'24' boss admits declining quality of new season

The co-executive producer of 24 has expressed his regret over the quality of recent storylines on the sixth season of the real-time show.

David Fury is quoted by TV Week as admitting: "It's been a very tricky year for us; it's been very difficult. This is year six and you try to keep the plates spinning on this show. You try to keep things interesting, find new ways to tell the story, and unfortunately we wound up repeating ourselves somewhat."

However, ahead of the two hour season finale - airing in the US next week - Fury maintained that 24 still offers a great deal to the viewer: "I still would claim that regardless of the quality dropoff that people are saying, the show's still very strong. It's still one of the best things on television."

The comments come as the show was renewed for a further two seasons.