Millions tuned for final '24'

The beer's on ice, the pizza's been ordered, and the VCR is poised for action. Let the final countdown commence.

After nearly six months of thrills, 24, the most talked-about US serial since Twin Peaks, reaches its dramatic climax tonight in front of a predicted British audience of more than four million.

One of the tensest seven-day waits in television history is set to culminate in explosive style, as the worst day in counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer's life draws to its startling close.

But for those of us already preparing to lapse into mourning over the loss of our adrenaline-fuelled Sunday night fix, there is good news.

Following weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the BBC last night revealed that it had won the rights to screen a second series, fending off prospective rivals including digital channel Sky One.

The deal means that the 24 sequel, already the subject of frenzied speculation on fan websites, can still be seen free by the millions of households that receive only the five terrestrial stations.

Though confined to BBC2 and the digital channel BBC Choice, 24 has steadily built up a loyal and hungry following since it started airing in the UK in March. Up to three million viewers a week have been tuning in on BBC2, while it has helped the ratings of BBC Choice, which, until the penultimate instalment, was running the episodes a week ahead of its sister channel.

The final episode was originally scheduled to be shown on BBC Choice last weekend, but the corporation took a last-minute decision to hold off for fear that those who had seen it would spoil its denouement for anyone forced to wait for its terrestrial showing.

Instead, the whole series to date was re-run from start to finish last week on the digital station. It will finish tonight with a simultaneous screening of the final episode on both channels.

Shot in ''real time'', 24 follows the hour-by-hour fortunes of grizzled investigator Bauer, played by a suitably moody-looking Kiefer Sutherland, as he races to foil an assassination attempt on a black presidential candidate, David Palmer. As his day progresses, pressures mount on him, as his teenage daughter, Kim, and wife, Teri, are kidnapped by the group believed to be planning the murder.

Aside from its thrill-a-minute plot, the serial has one abiding trademark: its use of split-screen, a technique rarely, if ever, adopted in TV drama before. As in Mike Figgis's thriller Timecode, the use of multiple images enables the viewer to trace the actions of characters in different settings as they try to outwit each other.

24 has also resuscitated Sutherland's until recently flagging Hollywood career, propelling him into the ranks of television's top earners.