New BBC show explores 'spec-fi'

0 Comments | Philadelphia Daily News, December, 2006 | by Ellen Gray

THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 9 tonight, BBC America. THERE ARE THOSE who prefer the term "speculative fiction" to "science fiction," and I don't usually bother arguing with them, other than to point out that fiction, by its very nature, is speculative. But then I come across something like "The Eleventh Hour," a four-part series that premieres tonight on BBC America, and the concept of spec-fi begins to have its uses.

Patrick Stewart may have become a science-fiction icon the moment he donned that stretchy captain's uniform on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but in "The Eleventh Hour," where he plays Professor Ian Hood, he's exploring a much closer frontier. We may already be living on it. Tonight's premiere, "Resurrection," written by the show's creator, Stephen Gallagher,...