LIFE SAVINGS

Can these two cops help avert a worldwide catastrophe?

T HE world is ending in five years — at least on “Hard

Sun,” a BBC/Hulu co-production from Neil Cross, creator of the popular detective series “Luther.” “[The show is] a lot of different genres,” says Jim Sturgess, 39, who stars as Charlie Hicks, a detective who’s rough around the edges. “I love that it forces you to think about what’s out there in the cosmos, and hopefully lets people reflect on life on planet Earth and how precious it is. And at the same time, it’s a fun cop detective drama.”

“Hard Sun,” streaming on Hulu, is a spin on the buddy cop genre. It uses some of those familiar tropes — reluctant partners, a seemingly innocuous investigation that becomes wider in scope than it initially appears — but adds a heavy dose of conspiracy thriller overtones and apocalyptic drama to the proceedings.

In the premiere episode, Sturgess’s character, Hicks, is partnered with Detective Inspector Elaine Renko (Agyness Deyn). While investigating a computer hacker’s death, they stumble on information that an “Extinctionlevel Event” will hit the earth in five years. To further complicate things, shadowy groups emerge from the woodwork to suppress this information — by any means necessary.

“Me and Agyness became really good friends. I think had we not, it would have just been an unbearable shoot,” says Sturgess. “Because we obviously had to be quite intense with each other throughout the day. It’s a very complex, strategic relationship between the two characters. We’d always make each other a nice cup of tea and sort of wind down in-between takes.”

“[We had] to be able to beat each other up and then have a laugh about it later on.”

The show is set in London, which was a treat for Sturgess, who lives there. “It was really nice to be the host for a change. Normally I’m spending time in somebody else’s city in some other part of the world,” he says. “So it was great to find a really exciting story that I could find and have it come out of a city that I live in and love so much.”

Sturgess says he prepared for his role by spending time with a police officer. “I managed to spend some time with a detective on the police force, which was really valuable,” he says. “He was one of a dying breed. He was telling me in order to become a detective now, you have to have a degree. So characters like Hicks — who started very street-level and worked his way up to detective — are few and far between these days. There’s a lot of animosity between [people like Hicks] and new detectives that come onto the force from an academic entrance point.”

Sturgess hadn’t watched “Luther” — which revolves around British detective John Luther (Idris Elba) — and never thought he’d play a detective, mostly because he’s experienced the wrong side of the law.

“I won’t tell you what for,” he laughs. “Silly kid stuff.”

“Hard Sun” Available on Hulu