Joel Surnow - 24

Joel Surnow, co-creator of hit TV series 24 (starring Kiefer Sutherland, pictured, right), talks to John Patterson in Media Guardian (free registration required).

Right now, Surnow, his co-creator Robert Cochran and the writing team are writing episode 19 - with no idea as yet how the show will wrap up this season. They work a merciless schedule, necessitated by 24's pioneering non-stop format (other shows have two-month-long hiatuses per season, 24 runs for 24 consecutive weeks). After writing the four-episode block already aired, they had no idea what would be happening by episode six. If the writers aren't perpetually surprising themselves, says Surnow, how can they expect to keep surprising the fans?

"I don't know how we'll get Jack back in a good place so we can pull the rug out from under him all over again - but we'll try! It's brutal, it's rough. 18 scripts from July to January, six from January to June. So it starts to feel about now that we have the ending in sight - even though, of course, we don't know the ending."