24 Of 24's Most Memorable Characters - Ranked

Ask anyone who has just begun watching 24 and one of the things they’ll excitedly tell talk about is the scene when Senator David Palmer, whilst confronted by a group of thugs, nonchalantly stops a baseball bat with his hand from smacking into his head! Okay so this wasn’t a game-changing moment but still, it was pretty awesome.

Another prosaic albeit compelling scene in season four is when Palmer, now former president, notifies President Logan that his chief of staff, that spineless coward Walt Cummings again, is preparing to have Jack killed so he doesn’t potentially implicate the government who authorised an attack on the Chinese consol. When Logan dismisses Palmer’s concerns as mere paranoia, Palmer deadeyes him and says in his usual tone of authoritative gravitas: “Hear no evil.” A taken aback Logan replies: “I beg your pardon?” To which Palmer damningly intones: “You heard me.” It still makes the hairs stand on end.

Was it naive of us to assume that Palmer, along with Jack, was one of those characters whom you'd have considered untouchable? Even when Palmer was jaw-droppingly gunned down and lay completely and utterly motionless, surely he wasn't actually dead?...Oh. All together now: noooooo! However this yet again reaffirmed 24's ability to catch viewers unawares.