This is probably the most powerful TV series that has ever been produced and this was confirmed when the nail biting 24 TV series won an Oscar award this year as best TV program at the annual awards that honors cinema along with movie stars, producers and directors.

There is no secret agent like Jack Bauer who uses all methods including the unorthodox to bring down terrorists who are constantly threatening the security of the United States without knowing that there exists an efficient counter terrorism unit popularly known as CTU.

It all started with an Arab terrorist plot to smuggle a nuke into the states and at the same time assassinate the president with the help of rogue agents at the CTU including one Linda Myer.

As usual Jack whose real name is Kieffer Sutherland was to get to the bottom of it and manages to save the United States from radiation emitted by the nuke by flying the plane into the dessert where it detonated but not before he parachutes to safety and lets his boss fly the remaining distance since he was going to die anyway from a terminal illness.

Fortunately again Jack manages to save the presidents' life but not before killing some of the terrorists who had infiltrated CTU where all employees at one point turned paranoid and could not trust each other.

The series also threw in a lot of action and suspense especially involving the glamorous daughter of Jack, Kim Bauer who seemed to be in danger at every turn let alone the bad company she usually came across.

Then came the second season where Jack was back at what he does best but this time it was a British terrorist formerly with the special forces who had got hold of a deadly biological weapon which he intended to unleash in California .

The terrorists plans were going on well till the master minders' daughter was kidnapped in a bid to force him out which worked but not before the terrorists divided the bio weapon among several of their agents in different places.

Again it was Jacks ingenuity that made the master mind reveal where the rest of the vials were when he threatened to expose the villains' daughter to the virus which had been unleashed at a local hotel in California.

This episodes exposed the cruelty of the terrorists who went as far as kidnapping the wife of the CTU boss in a bid to arm twist him so he could issue orders that could facilitate his escape from a building that he had been cornered.

Then the Arab terrorists returned in the next season this time kidnapping the united states secretary of defense who was to be tried and executed for alleged crimes he had committed against the Arabs.

It was just when the government was about to bomb the area where the trial was to take place when jack appeared at the scene and staged a daring rescue mission and saved the defense secretary to the chagrin of the Arabs who were killed in the ensuing fire fight.
24 has proved to be a winner the world over and in Kenya where it appears every Monday at 8 pm on the Kenya television network (KTN), thousands of people get home early to catch up with the latest developments.

For the privileged in Africa who can afford pay TV, they are one season ahead on the digital satellite TV channel that covers the whole of Africa, popularly known as DSTV which is based in South Africa but is available in most parts of the continent and has became extremely popular over the years due to its exciting programming including the 24 series.

On DSTV, the plot is even thicker, this time round as it involves Russian terrorists who are in procession of nerve gas and at the same time want to assassinate their president before he signs an agreement with his American counterpart.

The start is even more dramatic with the assassination of president Palmer by a sniper who is across the building. This happens at a time when the whereabouts of Jack Bauer are not clear not to mention that most of his friends and professional colleagues believe that he is dead.

It is also re-assuring to the viewers that Mr Bauer (Kieffer Sutherland) has started directing the series of late and he is doing an excellent job so far.