Touch tells the story of a father, Martin (Sutherland), trying to connect with his mute, autistic son, Jake, who communicates only through written numbers and seemingly erratic behaviour. With social services stepping in thanks to Jake’s jaunts to the top of cell towers, Martin is forced to examine his son’s ‘disability’ in more detail. It turns out – and this isn’t a spoiler – that Jake is a conduit of fate: fixated on righting the ‘pain of the universe’, but powerless to affect change himself. You can probably guess how it pans out from there.

The opening handful of episodes are the strongest, with the third and fifth being particularly poignant musings on the good nature of mankind. It’s a shame it doesn’t quite capitalise on these until a thrilling two-part denouement, meandering its way through occasionally eye-rolling predictability in the central few stories.

It makes up for this with a strong, critical theme of over-bearing authorities, as well as a deeply humanist sense of spirituality – drawing from numerology, karma, religion, Chinese legend and even mathematics to present a detailed and intricately woven tale of quite how connected we are as a species. Its most impressive feat in this area is that it dares to suggest that all of these can be consolidated without compromising any of them.

Performances mostly tend towards strong, though they’re occasionally let down by spots of weak dialogue. Sutherland is great, however, tempering his usual stoicism with a vulnerability that was only glimpsed previously, and Danny Glover is fun as the slightly nutty professor who shows Martin the right path.

Overall, Touch is a solid series that shows real promise, with just enough questions raised to make the second season a tantalising prospect, so long as they can stress-test the established formula. It’s a slow-burner to be sure, but an engaging and well-staged one that draws you in from the get go.

Ultimately, Touch is an examination of the good humanity is capable of when we pay attention, as well as the staggering evil when we don’t. Certainly worth your time, so long as you’re prepared to patiently await the payoff.

Released on DVD on Monday 1 April 2013 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

> Buy Season 1 of Touch on Amazon.

Watch the Season 1 trailer…