Hunted hits the small screen

Hunted is a new TV series that has just started here in the UK on the BBC and will no doubt be doing the rounds of the rest of the world in short order. It stars Melissa George, who some folks may recognise from, amongst others, The Slap, and more importantly Alias and 30 Days of Night (we're not going to mention Home & Away in the 1990s). She is looking...remarkably well-preserved...to paraphrase Gandalf, and has obviously been studying hard at the Angelina Jolie school of pouting.

Here George plays an agent working for what, to all intents and purposes, is a private espionage outfit, the sort of City of London cosmopolitan enterprise staffed by former intelligence agents who have decided to turn their back on the flag and embrace the dollar. The sort of people you stumble across on the fringes of Russian energy conferences or in form-hugging Armani suits at arms fairs...

Hunted takes a leaf out of The Bourne Identity and Burn Notice, with the main character betrayed and initially on the run, before walking back through the front door of her former employer and asking for her job back. There are echoes here too of Ronin, although George lacks the intimidation skills of a Robert DeNiro or a Jean Renaud (she probably has a d4 in Savage Worlds terms versus their d10s).

I've only seen the first episode but was favourably impressed. Unlike Spooks, the characters here lack the back up of Her Majesty's Government, which makes a big difference. Hunted is also a little reminiscent of Greg Rucka's Queen & Country, with a tough and independent female lead and a group of somewhat troubled male support cast.

Part of the interest for me is that Hunted also resembles a campaign idea I had for Spycraft, with the characters working for a similar private enterprise outfit in Switzerland. Given that I have Agents of Oblivion on order and recently took delivery of Night's Dark Agents, it may well be an idea I resurrect at some point in the not-too-distant future, as I love the genre.