Zachary Quinto as Sylar

The morning after Heroes series three debuted in the US, the BBC screened the opener for journalists at the Curzon cinema, Soho.

Roly Keating, Controller of BBC2, introduced the preview: “Huge apologies for the short notice, as you may have gathered we didn’t know till the last minute if we were going to have the materials to do this screening, as what you’re about to see only broadcast in America in the small hours of last night. This is as close to an American premiere as you’re ever going to get.

“Normally when I do little intros like this,” he continued, “I’m very familiar with what we’re about to show you, and I’m full of little teasing hints about the narrative. I haven’t a clue what happens in this episode! Like you, I have not see a frame. So I am here as a fan.”

So how about that first 50 minutes? It’s attention-grabbing stuff, a mixture of the hokey (Mohinder’s scenes with Maya, and his own long-expected piece of character development) and the horrifying (Sylar’s torture of Claire – like a slow and painful metaphor for rape). Once more, Hiro is on a quest, no-one stays dead and – yup – the end of the world is nigh. But there is some admirably bold stuff too, chiefly about The Second Coming. And HRG is used in admirably restrained fashion.

Clearly, Heroes can’t recapture the sheer adrenalin of its first year, but on the basis of what I’ve seen, I’m along for the ride once more.

Heroes will air on BBC2 from Wednesday 1 October at 9pm, with the following episode appearing on BBC3 immediately after.