The Last Enemy | |
---|---|
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) |
Production companies | BOX TV Limited WGBH Boston |
Original release | |
Network | BBC One |
Release | 17 February – 16 March 2008 |
The Last Enemy is a five-part BBC television drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch and featuring Robert Carlyle and Max Beesley. It first aired on 17 February 2008.
Set in a recognisable dystopian near-future London, The Last Enemy features the introduction of "TIA" (Total Information Awareness), a centralised database that can be used to track and monitor anybody, by putting all 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 of a sanctioned but secret medical experiment run amok with key members of the government trying desperately to hide all evidence of their experimental batch of vaccine that seems to be causing a deadly virus. The complex story unspools to reveal the moral, social and privacy concerns of this hypothetical TIA system in a post-7/7 world, including such control mechanisms familiar to both real life and science fiction as retinal scans, fingerprint identification and ubiquitous camera and mobile phone surveillance footage.
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. The shy genius overcomes his 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 manipulative Security State machinations which take the people he most loves from him and compromise him forever.
Episode number | Original airing | Total viewers | Audience share (average) | Season viewer average |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 17 February 2008 | 4.2m [1] | 18% | 2.7m |
2 | 24 February 2008 | 2.5m [2] | 10% | |
3 | 2 March 2008 | 2.3m [3] | 9.4% | |
4 | 9 March 2008 | 2.5m [4] | 10% | |
5 | 16 March 2008 | 2m [5] | 8% | |
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and four Golden Globes. In 2014, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2015, he was appointed a CBE for services to performing arts and charity.
Maxton Gig Beesley Jr. is an English actor and musician. His television and film credits include The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1997), The Match (1999), Hotel (2001), Kill Me Later (2001), The Last Minute (2001), Bodies (2004-2006), The Last Enemy (2008), Survivors (2008–2010), Mad Dogs (2011-2013), Suits (2013), Empire (2015-2016), Ordinary Lies (2015), Jamestown (2017-2019), The Outsider (2020), The Midwich Cuckoos (2022), Operation Fortune (2023) and Hijack (2023). In 2024, he appeared as boxing promoter Henry Collins in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen (2024).
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