Created by Frank Spotnitz
(1960–)
Award-winning writer and producer Frank Spotnitz (one of the headwaiters for The X-Files) was behind this eight-part suspense thriller from 2012 that I just stumbled across, more than a decade later.
with an international espionage story line. Melissa George starred as SAM HUNTER, a kick-ass (and gorgeous) operative for Byzantium, an elite and very private British intelligence firm, who is shot and almost killed while on a mission in Morocco. When she begins to suspect that she may have been set up by members of her own team, she takes it on the lam to recover from her injuries, only to pop up a year later at the firm, unannounced.
SURPRISE!
Her co-workers are unnerved by her sudden reappearance, particularly her colleague (and former lover) Aidan Marsh. Also spooked are her bosses, Rupert Keel and Deacon Crane, who are both suspicious. But they desperately need her back (she was one of their best operatives), for a very important assignment involving Jack Turner, a brutal gangster who is among the bidders hoping to acquire a hydroelectric dam in Pakistan.
So her employers don’t ask too many questions. Sam, meanwhile, still isn’t sure who she can trust, but she’s positive someone still wants her dead.
And so it goes. There’s more than a little international espionage in the plot, more than a few conspiracies flying around (some of them shakier than others) and moral complexities and paranoia abound, as Sam tries to work her case — and find out who’s out to kill her.
The show (and Sam) are a mixed bag, recalling at different times Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander, Carrie Mathison from Showtime’s Homeland, and even Catnis from The Hunger Games. But that doesn’t ‘t mean it wasn’t watchable.
It was. The show was apparently first pitched as a vehicle for The X-Files‘s Gillian Anderson, but Australian-born George was more than fine as Sam, especially in the action scenes. A second season, however, never materialized – leaving viewers (and possibly the writers) in the lurch, with far too many questions unanswered. It apparently played better in the US than the UK.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
American TV writer and producer Frank Spotnitz was born in 1960 in in Camp Zama, Japan (his dad was a doctor in the US Army, and is is best known for his work as one of the headwriters for The X-Files (1995-2002) and its spin-off The Lone Gunmen (2001), and well as the developer/creator of The Man in the High Castle (2015-19), Medici (2016-19), Ransom (2017-19), and Leonardo (2021). He was nominated several times for Emmys for his work on The X-Files, and shared a Canadian Screen Award with Hunted writer Smita Bhide for co-creating the private eye series The Indian Detective.
UNDER OATH
- “The gratuitous sex scenes come along like clockwork, Sam’s back story… is dribbled out in classic fashion and so on. “Hunted” ends up being a competent addition to the high-stakes-snooping genre but not a very surprising one.”
— Neil Genzlinger (The New York Times) - True, it’s not the creators’ fault the show was canceled. However, until the ink is dry on the contract for renewal, it’s probably a good idea to act as if every series will be your last. Otherwise, you run the risk of ending up with something like this, an infuriating mix of well-crafted elements, thrown away on a bunch of loose ends.”
— Jim McLennan (Girls with Guns)
TELEVISION
- HUNTED | Watch it now!
(2012, BBC/Cinemax)
8 60-minute episodes
Premiere: Created by Frank Spotnitz
Writers: Frank Spotnitz, Simon Allen, Smita Bhide, Amira El-Nemr, Christian Spurrier
Directors: S.J. Clarkson, Daniel Percival, Alrick Riley, James Strong
Starring Melissa George as SAM HUNTER
With Adam Rayner as Aidan Marsh
Patrick Malahide as Jack Turner
Stephen Dillane as Rupert Keel
and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Deacon Crane
Also starring Morven Christie, Stephen Campbell Moore, Oscar Kennedy, Tom Beard, Lex Shrapnel, Maddy Griffiths, Jane Riley, Ben Bailey Smith, Souad Faress, David Sterne- SEASON ONE
- “Mort” (October 4, 2012)
- “LB” (October 11, 2012)
- “Hourglass” (October 18, 2012)
- “Kismet” (October 25, 2012)
- “Ambassadors” (November 1, 2012)
- “Polyhedrus” (November 8, 2012)
- “Khyber” (November 15, 2012)
- “Snow Maiden” (November 22, 2012)
NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH
- Private eye Sam Hunter by Edgar winner L.A. Morse, who appeared in two books of, uh, dubious distinction.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
