# The Last Enemy (2008)

> A reclusive mathematician returns to England and is drawn into a conspiracy around a new national database and a terrorist plot.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/6606

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 5
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: thriller, drama
- Created by: Peter Berry
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Anamaria Marinca, Max Beesley, Robert Carlyle, Eva Birthistle, Geraldine James, David Harewood, Alex Caan
- TMDB rating: 7.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0966151/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: tense, paranoid, cold, brooding

## Synopsis

The Last Enemy (2008) is a British miniseries created by Peter Berry for BBC One, a five-episode conspiracy thriller. Benedict Cumberbatch plays reclusive mathematician Stephen Ezard, who returns to England after years in China and finds his brother's widow, Eleanor Brooke (Eva Birthistle), before being pulled into a plot centered on a new national database called TIA and a terrorist scheme. Max Beesley appears as his brother Michael, while Robert Carlyle and David Harewood add pressure as figures tangled in the intrigue, and Anamaria Marinca brings another layer of uncertainty to the chase. The engine is simple and gripping: a man who wants to be left alone must confront the cost of a system built to watch everyone and the danger hidden inside it. Each hour moves briskly through London streets, safe houses and government corridors, with threats that feel close and personal. The story is a single continuing arc told across five hour-long episodes, so every reveal builds on the last. Its mood is tense, cold and paranoid, with a sense of fragile trust in institutions. Fans of Spooks, Person of Interest and other surveillance thrillers will find the same unease about technology and power. Set in a near future Britain shaped by fear and data, it rewards close attention and sustained suspense from start to finish.

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