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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eleventh_hour_uk.jpg]]
2[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eleventh_hour.jpg]]
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4Science-themed Crime Drama about the exploits of Dr. Jacob Hood (Professor Ian Hood in the UK version), a special government consultant dealing with crimes involving [[RippedFromTheHeadlines advanced science concepts the viewer has probably heard about on the news]].
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6Hood is ably assisted by an attractive bodyguard, Rachel Young, as he uses his genius to solve crimes based around things like cloning, [[HumanPopsicle cryonics]], and genetic engineering. His exploits have allegedly made Hood some powerful enemies, though none of them have yet surfaced.
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8The original UK series starred Creator/PatrickStewart in the lead role, and is notable mostly for the fact that Patrick Stewart is the lead. A [[TransAtlanticEquivalent US remake]] with a more attractive cast (but less actual sex, due to differing MediaNotes/SafeHarbor regulations) is more ongoing, and is most notable for being perhaps the only time a character on US television has been portrayed simultaneously as a genius and a human being with the capacity for emotion and social interaction who isn't suffering from some form of autism (See notes at SpockSpeak).
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10The series bears some similarity to the older series ''Series/{{Probe}}'', but is somewhat less fanciful.
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14!! This series provides examples of:
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16* ActionGirl: Rachel
17* BritishBrevity: The original UK series lasted only 4 episodes.
18* BunnyEarsLawyer: Hood is brilliant, but requires Rachel to keep an eye on him.
19* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: As Hood's bodyguard, Rachel also acts in this role.
20* ClothingDamage: At one point, Hood ask Rachel to tear apart her business jacket to make face masks. She obeys without hesitation.
21* CulturalTranslation
22* EverybodyLives: More often than you'd think for a show dealing with science crimes. While most episodes include at least one death, there are several where Hood saves everybody.
23* FatalFamilyPhoto: In an episode dealing with an outbreak, a construction worker who mentions his son's birthday is sure enough the first one to show symptoms.
24* IAlwaysWantedToSayThat: Hood: "Duty calls."
25* {{Macgyvering}}: Referenced in "Eternal", when they get locked in a freezer and Rachel asks if Hood can build a bomb out of baking soda and champagne to blow the door off. He responds "I'm a scientist, not Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}. Shoot the lock!"
26* NoOSHACompliance: In "Eternal", Rachel and Hood get locked in a freezer when the criminal smashes the keycard lock. This shouldn't work-- freezers are required to always be openable from the inside for more or less this reason.
27* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Hood
28* PhlebotinumAnalogy: Hood is fond of destructive analogies involving Rachel's luggage, toiletries, etc.
29* PregnancyDoesNotWorkThatWay: likes to screw up cloning (at least the clones ''are'' born as infants and not carbon-copy adults with complete memories). In the first episode, Jacob Hood insists that cloned pregnancies are more dangerous to the mother carrying the clone and that you need the "real scientist" at the birth, when in fact a cloned infant poses no more threat to the mother than an ''in vitro'' pregnancy, which is scarcely more risky than a natural one (and in fact the mother's health is only in jeopardy if her own body is incapable of carrying a pregnancy; if the baby is unhealthy it will simply miscarry). Then in a later episode, he makes the claim that clones are born genetically the same age as the original that they were copied from (so even though they look like babies, their genes are [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld actually adult or even geriatric]]), stating that the telomeres which break off each time a cell replicates are severely shortened. However, scientific research measuring telomere lengths has proved this to be false; the developing embryo somehow "knows" how long its telomeres should be [[ShownTheirWork and resets them to this length with the enzyme telomerase]].
30* ScienceIsBad: Subverted and played straight - the science is (generally) good; the people abusing it are bad. Examples:
31** A suspended animation serum for long-term space travel is good; using it to attack teens on Spring Break [[spoiler: for raping the attacker's teen daughter]] is bad. [[spoiler: And somehow it became an STD that puts you in a coma, and then as a reward for waking up from the coma gives you ''flesh-eating bacteria''.]]
32** A nanotech "virus" capable of creating super-efficient batteries is good; sabotaging it [[spoiler: which causes it infect humans, leaching them of metal to create an ultrafine layer of metal that's attractive to lightning]] is bad.
33** Stem cell cancer treatments are good; stealing them for ultra-botox is bad. [[spoiler: Abusing it causes BodyHorror.]]
34* ToadLicking: The solution to "Cardiac" turns out to involve this.
35* TransAtlanticEquivalent
36* WellIntentionedExtremist: The villain of the week tends to be this, ranging from [[spoiler: a park ranger poisoning Lake Michigan with mercury to raise awareness about pollution to a neurosurgeon performing illegal experiments on autistic teens to find a cure for autism.]]
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