A mathematical genius takes a wild ride through the boundless paranoia of a surveillance society on “The Last Enemy,” a five-part thriller set in England in the not-too-distant future. “The Last Enemy” launches the first season of Masterpiece Contemporary, beginning Sunday, Oct. 5, at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1 and Thursday, Oct. 9 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET2.
Biometric ID cards, ubiquitous security cameras and “Total Information Awareness,” a program to give authorities unlimited access to personal data, have turned Britain into a virtual police state. And it turns out that Big Brother has even bigger plans for keeping track of citizens.
Stephen Ezard, played by Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement, “To the Ends of the Earth”) returns to London to attend his brother Michael’s funeral after four years of seclusion doing mathematical research in China. Michael, who died in a landmine explosion in Afghanistan, leaves behind a band of devoted friends and fellow relief workers who assemble at his graveside. He also leaves an enigmatic and beautiful wife: a Bosnian physician who starts an affair with Stephen the night that her husband is laid to rest.
Spurred by heightening surveillance and identity laws in contemporary England, writer Peter Berry crafted “The Last Enemy” as a cautionary fable of post-9/11 society, where technological and political trends are converging on a culture that is the antithesis of everything represented by Britain’s ancient charter of individual liberty, Magna Carta.
“There are those that argue that the innocent have nothing to hide,” says Berry, “but soon the innocent are going to have to prove that they are in fact innocent — suspects until proven innocent by the data logged on their ID cards. Ordinary citizens will become the enemy — the last enemy.”
Masterpiece Contemporary “The Last Enemy” is produced by WGBH/Boston. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.
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