‘Eleventh Hour’ (2006) – Sir Patrick Stewart’s Forgotten TV Thriller

He’s Captain Picard and Professor X, but in the action meets science fact Eleventh Hour, Patrick Stewart is Ian Hood, a science advisor to the British government, butting heads with the establishment while investigating cloning, plagues, contamination, and miracle cures alongside Ashley Jensen as his Special Branch bodyguard, Rachel Young. However, instead of being a starring vehicle for Sir Patrick Stewart, the 2006 four-part ITV series Eleventh Hour suffers from mixed motivations and behind-the-scenes meddling intruding on the intriguing scientific suspense.

Rosaries and police chases lead to a mass grave with dozens of deformed infants to open “Resurrection,” and it’s immediately apparent that Eleventh Hour has chosen plot-driven action over focusing on Patrick Stewart’s government science advisor poking around the evidence tent and putting down lame inspectors who think they know better. With only four episodes, Eleventh Hour shouldn’t deviate from its star, but Professor Hood’s suspicions on matching DNA samples and cloning experiments give way to anonymous kidnappings, shouting matches at the grocery store, abandoned secret clinics, and jerks punching a pregnant woman. We don’t know who the with-child victims and creepy doctors seeking a viable fetus are, and debates about cloning connections across Europe are dropped fast amid more hectic chase action.

Our Professor inexplicably finds witnesses and information without police, warrants, or any real procedural manner. Technicalities on a fetus being medical waste and not a murder, the sacredness of life, stem cell controversies, and unnatural impregnation being out of their jurisdiction are dwindled down to technobabble exposition from unnecessary guest stars with more screen time. Fine scenes where the leads have time to wax on the criminal science or case perimeters are few and far between as the fast-paced editing decides we’re at the cloning source. Eleventh Hour underestimates the audience by glossing over the wither tos and why fors, while Hood’s moral speeches fall on deaf ears. Poor attempts at sauciness and humor don’t establish the characters, and the behind-the-scenes trouble between creator Stephen Gallagher’s (Rosemary and Thyme) desire for scientific drama versus writer Simon Stephenson’s (Paddington 2) intent to make sci-fi cool shows.

Eleventh Hour improves once Hood has to explain why he spends three times as much money as any other special government analyst in “Containment.” This awkward attempt to talk his way out of an office reprimand via science is much better character humor, and this second episode should have been first. Sir Pat Stew calculates the emergency readiness plans when church renovations uncover a plague body, necessitating contamination suits and smallpox vaccinations. Officials brush off public panic and outbreak fears, we’ve obviously since seen worse with COVID-19, and there are still secondary guests of the week detours. However, the science is placed at the forefront, and Hood objects to the blaming of illegal workers, butting heads with higher-ups in the infection investigation.

The ominous, anonymous global warming graphics to start “Kryptos” initially don’t mean much, but our Professor’s paranoid former colleague provides personal conflicts within the scientific dilemmas. Only Hood can unlock the dismissed crackpot’s climate change formula, yet it may have been more intriguing if The Professor himself were the aged radical shouting at oil companies and agitating government PR with his evidence. Eleventh Hour remains underwritten with secret meetings and repeated “Are you SURE you want to DELETE?” fake retro computer prompts padding the conspiracy theories. Hood uses his wits to solve Fibonacci equations inside cryptic personal puzzles, and Eleventh Hour should focus on Stewart’s proactive approach, making the audience contemplate the issues instead of rolling their eyes at the superfluous contrivances.

There’s finally bemusing banter amid press conferences, water tests, hydroelectric plants, and lab experiments in “Miracle.” The cure for cancer is in the local spring water, and the Professor shoehorns in on the medical authorities despite his lack of clearance. Yes, the nuclear connections are obvious, but suspensions and inquiries lead to deaths, abductions, radiation, and recanting evidence. It’s Hood’s word against the establishment, and the government doesn’t actually want its science advisor to do anything. Where the first episode was enough for viewers to tune out, here the serious scientific investigations and larger conspiracies end Eleventh Hour on a high note.

Patrick Stewart’s (Star Trek: Picard) unpopular “Ian Hood, scientist” is widowed and computer-inept. He doesn’t see eye to eye with local authorities or scientific organizations and asks people not to invoke God’s name, for God has nothing to do with the incompetent people not heeding the scientific dangers. The second and third episodes take more time introducing Hood and his backstory, but we don’t really get to know the leads. Hood gives speeches playing on other people’s consciences, yet he often loses despite being smarter than everyone else. Occasionally, we see Hood scrubbing in at the autopsy or handling evidence himself and actually doing the scientific research, but Eleventh Hour underutilizes its main character – a major missed opportunity when Stewart’s at the ready with the gravitas.

Although oft mistaken as his driver or assistant, Ashley Jensen’s (Ugly Betty) DS Rachel Young insists she is Hood’s bodyguard. Despite carrying a gun and seemingly having carte blanche from Special Branch, Young’s contacts and sources are played fast and loose. She’s often unnecessarily helpless or not willing to take risks for Hood and resorts to undercover snooping and horizontal liaisons with local cops to get database access that she should probably already have. Rachel fails during all the chases and is often made one stupid step behind Hood, necessitating his scientific exposition and leaving their banter flat. It’s unfair that Eleventh Hour reduces its lone female character to a quota-meeting sounding board who we never really meet amid all the running here, there, and everywhere.

Although an expensive production at the time, Eleventh Hour‘s assorted chases on foot, by train, police car, or trolley feel tame now. Shaky cams and zooms on top of the constantly in motion action are exceedingly busy with dizzy comings and goings, running, or driving while on a flip phone whilst also using a laptop. The 70-minute episodes feel overlong despite the hectic need to create visual movement, and 45-minute episodes without all the transportation transitions would have tightened the thin storytelling. Instead, shock crescendos, security camera footage, and Dutch angles are aesthetics solely for the viewer–intruding upon interrogations where the characters actually don’t have much to say and the actors have no time to stand still and act. It gets silly when our intrepid duo never have to provide credentials or explain who they are, yet obtain any information, evidence, or blood samples they need, thanks to the contrived, with a quick pace. Eerie hospital greens and quarantine red lighting, creepy industrial plants, or puzzle-solving montages serve the series far better, invoking the titular grim with emotion and character. Unfortunately, the villains don’t always get their due, and for all its drawn-out movement in chasing the bad guys, Eleventh Hour offers little resolution for the audience and never maximizes its potential.

Despite the uneven execution and behind-the-scenes turmoil placing stilted action over the provocative science, Eleventh Hour can be serviceable for our binge lifestyle. It’s easy to marathon if you aren’t paying too much attention, save for the Sir Pat Stew peppering. However, for viewers seeking a compelling parable anchored by character-driven performances, Eleventh Hour is undercooked, brief, and perhaps understandably forgotten.