Sutherland refutes '24' Obama claims

Kiefer Sutherland has denied claims that 24 helped Barack Obama win the US election.

The action drama featured a black President in its first five seasons, with actor Dennis Haysbert saying prior to Obama's election victory: "If anything, my portrayal of David Palmer I think may have helped open the eyes of the American people."

However, Sutherland refuted his show's influence on the political outcome, telling Newsbeat: "You don't honestly believe that our show helped get the first African American into the White House, do you? All we simply did is look to the future."

He continued: "You have a huge African American population and it was just a matter of time before they were represented politically by a President.

"We have a female President in season seven. You have a 52% population of women and we can clearly see it is just a matter of time before we have a female President."