Will FlashForward be the latest US TV import hit?

Is FlashForward the new Lost? Sci-fi fans frustrated by the latter's ridiculously circuitous and inconclusive plots will certainly hope not. But last night they were treated to a vision of an intriguing and - in six months' time - potentially conclusive new TV series.

FlashForward opened with scenes of mass devastation. The entire population of the planet has blacked out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. For that part of mankind awake, or in an aeroplane, at the time, this has predictably calamitous results. Slightly ropey special effects treat the viewer to a burning Big Ben and a pile-up on a Los Angeles freeway - oh, and some surfers have drowned.

The rest of this pilot episode is stuffed with information, so desperate are the producers to get us hooked. A group of FBI agents soon discover that during their blackouts they all had a premonition of themselves in six months' time. Except for one - is he going to die? They immediately set to work investigating the phenomenon.

In his vision, reformed alcoholic FBI agent Joseph Fiennes sees himself back on the sauce - and trying to crack the FlashForward case. Sonya Walger, his wife, sees herself in bed with Jack Davenport, who shows up in the closing stages of the episode in the hospital where she works as a doctor.

American actors seem to be already living in their own nightmarish future in which all the plum roles are taken by British actors, such as these three.

FlashForward is based on a sci-fi novel by Canadian author Robert J Sawyer. However, the makers of the TV drama say they have changed key plot details and there are no answers to be found in the book.

Last night's episode already introduces discrepancies between the plot of the novel and the TV series. In the book, the blackouts give rise to visions 21 years in the future. All recording equipment across the globe is disabled - and the blackouts are caused by particle physicists at the CERN laboratory running the Large Hadron Collider in order to find the Higgs boson.

So far, in the TV adaptation, we have no idea what caused the blackout. The only clue is from a fully functioning CCTV camera at a baseball stadium. In this video, the FBI agents see a cloaked man walking among the unconscious spectators.

The FlashForward opener was a ratings hit for Five. The channel cleaned up with 3.2m viewers - 13 per cent of the TV audience. This compares to a regular share of just seven per cent for this time slot, the channel says. It was also the most watched programme at that time for the key 16 to 34-year-old demographic.

Reaction to FlashForward's debut has been positive. During the show last night, microblogging site Twitter was abuzz with comment. But if the show proves a ratings hit, they may all be having the same horrible premonition. In six months' time, after getting millions of fans hooked, the show is poached from free-to-air Five by pay-TV Sky. It happened with Lost... ·