We began with enthusiasm and sandwiches at 1pm. The first few hours went by slowly but we got in to the routine of pausing the episode as the clock appeared following the ad break and waiting for our big “real time” digital clock to synchronise with the episode.

Having caught a train from Scotland early in the morning, I felt myself flagging around 9pm. I began resting my eyes in ad breaks after around 11pm, but this resulted in short naps. We filled many of the gaps with bits of South Park which helped a little.

I started feeling more awake around 3am and was helped by two cups of strong coffee and a packet of crisps. As dawn broke, the tiredness wore off, as if I’d spent most of the night asleep. At the first ad break after 9am, Andy popped to the shop to get an Observer and some air freshener. Both helped. Mid-morning, as the plots began to resolve, we longed for it to end. And at 1pm, relief.

The series breaks down into three or four sections, a big twist dividing each. It was more linear than previous series, and we agreed that the main President Palmer plots were more divorced from CTU activity. Andy picked eight characters he thought would be dead by the end; he got a respectable five right. We were disappointed that Chase Edmunds, with his one expression, didn’t suffer a worse fate.

When you watch episodes back to back, you start to spot the inconsistencies. Characters move to different parts of CTU between episods – i.e., instantaneously. Some appear to have their hair done. There are also patterns. Dull briefing meetings are conveniently scheduled during ad breaks. Any chase that starts before the commercials will still be in full swing afterwards. And woe betide anyone who expects to get to the top of the hour without something dramatic happening.

The series did stand up to watching in twenty-four hours, but I’m not sure that it’s something I’d want to do again.