The upcoming 8-part spy drama, Hunted, which premieres Thursday, 4 October on BBC One (yes, I know, this is ‘in the face’ opposite the new series of Red Dwarf on Dave for those that are keeping score at home), looks brilliant. Let’s just say that having seen the trailer, the producers had me at “…from the makers of Spooks“.

Melissa George plays Sam Hunter, a highly skilled operative for an elite private intelligence firm, who survives an attempt on her life that, conceivably, have been orchestrated by members of her own team. Once she returns to the firm, she performs her daily secretive duties without knowing who to trust and who wants her dead. In other words, Sam is a spy. She’s a hunter who is now hunted by people who like to do bad things.

Writer Frank Spotnitz (X-Files, Strike Back) explains the intricacies of the private intelligence firms around the world and how this provided the groundwork for the Sam Hunter world of morality and paranoia. As it seems to be with all those that enter the world of espionage, there’s a pattern of having a past that you are running from. In Sam’s case, it seems as though she possesses that desire to escape her past while needing to confront it to understand who is after her.

Both George and Spotnitz are no strangers to American television audiences with the Australian-born actress having appeared in episodes of American television series such as Charmed, Alias, Friends, Lie to Me and Grey’s Anatomy along with a supporting role in the brilliant David Lynch film, Mulholland Drive and Spotnitz having written for The X-Files and Strike Back.

For me, combine the talents on both sides of the camera with “…from the makers of Spooks“ and I’m there. For the record, however, if I was to be in the UK on Thursday, 4 October? No brainer. Watch RDX live and Hunted goes on the DVR. Let’s hope both Hunted and Red Dwarf X make it across the pond sooner rather than later.