It’s two years after Miles Dyson was killed and the Terminator artefacts destroyed in the events portrayed in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and things have been quiet for the Connors – now living under the pseudonym Reese. But Sarah is getting twitchy. Charley, her partner of six months has bought her a ring and the threat of being “settled” – with all that that means for John’s protection – makes her realise they have to leave. They pack, and Charley is left looking at his ring, back in its box.

Arriving at his new school, John meets Cameron, who befriends him even though he is a nerd. Their friendship is shortlived when relief teacher Cromartie proves to be a Terminator. He shoots through Cameron to get to John, who escapes by diving out the classroom window. As the chase spills out into the school grounds and Cromartie takes aim point-blank at John’s head, a truck speeds past knocking him to the ground. It’s Cameron, miraculously back from the dead and come to save John. “Come with me if you want to live,” she barks, and John immediately knows he’s on familiar territory.

Lena Headey is not Linda Hamilton, but you know what? She doesn’t need to be. From the very first frame the excitement and tension of the first two Terminator movies was captured and relived perfectly. Several homages set the tone for the whole episode – the dark road shots with the headlights illuminating the tarmac; the earnest voice-overs; the return to Miles Dyson’s house; the punchy mechanistic theme bracketing the ad breaks – all wonderfully familiar and stomach churning.

Yet even with all that nostalgia going on, the show still managed to be new and fresh. The introduction of the Cameron character (played by Summer Glau) as the protective Terminator adds a whole new dynamic, and the clever introduction of the time travel device to whip the three fugitives forward to 2007 to give them a chance of catching up with the development of Skynet in its new timeline (following the original destruction of Dyson’s work) was inspired, as was the media coverage of their naked arrival in the middle of a freeway, giving FBI agent James Ellison a new lead on a trail that was, presumably, cold for 8 years.

Although a lot of the action was standard Terminator fodder – shooting, ducking, running and hiding from the machines – that was, after all, what made the movies exciting. How would the robots find them? How would they outwit the machines and get away again? Those were the questions that were asked and answered over and over again as the chase played out, and here we were again on that well ridden merry-go-round. But times have changed. The FBI are wise to Sarah Connor, and although they downplay the “robot story” to Joe Public, they undoubtedly know the truth behind it, so there are wheels within wheels among the hunters, as well as a new addition to the hunted.

I admit to being apprehensive that no-one could step into Hamilton’s shoes as Sarah Connor. By the end of the first hour, my worries had evaporated. Headey is every bit as believable in the role, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the story develops in the coming weeks.