By GustavoLeao / 20:13, 7 April 2005 / People

According to DailyRecord, STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION star Patrick Stewart has agreed to star in a British TV drama for the first time in 20 years.



The 64-year-old actor, who is currently starring in A LIFE IN THE THEATRE on the London stage, will take the leading role in the $8.6 million ITV network four-part sci-fi thriller ELEVENTH HOUR, in which he will play 'Professor Alan Hood', an emeritus physics professor who specialises in averting potential disasters.In each episode, he is called on by the Government to help avert a human disaster caused by a new scientific development.

'When I finally got the call to say that he'd signed, it was a real Champagne moment for me" said ELEVENTH HOUR creator and producer Stephen Gallagher, who has penned two DOCTOR WHO episodes "'I'd always had an older hero in mind when I was writing it."

Gallagher created the character for a novella that he wrote for Ellen Datlow's supernatural anthology THE DARK, although he says that the TV show stays firmly this side of the speculative line and doesn't stray into pure sci-fi or horror.

"Professor Hood is a bit like your dad - someone who can step in and sort things out. Patrick had been very complimentary about the material, so I knew that emotionally he was on board."

"X-MEN 3 had their dates to meet and we had ours. Both of us wanted him."

The series starts filming in Manchester next month.ELEVENTH HOUR will be produced by Stephen Smallwood (THE VICE), Jenny Frayn (PRIME SUSPECT) will be the script editor and the first two shows will be directed by Terry McDonough (WIRE IN THE BLOOD).

The original report can be found here.