Frances Grant: Delving into Dark Lords

Off-peak telly isn't all soaps and talk shows. Sometimes it can be surprisingly educational. For instance, who would have suspected Tolkien's grisly orcs of Middle-earth could have more to teach us than just the sad, unattractive outcomes of dental neglect.

Lurking in the TV One schedule on Saturday afternoons is an inventive three-part nature doco series which takes New Zealand's famous role as Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as inspiration for debating environmental issues.

You might not think the rampaging orcs have much in common with a small, furry tree-dwelling marsupial but Middle Earth Connection draws a frightening parallel between the evil legions of the Dark Lord and the bands of possums marauding through our native forests.

Like Orcs, the only good possums are dead ones. Pitted against these bringers of ecological ruin are the brave, fat little heroes of the forest. Hobbits? No, the kereru, the only bird able to eat the large berries and seeds of many fruiting native trees and thus ensure their continuance.

The kereru have a good solid appetite, they're the sort of creatures who definitely go in for hobbit-style second breakfasts, followed by elevenses. But I'm keen to see where the Middle-earth analogy will take us next week. Sitting here in the suburbs, surrounded by the usual weekend racket of infill housing construction, lawn-mowers, chainsaws and car stereos, I think the hobbit life in quiet, hillside burrows might have a lot to recommend it, as well as saving on energy and footwear.

Middle-earth could have mileage in other areas of environmental concern. The blasted forest of Fangorn, for example, seemed to poignantly sum up another area of devastation in public life: the felling of the mighty news and current affairs presenters of TVNZ. Paul Holmes' laments and warnings on the subject in the Herald on Sunday were uncannily reminiscent of the venerable Treebeard bemoaning the ruin of his woods.

From Middle-earth to the Middle East and terrorism in prime time: the promos tell us this latest season of real-time thriller 24 is the most dramatic yet. Certainly the terrorist threat to the US has escalated exponentially since agent Jack Bauer first uncovered the evil machinations of a former Serbian warlord.

In the world of 24, the US is under siege from a vast array of enemies: central American drug barons, terrorists wielding dirty bombs, biochemical plagues and in this latest season, the means to melt down nuclear power plants.

Some might theorise that the terrorist agenda is more complex than just hatred for America. But action-packed 24 is too busy to buy into any kind of lateral thinking on the matter. This is a show which, despite all the twists and turns, likes its international relations in black and white.

The villains have always been a weak point - Dennis Hopper with a thick pseudo-Serbian accent was probably the nadir - but the latest lot are pure cardboard cut-outs. Mr Azaz is so wicked he'd sacrifice his own son for the cause. And Mrs Azaz thought nothing of slipping her son's girlfriend a lethal dose of poison.

In all the heat and excitement, there's not much time for developing character or looking at what the bad guys are up in arms about, and why. It wouldn't hurt the quality of the show if Jack managed to stow the flak jacket for a reflective moment on world politics, superpowers and their role in the creation of Dark Lords.