“I bless the rains down in Africa…” That’s all well and good, Toto, but you wouldn’t be singing that if you’d seen 24: Redemption…

Yes, we’ve managed to get our greedy mitts on a preview copy (one of the perks of working somewhere like TV Spy!) and it’s every bit as over-the-top as any 24 fan could wish for.

We’re sworn to secrecy about what happens, of course, not least because we don’t want to spoil it for you (my calculator reckons it’s now just 13 more sleeps ’till it’s on Sky1), so what can we tell you?

Jack has been on the run for 18 months, flitting around all over the world trying to dodge the extremely long arm of the law while seemingly developing a predilection for scarves. He’s now in the fictional African country of Sangala, where he has teamed up with former Special Forces colleague Robert Carlyle (sporting a fine Oirish accent), who’s running a school for rescued child soldiers.

Their initial nemesis appears to be Benjamin Jum, played by the perfectly-cast Tony Todd of Candyman fame. Juma’s a ruthless warlord planning a military coup, and he’s reinforcing his army with children. Of course, it wouldn’t be 24 if there wasn’t some dodgy link between him and the US government, which we just start to get hints about…

Gil Bellows (you may remember him as Ally McBeal’s old flame) works at the American Embassy in Sangala, and seems to be under the impression that the job requires glasses and a haircut that would be more at home in a 1970s Kojak movie.

America is about to swear in its first female president, played by Cherry Jones (find out more about the actress in BuddyTV’s interview). She seems like a force to be reckoned with, but it soon becomes clear that she’s going to have to deal with some murky problems courtesy of the ever-shifty outgoing prez Noah Daniels. Tom Lennox (another Ally McBeal star, Peter MacNicol) is around, too, still as wily as he is wiry.

Last but definitely not least is Jon Voight, giving an extremely brief taste of his villainous promise as weapons dealer Jonas Hodges.

The feature-length episode does a great job setting the scene for what’s to come in the new series next year, and it has really whetted our appetite. What with that and the new series of Lost, 2009 is shaping up to be a real cracker. Return of the Jacks!

• 24: Redemption will be shown on Sky1 and Sky1 HD on Monday 24 November at 10pm

• For more 24 goodness, click here