Damages - Season 1

Glenn Close is an illustrious actress with an imposing screen presence. But she has waited until 'Damages' to make her regular appearance on our television screens, delivering a modern and dramatic take on the traditional lawyer genre. In the vein of '24' and other modern series, Damages focuses on one court case, with many subplots and undercurrents.

Patty Hewes (Close) is a leading and feared litigator. She is currently spearheading a civil suit against billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) whose company collapsed with 'accounting irregularities' leaving his employees without their pensions. Hewes hires recent graduate Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) who turns out to be more than a match for Hewes' manipulations and ploys. Parsons' involvement with Hewes will drag her family and friends deep into a web of corporate deceit and high stakes litigation.

As the series draws to it's gripping close, it becomes clear to the viewer that everything you've seen on screen matters. There are no wasted scenes or screentime in this high-paced, intricate drama. An exciting and moden soundtrack makes this the best legal drama in years. And interestingly, we never see the inside of a courtroom!

Pushing Daisies - Season 1

Pushing Daisies is produced in glorius technicolour with full candy-tone. It's oh so sweet and centres around the Pie-Maker or Ned (Lee Pace). Ned tragically discovered an unusual ability as a child. One touch from him, and dead things came back to life. One second touch from him, and they're dead for good. If he doesn't touch the reanimated being for a second time, then natural balance takes over and something else dies in their place. So Ned institutes a rule; When he touches someone or something, he touches them again (for good this time) within a minute.

Fast forward many years and Ned is the proud owner of the Pie-Hole (which even has a pie crust shaped roof) and is business partner to snappily-dressed, knitting obsessed private investigator, Emerson Cod (Chi McBride). Ned's reanimation skills come in handy when investigating murders, given that he can collect eye witness testimony from the dead themselves.

Things get turned around when one of the deceased folk turns out to be Ned's old sweetheart, Chuck (Anna Friel). Ned cannot bring himself to touch her again for a second time, thus keeping her alive and in his life - but at the price of never being able to touch her again!

Due to the writer's strike in the States, there are only nine episodes in Series 1 of the show, but they are nine beautifully imagined and lovingly created episodes. Mixing 50s and 60 fashion and primary colours into the show lends an amazing quirkiness and fantasty to the show. Throw in a fastastic appearance from Kristin Chenowith as Olive Snook, the Pie-Hole waitress who is in love with Ned, along with the charming characters of Chuck's aunts, the ex-synchronised swimmers knows as the Darling Mermaid Darlings.

Pushing Daisies is a charming, simple yet quirky romantic comedy. Great performances from the leading characters along with snappy dialogue and lots of romantic gazes all add up to create a television show that is truly memorable.

The In-Betweeners - Seasons 1 and 2

If you're a fan of Peep Show, then I think you cannot afford to miss the inbetweeners. Delivered in half-hour episides, it's packed full of puerile humour, cringeworthy scenes and is genuinely hilarious.

Will, the nerdy geeky one, is sent to a local comprehensive following his parent's divorce and subsequent removal from private school. While there, he befriends lovesick Simon, sex pest Jay and happy golucky but dim Neil. They form a group that is not quite cool, not quite uncool - a precarious position in the social strata of secondary education.

These two short series revolve about the main driving desire of the lads - sex. Unsurprisigly, their quests to appear cool, meet girls and get off lead to many embarassing, laugh out loud situations. There are many times when you will find yourself shouting at the telly "Don't do it lads, don't do it!" - but they go and do it. Excellent viewing.

The boxset of two seasons is probably the best way to see the show, as there are only a handful of episodes in each season and you will watch one episode after another - it's that good.

Blood Ties

Blood Ties is a 2006 television series based on the Vicki Nelson series of books from Tanya Huff. Christina Cox plays Vicki Nelson, a private investigator who was forced to retire from Homicide due to a progressively worsening eye conditioner. One day she is hired by a goth to investigate the death of her boyfriend and her investigation leads her into the world of the occult, where she meets Henry Fitzroy.

Turns out Henry is a 500 year old vampire and the illegitimate son of Henry VIIII. An investigative partnership develops with the inevitable romantic and flirtacious undertones. But competing for Vicki's affections is Mike Celluci, her ex homicide partner and erstwhile lover.

Christina Cox turns in a wise-cracking, high octane performance as Vicki, but the show fails to shine and reach the same heights as comparable shows such as Buffy and the recent Moonlight.

Britain's Next Top Model

I just cannot believe that they eliminated Jade from the final of Britain's Next Top Model. Time after time she has delivered beautiful photos but on the top of that, she appears to be a genuinely nice person. Sure she is thin (she has battled an eating disorder) but as she said herself, she's getting stronger.

The two finalists, Sophie and Mecia, are good looking women but neither has the star quality that Jade possessed. To boot, Sophie just strikes me as an incredibly duplicitious person. She seems to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. How that silly girl made the final and is being held up as a potential winner is beyond me.

I'm rooting for Mecia to win, but that really is only because the clear winner is no longer in the competition.

Moonlight - Series 1

Mick St. John (played by Alex O'Loughlin) is a private investigator based in Los Angeles - possibly not the wisest of choices when you're also a vampire. Mick is a somewhat reluctant vampire, shunning fresh blood in favour of blood from the blood bank. His speed, strength and senses are useful in his chosen career. As a relatively young vampire, (a mere 85 years old), he relies on one of his closest friends, the 400 year old vampire Joseph (Jordan Belfi).

Many years ago, Mick accepted a case involving a child kidnapping. Tracking down the child, he discovered that the kidnapper was his beautiful ex-wife, Coraline, and the woman who turned him into a vampire on their wedding night. As he rescues the child, he kills Coraline by trapping her in a fire.

Over the years, Mick kept a protective eye on the young child from the shadows, but one day their paths cross at a crime scene. Beth Turner is there in her capacity as an investigate journalist, and there is an immediate connection between the two. As their relationship develops, Mick struggles with revealing the dark side of his nature to Beth. Later in the series, Mick's past resurfaces and threatens both him and his fledgling relationship with Beth.

Moonlight follows Mick as he rediscovers his human side, all the while combining action, mystery and a good dose of romance. The series is an interesting addition to the vampire genre. Clever writing, good action scenes, camerawork and interesting lead characters lift this series above the norm. It's a pity that it looks like there won't be a second series - it would have been interesting to see how the story developed. Console yourself with all 16 episodes of the first series on this boxset.