FANS of the dramatic action TV series 24 can celebrate as the show‘s seventh season premiers on TV this week. Starting on M-Net Action on Wednesday at 7pm, season seven – or Day 7 – of 24 will combine the show's unique and trend-setting format with compelling new elements.

Each episode will again cover one hour of real time, as viewers follow Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) through another astonishing day.

The series got a jump start on the clock with 24: Redemption last week, a two-hour real-time Day 7 prequel, which was shot on location in and around Cape Town last year.

Bauer and mentor Carl Benton (Robert Carlyle) battled an international crisis while the US prepared for a new president on inauguration day. With the action taking place just a few months before the new day dawned, US State Department officer Frank Tramell (Gil Bellows) and Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight) pulled the strings that set the stage and raised the stakes for season seven.

This was when viewers got introduced to the character of Colonel Ike Dubaku, portrayed by former South African actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim.

Kae-Kazim, who starred in various TV series roles in South Africa, moved to Los Angeles three years ago when he first auditioned for this role. It took him almost two years to land a part in the movie and he‘s now a season seven regular on the 24 cast.

“It‘s really great to be a part of such a great, professional cast. I love my job and enjoy working with Kiefer Sutherland,” he told My Weekend via e-mail from Los Angeles.

“Kiefer‘s a lovely man. I‘ve heard of so many actors who are sometimes difficult to work with but he‘s very down to earth.”

Just a few months after Kae-Kazim, wife Bronwyn and their two daughters moved to LA, he was cast in the third of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

“I hadn‘t been living in LA too long when I went to audition for the movie. Seeing Johnny Depp in the flesh was a great moment for me because I‘ve always idolised him. He‘s such a great actor and is very pleasant in real life. I wasn‘t really star-struck – it‘s something I normally don‘t get with actors. Just to have shared a few scenes with him was a highlight for me.”

Set in Washington, DC, Day 7 opens four years after season six, with CTU dismantled and Bauer on trial. Bauer's day takes an unexpected turn when former colleague Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) returns.

Meanwhile, newly elected President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) leads the country alongside White House Chief of Staff Ethan Kanin (Bob Gunton) and First Gentleman Henry Taylor (Colm Feore).

A national security crisis prompts an investigation by a team of FBI agents including Janis Gold (Janeane Garofalo), Renee Walker (Annie Wersching), Larry Moss (Jeffrey Nordling) and Sean Hillinger (Rhys Coiro).

Although CTU is no longer, Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) are back for another momentous day of shocking events.

Kae-Kazim said working on US TV shows was “much faster” than what he was used to. “When you‘re called to the set, you go and do your scenes and then it‘s over,” he said.