“Come with me, if you wanna live!”

“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” starts in the UK, on Virgin1 (Freeview 20), in a week’s time on Thursday, 21 February at 10pm. All you have to do is remember to switch over immediately after episode three of “Ashes to Ashes”! The story picks up where the second movie, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, left off. Like “Bionic Woman”, which we’re still waiting for ITV2 to broadcast, the lead is played by an English actress. Lena Headey takes over from Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. She is the mother of John Connor. John is only fifteen years old at this stage of the story but, as we all know, is destined to become the future leader of the human resistance. He’s played by Thomas Dekker. Sarah is seen as a deranged fugitive by the authorities, who do not believe her story about the Terminators. Lena was cast after Series creator Josh Friedman watched her audition tape, and thought she was “a tough, tough woman”!

Like the second sequel in the movie franchise, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”, the TV series features a female Terminator although this one is sent back from the year 2027 to protect John Connor. Her model and exact capabilities have not yet been revealed. She can mimic human mannerisms better than the T-800 model, and possibly consume food. Her name is Cameron Phillips, presumably after the director of the first two movies, James Cameron. She’s played by Summer Glau, probably best known to genre fans as River from Joss Whedon’s space western “Serenity”. The Connors are pursued by FBI agent James Ellison played by Richard T. Jones. Lena Headey’s Sarah Connor has already been criticised, in the States, for not being as muscular as Linda Hamilton, in “T2”, but I think the new series should be worth a look despite, obviously, being made on a smaller budget than that first sequel!