is that there seems to be more desire in this country to look back to the past. Most of the major dramas in this country that I can think of are set in the past whereas I can think of very few American ones that are. I much prefer something set now than yet another costume drama. In terms of cost as well you could probaby make several series of something like The Sopranos (ignoring the huge actor wages) to the cost of one episode of Little Dorrit.

The only decent British Drama I watched this year was "Our Friends In The North" and that was made years ago, excellent thouh. iven up on Spooks. Such is that state of British TV this Christmas I will be watchin old dvds of Frasier and The Box Of Delights and some Dr Who classics and the final two episodes of Lost Season 4. Wire Season One will commence in January for myself. I would recommend Lost and Battlestar, not as sci-fi, eeky as one miht imaine. (Quick aside, can anyone help with a PC problem, the letter to the riht of F on my keyboard has one all sticky and doesn't press down, any advice?)

I wonder if it says something significant about our respective sensibilities that the British shows that tell us most about real life over here are often comedies?

Additionally, are we able to engage with some US dramas more readily because of the fact that we're culturally removed - through innocent ignorance, we may accept as being accurate things that in a British drama would have us turning to the GLW and exclaiming, 'Well, that's not very realistic...'?

Frank Skinner had a routine where he would discuss how he'd believe anything anyone would tell him as long as it was preffixed with the phrase, 'In America...'

The Wire may well be one of the best researched TV programmes ever and it may even be true-to-life, but it's true-through-the-compression-of-real-life required to extract convincing drama.

Our Friends in the North gave a brilliant historical lesson of politics and corruption in Britain in the sixties and seventies, although you might argue that that was set in the recent past so doesn't count.

For contemporary drama I'd suggest "State of Play". This gave a fairly good insight into politics, security services and newspapers. Of course, it could all have been wrong but so could any drama whether British or American. From a few years back, I'd also offer "The Lakes" which I rewatched recently. Although it's probably fair to say that its themes of sex, morality and death are as far removed from real life in Cumbria as "Weeds" is from Southern California.

What with Auf Wiedersehen Pet and sometimes even Minder, we were regularly shown the inner workings of worlds that many of us knew nothing about. (I was fortunate enough in the Eighties to be able to assume that a P45 referred to a Memphis cop's service revolver, so Boys from the Blackstuff came as quite an eye-opener.)

Best of the lot, though, was a now-forgotten mini-series (although they probably weren't called that in the late Seventies): G.F. Newman's stunning Law and Order. I can recommend it to the Massive without reservation - it's The Wire in a sheepskin car coat, basically.

But TV drama in general was always so educational then. Didn't we all learn so much about the ins and outs of the ferry business from that seminal Kate O'Mara vehicle Triangle? Hell, I know I did.

For instance Tony soprano is far more charismatic than most criminals ever are in real life. I think we like to think they are real but I'm not so sure. The west wing seems an almost direct opposite of how we seen politics in the last few years, seemingly devoid of vested interests save for a few memebers of an idealistic elite.
As for appealing and attractive suburban drug dealers that has more incommon with Harry potter than so called real life, pure fantasy.

Also is 24 real, what about CSI solving every crime with just a tiny spec of dust.

British drama is no better mind, the spooks is just pure hokem, shameless is just as bad apart from that we don't seem to do "real" drama that much.

You'd all start watching Brotherhood

The Welsh angle of G&S is a pretty spot on depiction of what it's like back home.

A handy little motto I keep on me all the time: US for drama, UK for comedy. I don't get Seinfeld, Curb etc, but I enjoy even The IT Crowd, which is no Father Ted, let's face it. Strangely, the US/UK rule is reversed for the big screen - current US comedy movies are infinitely funnier than ours.
For US TV drama, apart from Brotherhood and Breaking Bad which A Harrison has been talking up, I urge you to give Rescue Me a chance. I chanced on it on Sky One one night and got stuck in - based in a New York fire station, it's funny, it's great on macho-man posturing, and Mrs M likes it just as much as I do, which is always a good sign. Yes, it does star Denis Leary. I felt the same. I don't any more.

er, yup. that's about it.

Easily the best UK medical drama I've seen was Cardiac Arrest. It was to Casualty as NYPD Blue is to Dickson of Dock Green. Not being a doctor I can't vouch for its accuracy; but it certainly felt real, especially in its depiction of power struggles in the NHS, idealism gone sour and unhinged behaviour by exhausted junior doctors.

Oh, and it starred the divine Helen Baxendale...

I genuinely don't know the answer to this, but how are what we regard as great American drama series (The Wire, The Sopranos, etc.) viewed in the States? Are they held in such high regard?

I wonder whether the gangs, guns, drugs and handheld camera shots just look edgy and realistic from our viewpoint in rural Leicestershire or urban Islington and add to the attraction of these series?

A good few years ago, admittedly, but 'Boys From the Blackstuff' probably did for the era in which it was aired?

Twenty-six of them.

Go back twenty-six years before that and TV used to go off after "Children's Hour" to put the kids to bed.

So there I was in my bedroom flicking through the umpteen channels available in US Hotels, trying to avoid the adverts that seem to creep up on you as soon as you start to watch. When I rather late in life discovered 'Law & Order' - Special Victims Unit. What a absolute totally absorbing piece of drama with really displicable crimes.
Fortunately on my return to the UK I discovered that the Hallmark Channel shows two episodes every night at 10pm. Thanks to the wonder that is SKY+ I can now watch every programme and avoid the adverts.

I have often wondered about this myself. While it is true that American TV does produce some fine dramas, and shows that truly define the genre, the shows you might see and like are also likely exceptions to the rule. The Wire is probably the single best show I have ever seen, on any topic, but nothing will likely compare to it for quite a few years.

On the other hand, I loved State of Play; I thought it to be an exceptionally well-acted and told story. It is unlikely that I will see anything quite so good from UK tv for some time.

But, and this is the big but for me, I am much more likely to watch even lesser programs from the UK than I am to do so from the US. The reason is that I see poor US programing as just... bad, while watching something lesser than SoP will at the very least shed some light on an interesting yet somewhat foreign culture.

is pretty good - showing on one of the ITV extra channels at the moment, although I think tonight's is the last of the series.

The Riches with Minnie Driver was pretty good, and although we've yet to have it over here, the series True Blood with Anna Paquin has been pretty good - although it's about vampires.

Actually none have much of a connection to real life. All damn good tv though. And sorry, all American.

(although the leads in all have been non Americans...)

To Mr Handsome P's question regarding how we view our native drama series. Well, with the exception of the Soprano's, which is justly deified, the rest are either ignored or have small cult followings. The Wire would not have lasted one season if it were shown by one of the networks (yay for HBO), other shows, such as Deadwood (easily as good as The Soprano's) were allowed to die after just 3 seasons with barely a whimper. The only thing that the locals care about is bloody reality shows, thanks a bunch for American Idol, by the way, we owe you for that.
The period drama's that show up on BBC America or on PBS have the same kind of exotic appeal as The Wire does to you guys, plus the BBC stamp of authenticity and class, not kidding here!
Too many of these drama's are only really asppreciated when they're gone or replaced by dreck like House, do you have that in the UK yet? Avoid at all costs, anyway.

It is the writing. Obviously there is a lot of American TV, and we are talking only about the cream, but what UK telly has the conviction and depth of the writing of the wire or the sopranos? Massive disappointments include most of Dr Who, Spooks which still has its moments but is beyond pants in the believability dept, Survivors, and that Torchwood bollocks is just insulting. Good stuff gets cancelled - anybody remember the fantastic North Square? Someone who could write got loose and was shut up after one series. Shameless rarely lets you down, although it had a dodgy phase when most of the actors left. Apparently our writers can do half hour comedies but hour dramas elude us. Oh by the way, Apparitions was great. That is someone taking an apparently outdated genre and really playing with some ideas.