Staring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer. 24 is a thriller that purports to be shown in "real-time," with each minute of airtime corresponding to a minute in the lives of the characters. This real-time nature is emphasized by an on-screen digital clock appearing from time to time, with a distinct beeping noise for each second, alternating between C and D tones. This time corresponds to the in-universe time of the show. The characters will often place time windows (such as the common "within the hour") on certain events such as terrorist threats, thus strongly hinting that the attack/event will occur before the end of the episode.

The action switches between different locations tracing parallel adventures of different characters involved in the same overarching plot. As a result, there may be long sections of unseen narrative for each character; in that case, a character may only be seen for a portion of an episode's overall running time. The notice preceding each episode announcing that "events occur in real time" was only included in the first three episodes of the first season, as well as the premiere episodes of the second and third seasons.
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Kiefer Sutherland
Role: Jack Bauer
Sarah Wynter
Role: Kate Warner

James Morrison
Bill Buchanan

Xander Berkeley
Role: George Mason

Lana Parrilla
Role: Sarah Gavin

Carlos Bernard
Role: Tony Almeida

Sarah Clarke
Role: Nina Myers