Thirty years after the original series came to the end of its 12-year history, Hawaii Five-0 is about to burst back onto British TV. The new-look Five-0 kicked off in September last year on the American CBS network, and will debut on Sky1/Sky1 HD in the UK in February.
A pilot for a new Hawaii Five-0 was made in 1996, starring Gary Busey and Russell Wong, but it never aired. This time, the chemistry feels right and American audiences have been enthusiastic. The new version uses several of the same principal character names from the original, including of course Steve McGarrett (originally played by grim teetotaller Jack Lord, now incarnated by Alex O'Loughlin), Detective Danny "Book him, Danno" Williams (with Scott Caan stepping into the shoes of James MacArthur) and Chin Ho Kelly, where Daniel Dae Kim (familiar from Lost) replaces Kam Fong. The glamour ante is upped by the addition of Kelly's cousin Kono, played by Grace Park of Battlestar Galactica fame.
Plot-wise, the reborn series echoes back to its illustrious forebear, with former Navy Intelligence officer Steve McGarrett returning to his native Hawaii to track down his father's killer, and being appointed to head a new elite unit of the Hawaii State Police. Devotees of the original will thrill to the news that Morton Stevens's famous theme music has been retained with its instrumentation intact, while the opening credit sequence recreates shots from the late-Sixties model, including the helicopter approach, the close-up of McGarrett's face and the swivelling hula dancer's hips. Hawaii Five-0's dozen seasons from 1968-1980 made it the longest-running crime show on US TV until Law & Order overtook it in 2003, and it's still being syndicated around the world. And some say that CSI: Miami's Lt Horatio Caine, played by David Caruso, pinched several telltale mannerisms from Jack Lord's McGarrett.
Watch the trailer for the new Hawaii Five-0
