hunted) – couldn’t agree more with Eric Silver. SO disappointed to not have the answers to the questions posed throughout the series but would like to also add – wasn’t it quite ridiculous that the extremely wealthy Turner’s super-posh, secure residence was overlooked by a junkie who, apparently, saw the death of the wife then the poisoning of Sam!
Posted by Patricia Martin | January 10, 2013, 9:14 pmPatricia: Rehab Girl was yet another plot thread that didn’t go anywhere – except to show just how villainous Old Man Turner had been in the (predictable) killing of his daughter-in-law. I think we got that already. Still, an extra layer of Rear Window probably looked like a good idea in the script meeting! RC
Posted by Robin Catling | January 11, 2013, 1:21 amgood post. thank for sharing.
Posted by Celina 2B | October 14, 2012, 3:59 pmHow did the father of the boy get Sam’s mobile number to make the initial contact after the set-up rescue ?
Looks like an enormous hole in the stoy line to me.
Posted by david clennett | October 14, 2012, 7:28 pmDavid: a spy drama from the Spooks stable and you’re complaining about holes in the plot?! Where do we start? You’re not meant to over-think this kind of show, otherwise the set-piece punch-up in Episode 2 looks even more ridiculous than Sam’s take-down’s in Episode 1. Girl Who Played with Fire, anyone?
Posted by Robin Catling | October 15, 2012, 1:09 amI so wanted to like this programme and I’ve really really tried very hard (I am still pining for Spooks) but there is no comparison – this is absolutely dreadful – boring and monotonous with characters that have no personality at all, I don’t care for a single one – the central female just pouts and sulks all the way through with no real justification for the terrible plot, the director seems obsessed with the black and white tiled floor in that ridiculous house, honestly if I see one more person walk up and down that staircase i won’t be responsible for my actions – I beg you – please please please do not commission a second series!
Posted by julied | October 26, 2012, 1:13 pmCaught the latest episode with its Mission Improbable break-in caper. All shot at night, very expensive in production terms. Every shot seems to have St Pauls or the Shard in the background. Yet all quite ludicrous and unengaging.
Meanwhile you know its all going wrong when Indira Varma turned up (never a good sign, evidently her attempt to get famous in America in Human Target failed) and the Irishman appeared doing a turn as a downbeat George Smiley figure in a dowdy 70′s office at MI5.
Teasing us with halucinogenic flashbacks of Sam’s childhood abduction is getting quite tedious. Sigh. RC
Posted by Robin Catling | October 27, 2012, 1:21 amBring back SPOOKS !!!! ASAP
Posted by Timothy Pryke | November 3, 2012, 6:11 pmLove it! Caught on to this late on I player – where have I been? Finally caught up watched all back issues and now can’t wait for episode 8. Ok a few holes in logic and reality but which film hasn’t. Love Sam, impressed with Deacon and even Jack Turner. Blank look man is creepy. Very well done everyone.
Posted by Mr Jay | November 16, 2012, 11:31 pmFrank Spotnitz should be ashamed of himself. This series should be credited to the great American J.J.Abrams as this whole thing is a British version of Alias replaced by a new girl but the story is exactly the same. Wait a minute, the girl has not been replaced. I remember now, Melissa George played a nobody in Alias when Jennifer Garner was the star of the show and rightly so.
Posted by Sarah | November 22, 2012, 10:25 amOk we are all confused now…
Posted by Daren Beaney | November 22, 2012, 10:09 pmConfident finish to the series; full of set-ups for season 2 to continue.
I lost interest when the principal villains turned out to be the Illuminati… Masons… blokes in grey suits. Whatever.
Posted by Robin Catling | November 23, 2012, 1:28 amApparently season 2 has been axed already due to the fall in viewings.
Posted by Daren Beaney | November 23, 2012, 7:23 amafter watching for 8 weeks i had hoped for a better explanation..can anyone tell me what exactly went on when she was a child in that stable……………
Posted by judith plows | November 22, 2012, 10:20 pmI wonder if everyone thinks it’s such a good programme now the final episode has just been shown? Waste of time, waste of effort and waste of licence payer’s hard earned dosh.
Posted by Mary | November 22, 2012, 10:35 pmBriliantt show. Kept me wating for Thursday to come rounf faster! Please do a second series we want more
Posted by Eve | November 22, 2012, 11:11 pmBest spy drama ever, bring on season 2.
Posted by Vesna | November 22, 2012, 11:41 pmReally enjoyed the series but I am sooooo confused with the ending “Help”
Posted by Davey | November 23, 2012, 11:10 amSPOILER ALERT!!: Davey: Keel and Deacon set up the fake assassination between them – if Sam dies in public then the real assassins think she’s dead and Sam can go back to Scotland to reunite with the baby she had all along.
I still have no idea what all the flashback childhood trauma *BS* is about, I suspect the writers hadn’t bothered to work it out either; Sam’s quest for Season 2 would have been searching for the 4-fingered man (like the one-armed man in The Fugitive, only cheaper). It’s all a bit JJ Abrams/Tim Kring ‘make it up as you go along.’
Posted by Robin Catling | November 23, 2012, 11:34 amThanks Robin. Thought I must have missed something. Its a great pity season 2 has been scrubbed (If it has)
Posted by Davey | November 23, 2012, 4:26 pmI agree , she was shot with a high powered rifle and one month later running on thr moor, some recovery.
Flash backs were annoying ,one expected some explanation . spoilt the whole show for me
Posted by james cooper | November 23, 2012, 6:28 pmI thought she had been shot with a paint ball gun, but very confused about the Asian guy with the hyperdermic, and the fingerless man, did he save her when she was a child, otherwise how did the young Sam escape?
Posted by Lynda King | November 24, 2012, 11:40 amThe child was to young to be the one that Sam was to have lost.
Posted by Jay | November 24, 2012, 11:17 pmHm. Sam was away for a year, wasn’t showing a bump so maybe no more than 3months down, plus 6 to birth, makes the baby 3 months old when she goes back to Byzantium. About right. Still crackers. RC
Posted by Robin Catling | November 27, 2012, 10:13 pmthanks that makes things a bit clearer shame no 2nd series that might have helped
Posted by Rosalyn Orchard | November 27, 2012, 9:50 amreally rate Hunted, please make a second series. Well contsructed and better than a lot of what eles is on on a thursday night.
Posted by Rosemary | November 23, 2012, 9:30 pmToo slow and too damn monochromatic – who do I see about getting a refund on our colour TV licence?
Posted by Tim A-C | November 24, 2012, 4:44 pmFantastic……….more please
Posted by n clark | November 25, 2012, 6:36 pmi love it! so so so so sooo good! who can’t love a bit of drama and puzzles!
Posted by Rosalind | November 25, 2012, 9:46 pmHunted was a brilliant series, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although I agree indontnquite get the whole baby thing at the end and I still don’t understand why Sam is wanted dead.mi really hope you make a series 2 and more, best drama I have ever seen
Posted by Lucie | November 26, 2012, 11:05 pmYou need to do a U turn Beeb. The Americans are going for a second series they have got it right. The first series always is a character builder and lays the way for more. Spooks also was slow in getting going. They had to push a girl in a deep fat fryer for shock tactics. This was the only thing worth the licence fee unlike the other mind numbing reality tv and repeats you are pedalling at the moment. Compromise and push it onto BBC 3 or 4. Crikey have you actually watched The Killing now in its 3rd series?? and this is in Danish!!
Posted by Mike | November 30, 2012, 7:54 pmThanks like your Review: Hunted, BBC TV Everything Express
Posted by Wahington | December 6, 2012, 12:09 pmPlease just bring the show back.
Posted by Rosemary | December 21, 2012, 12:11 amLOVE this show!! Episode 8 is on tomorrow night – CAN’T WAIT!!! (Australia – SBS)
Posted by Jo | January 11, 2013, 4:51 amI found this website very funny and I just wanna say thanks.
Posted by Maragni | January 13, 2013, 12:16 am“Review: Hunted, BBC TV Everything Express” was actually entertaining and beneficial!
In modern universe honestly, that is tough to carry out.
Thx, Bryan
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