Hunted (previously known as Nemesis)

[Perdita]

Ep 5/8

Confirmed for BBC One on 1 November at 9.00pm to 10.00pm



Sam awakes to find a familiar face in her hospital room, who promises to be an ally.
He alludes to a connection from her past and refuses to give complete information, but does divulge a secret that leads her to take action.

[Perdita]

Ep 6/8

Thursday 8 November
9.00-10.00pm
BBC ONE and BBC HD


In Polyhedrus, episode six of spy thriller Hunted, Sam suspects Jack Turner intends to assassinate Fatima Zahir, a Pakistani presidential candidate opposed to the sale of the dam he’s trying to buy.
She and the team race to save Zahir’s life, only to discover Turner has an even more important target – a scientist possessing a deadly secret that implicates Byzantium’s own client.

[N.Fan]

It seemed a bit far fetched when Sam was able to go into the basement twice and also leave the house twice without anybody noticeing.
Apart from that it's still a good drama.

[Perdita]

Melissa George has spoken about a potential second series of her spy thriller Hunted.

The drama - created by Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) - is currently airing on BBC One in the UK and on Cinemax in the US.

"[Frank has] given me a pretty good idea [of where series two would go]," George told IGN.

"It's all going to be about Sam's journey, finding out and putting the pieces together. She won't be the nanny anymore."

The actress - who plays Sam Hunter - added that a second series of Hunted would be set in Berlin.

"Next year it's in Berlin, and there's a whole link to Hourglass, which is the covenant group that killed her mother," said George. "So there will be a lot of accents and things like that."

The Australian star previously stated that her Hunted role "could potentially be long-term", adding that she may be playing Sam "for the next five years".

[N.Fan]

As long as there is no sub-titles in the second series.

[Perdita]

Ep 7/8

Thursday 15 November
9.00-10.00pm
BBC ONE and BBC HD


In Khyber, episode seven of the spy thriller, Jack Turner demands he be awarded the dam contract, revealing he has evidence implicating Byzantium’s client in a terrible crime.
With the operation nearly over, Aidan presses Sam to revisit childhood memories of her mother’s murder and her own kidnapping – to understand the reasons why the Hourglass conspirators have targeted her for death.

[Perdita]

Ep 8/8

Thursday 22 November
9.00-10.00pm
BBC ONE and BBC HD


In Snow Maiden, the final episode of the spy thriller, Byzantium is ordered to kill Jack Turner, but when the assassination attempt fails, Sam is exposed as a spy, and trapped inside the house.
Turner produces the evidence he has against Byzantium’s client, while Sam – secretly being poisoned to death – at last begins to recover terrible memories that explain why the Hourglass conspirators want her dead.

[N.Fan]

Melisa George who plays Sam is on the Jonathan Ross Show on Sat 3rd Nov.

[alan45]

Hunted drew to a close on BBC One earlier this week, but now you can relive all eight exciting hours with Sam Hunter (Melissa George) as the spy thriller hits the shelves in DVD and Blu-ray formats.

To mark the home media release, Digital Spy spoke to series creator Frank Spotnitz about his writing process on series one, how his leading lady influenced the character of Sam and where Hunted is heading in future...

Hunted has been in the works for several years now. Are you happy with the finished product?
"Yeah, I'm really pleased and proud of it."

You worked on Strike Back prior to Hunted - was there a big difference going from such a masculine show to a series with a female lead?
"Well, it's funny because Strike Back was sort of an accident. I had come here [to the UK] to do Hunted and found I had a 6-month delay before I could start, so I went around looking for something to do and Strike Back happily fell in my lap.

"It was every kind of male fantasy - it was so much fun to write something like that. I did research for that - just like I did for Hunted - and met a bunch of SAS guys. I'd previously met a bunch of Navy SEALS for another project I'd written in the States and they're very inspiring - so that was a blast."

So was it a big change then tackling a show with a female protagonist?
"I'd already written the first hour of Hunted before I did those four hours of Strike Back, so I had that in my head. They're so different tonally and Sam Hunter's a really damaged, complicated person.

"The terrible events of her past really explain the terrible events of her present - it's really because of what happened to her as a child that these things are happening to her now. That was all in my head from the beginning, so it wasn't difficult to get back into it."

Was it a difficult balance to strike - having Sam be damaged but still likeable and engaging for an audience?
"Yes absolutely, it's very challenging because you want to be truthful about her and how she would be. That's what makes her interesting and if you smooth off the edges, you don't have the character anymore.

"So I think the strategy was to make [her] likeable because of the things she does, and to make the audience want to know more about her in those first few hours. Then slowly you get more and more invested in her - it kind of creeps up on you over time. But I think the plot is such a rollercoaster ride and there's so many hard twists and turns that [are] engaging even before you really know who Sam Hunter is."

Did Melissa George's performance affect how you wrote for Sam?
"Her performance definitely affected my writing. I'd written the first episode and I'd started work on the second when she was cast. That's one of the joys of doing television for me, despite the pressure to have all your scripts written before you film. They want you to write all eight before the cameras roll, so they can schedule it more effectively.

"But I love watching what actors do and then writing to the reality of who you've cast, rather than to who you imagine the character to be."

Which elements of Sam's personality did you bring out more because of Melissa's performance?
"I could see this amazing duality that she plays, and that's really why Melissa was cast in the part over anybody else - she's always got more than one thing going on at the same time. A lot of the people who came in to read for Sam - they were fabulous actresses, but their idea of being 'strong' was to be tough and hard...

"Melissa, for me... I guess you could say she's tough and hard, but you always see there's a vulnerability underneath. I loved that, so I looked for opportunities to show that in her scenes."


Did you approach Hunted differently knowing that it had to appeal to a UK and a US audience?
"Well, my feeling was, if it doesn't work for a British audience, it's not going to work for anybody. This is a British show first - I worked with three British writers on the scripts for six months, and wanted to make it throughly and truly British. I thought if I got to the specific truth of that, then it would appeal to American audiences as well, and it has."

The show has quite an international cast. Was that an intentional move to appeal to both audiences?
"Not really - if anything I was a little wary of that, because there have been a lot of shows that try to touch all those bases - different countries and stuff. So we were careful about trying to have too many nationalities and trying to please too many constituencies.

"There are some guest characters who aren't British, but aside from Deacon Crane, they're all Brits. And even Deacon is played by a British actor [Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje] with an American accent."

The first series of Hunted ends on quite an open note...
"A lot gets resolved, but there are definitely questions for the future and I hope to be answering those right around this time next year. I think it's satisfying, but there's certainly questions left open as well."
There's been a lot of speculation about the show's future - is it correct that Cinemax will be producing the show solo going forward?
"Yeah. This is the hazard of doing co-productions - it makes it complicated sometimes if you lose one of your partners. But we're going forward - it's sort of a spinoff of itself and it'll focus more squarely on the character of Sam Hunter. Hopefully it'll be on around this time next year."

There have been rumours that series two will be set in Berlin - is that still the plan?
"No, it's going to change - that was when we still had the BBC as a partner and now it's one of those funny things where it's the same character, but it's a different series. As it happens, from the way episode eight ends, it actually makes it quite organic to launch off into a different series, but it's not the direction we would've gone in had we stayed with the BBC."

Are you hoping to find another UK outlet for Hunted now that the BBC has pulled out?
"I would very much expect there'll be a UK broadcaster for it, yeah."

Cinemax work with Sky on Strike Back - could that be a potential avenue?
"It's occurred to me! It has occurred to me... I'm pretty confident that British viewers will get to see Sam Hunter as she continues

[lizann]

someone please explain the messy ending