Japan pulls ’24’ season over radiation storyline

TOKYO, Japan – Japanese television executives have pulled the final season of the hit US television show “24” from screens over a storyline involving radiation poisoning, a statement said Wednesday.

Season 8 of the programme starring Kiefer Sutherland as agent Jack Bauer, would not air as scheduled on April 13 due to “consideration of the ongoing situation surrounding Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant,” Tokyo Television, which runs the show, said on its website.

It would be replaced by season 5, it added.

A spokeswoman said the decision was made to avoid causing panic among the public, which has been highly sensitised to nuclear issues since the plant began leaking radioactive material into the air and the sea, affecting farm produce and tap water.

Workers are grappling to control reactors at the plant, where a giant tsunami knocked out cooling systems following the record 9.0 magnitude earthquake of March 11.

The quake-tsunami has killed more than 12,000 people. Over 15,000 are still missing.

Season 8 of the show depicts Bauer, a maverick counter-terrorism agent who works to prevent attacks on the United States, surviving radiation poisoning and battling to stop nuclear fuel rods from ending up in enemy hands.