A NEW science fiction series starring Huddersfield actress Lena Headey has hit the TV screens.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been premiered in the United States and was watched by more than 18m viewers.
And the series is expected to be shown in the UK cable television, with 33-year-old Lena in the leading role.
The series picks up where the 1991 box-office hit Terminator 2: Judgement Day left off and focuses on heroine Sarah Connor and her 15-year-old son John.
Sarah has to battle an artificial intelligence called Skynet, which in the future will create a world ruled by machines and threaten mankind with extinction.
Her son – played by Thomas Dekker – will become the saviour of mankind and Sarah must struggle to bring him up alone while protecting him from enemies from the present and the future. She is helped by Cameron – played by Summer Glau – a student who is revealed to be a terminator sent from the future to become the family’s protector.
Lena has been filming in Los Angeles for the series, which is being directed by David Nutter – the man behind successes including ER and The Sopranos.
The series has been made by Warner Bros and CD Pictures for US television network Fox. It is being shown on British screens on Virgin Media’s Virgin 1 channel. The channel is broadcast free-to-air on Freeview and replaces Sky One on Virgin’s cable service as a 24-hour channel.
The spin-off series is set to be a big hit for Lena, who recently had rave reviews for her performance as Spartan Queen Gorgo in blockbuster 300.
The actress also stars as bespectacled Miss Dickinson in the St Trinian’s film, which is currently showing at cinemas across the country.
Lena has appeared in more than 30 films but got her first taste of acting as a pupil at Shelley College and got her big break at the age of 17 thanks to the school, which has produced other stars.
She was appearing in a school production at London’s Royal National Theatre and was snapped up for a role opposite Jeremy Irons in the 1992 film Waterland.
