I've not generally been that fond of Doctor Who since it came back, feeling that it often discarded most of what made it special in the first place. Although undeniably popular (and populist), being watched by millions does not indicate qualitative worth, some of the show's excessive leaning towards hollow spectacle and "tell not show" painful to see. It's a very fannish show at times, both embarrassed by its past and afraid to move on from it, and some of the more adult references do concern me. (Does the word "prostitute" really belong in a family show?) However, while an improved 2010 didn't turn in a classic, understated new lead Matt Smith showed promise.

Actually a pretty good conclusion to the seventh season, even though the series' worrying tendency to lose characters on a regular basis is taking its toll heavily. Joe's rapid reversion to type in the final episode was a little hard to believe, but Ben Batt did well in the role, and joins the likes of Ian Gallagher and Paddy Maguire as people who left the show at the end of the series. In a recent interview David Threlfall stated that the ratings are higher than ever, and characters like Mickey Maguire and Maxine are fun. But can they really come near to the early days with Fiona and Marty, and when the show was kind of believable?

Reading back through prior capsule reviews of this sixth season, I was clearly (and embarrassingly) wrong on so many aspects. So, the finale did manage to wrong-foot me on several occasions. And, I admit, I did get choked at the ending. But does this make it a satisfying conclusion to the series, and the conclusion that the series deserved? Time will tell how we all look back upon it, but for now my middling rating reflects an ending to a once-special series that had a very "American" conclusion, in the worst sense of that term.

I never really had much time for Ashes to Ashes, preferring to dub it "Cash In To Cash In". When you've made one of the best TV series of the modern age and finished it with a brilliantly oblique ending, why go back to run it into the ground and take away all ambiguity? The final two episodes of the series do just that, giving us a full explanation of what the series is about, when leaving it to the viewers' imagination may have been better. In trying to capture lightning in a bottle twice, the makers of this drama perhaps sacrificed genuine creative urges. But as the high rating attests, even inferior spin-offs from Life On Mars are still pretty good TV, despite it all..

Lost has thankfully started to make up lost ground with the reintroduction of Desmond Hume. Any suggestion that this makes Desmond Lost's greatest character can be tempered by the fact that not only have other favourites like Sawyer been bafflingly sidelined, but they're behaving almost out of character. The dialogue on the show is becoming a little hokey and the answers to long-standing questions are being delivered in pat exposition, but it's nice that Lost can at least limp to the finish line, rather than fall before it.

Watchable but still four years past its prime, the seventh season of Shameless limps on with more so-so stories of increasing incredulity. I don't know what's harder to believe... the ridiculous amount of reasons they give Carl to take off his clothes each week, or the fact that it's been over three months since the show came back and no one's asked what happened to Meena. Meanwhile, each week Lillian continues to prove the adage "less is more", and the whole thing trundles on... a perfectly watchable programme, but a shadow of what it was from 2004-2006.

A friend of mine rightly told me I was an idiot for not realising that the alternate realities in this season stem not from 2005 but from 1977. However, if Lost seasons 1-5 was like reading a layered novel in TV form, then season six so far is the part of the book that says "here's loads of chapters about characters and situations you've previously never been aware of". It feels grafted on, not to say a little too silly... would Sawyer and Miles really have become buddy-buddy cops in another life? Add to this the redemption of mass murdering Ben Linus and the distracting man boobs of smoke-monster-as-John-Locke and it's all starting to, I hate to say it, lose its way.

Although Frank is ostensibly the lead in Shameless, for the first two seasons it was Fiona that was really the narrative backbone of the show. When Anne-Marie Duff left in 2005 it caused a notable loss in any realistic "anchor" for the programme, and forced formerly "comic" characters to bear the bulk of the drama. With characters redefined and situations frequently more cartoonish, the series is nowhere near what it was. However season seven has been, so far, something of a minor revelation: weak opening episode aside, this has been considerably better than the previous couple of seasons and Mickey Maguire remains one of the funniest characters on the box.

It's rare for modern television to get me quite as hooked as Lost, and I must confess to being shamelessly enamoured of this show. Consequently I'm so "hyped" for each episode of this final season that it can't help but feel a little anti-climactic as a result. Or maybe the slightly languid pace is customary... after all, previous seasons have started slowly and built to a crescendo, so there's no reason to suspect that season six won't do the same. Yet amongst favourites being sidelined and "what the Hell??" moments like Jack suddenly having a son, this final run hasn't quite lived up to its promise as yet. The rating attests that even so-so Lost is still special TV.

Survivors is a series that's never afraid to patronise and talk down to its mainstream primetime audience: when Paterson Joseph was enslaved in episode four the parallels with political history were keen. Unfortunately the series then goes and spells out that it's referencing slavery, just in case anyone watching didn't grasp the undercurrent; the BBC's target audience seemingly not allowed to be given that precious commodity known as "subtext" and "assumption of intelligence". Survivors is a lot like that, and having some contrived "escape and capture" shenanigans every week did harm this second season. (Note: A few weeks after I wrote this review the series was axed)

After showing worrying signs of beginning to make sense at the end of season five, the sixth heaps on plenty of "what the Hell?" to keep the fire burning. Here we have what appears to be some kind of fractured timeline, with the cast having miserable lives without ever having crashed, and having even more miserable lives when they did. Juliet dies, Sayid is still alive, Jacob is dead, John Locke is still dead, and the false John Locke... he's the smoke monster. My head hurts. When's the next episode?

I've seen mixed reviews of this movie, ranging from saying it's a genius piece of SF to finding it derivative and laborious. The truth is probably somewhere in between the two, and certainly the influences of previous SF can be felt. However, while the plot sometimes doesn't so much move forward as amble around on the same spot, it's a solid piece of work. Even better is Whistle, the short on the DVD from the same director (Duncan Jones, Bowie's son), a fairly compelling account of a high tech assassin's family life and morality.

An incredibly slight British comedy featuring Chris O'Dowd, Marc Wooton and Dean Lennox Kelly as three men who travel in time using a pub's toilet. British comedy movies of the modern era are regularly true abominations of cinema. If it's not Richard Curtis convincing us all that every Englishman is a white middle class eccentric, then it's misogyny and titillation crassly wrapped up as 'ironic' in dross like Doghouse. This lightly amusing film impressed me a little, though. If I believed in using half stars it's more of a three and a half, but it's definitely worth a look if you've got nothing better to do on a rainy afternoon.

The opening episode of the second season of Survivors sends out yet more troubling and mixed messages. Not only do we have the subtext that Tom is such an all-conquering alpha male that he may possibly be able to turn Anya straight, but we have more of Sarah being treated both as an object of abuse and a receptacle for men's sexual needs. What makes Sarah being beaten up and the implication that she was raped so troubling is the fact that it's presented as borderline titillation for voyeuristic audiences. All of which is even more disturbing than Adrian Hodges getting the 'Creator' credit instead of Terry Nation. That said, Ali and Najid still rock.

I came late to Lost, a kind of genius blend of Lord of the Flies and Alice in Wonderland. Highlights are too many to list, but obviously include Hurley's alternate realities, the time-travelling/predeterminism antics of Desmond Hume and the destiny/pawn saga of John Locke, the baddest man on the planet. There's every chance that the sixth and final season this year may disappoint, but in five seasons the only real detraction of the show has been that appalling fake beard they made for Jack. All of the programmes on this page are available in the site's store, incidentally... click on the images for details.

Rewatching this 1985 drama makes you realise just how much genuine creativity is lost to UK TV today. Not only is the series a strikingly original political thriller, but there's a complete flaunting of the demographic-based nature of today's identikit BBC drama. Bob Peck is excellent in the lead role, but a balding man entering his 40s isn't the equivalent of today's photogenic leads; and there's no tediously predictable "will they?/won't they?" subplot to keep viewers hooked: the only love interests Peck's Det. Craven has are sexual relationships with a prostitute and his own daughter. Somehow I think the dreadful-looking Mel Gibson remake will gloss over that...

Exactly the kind of series that I was discussing during Edge of Darkness - the BBC's Survivors is TV by committee, a resurrected series whereby every cast member is selected for their quality as a magazine cover star. And despite the update of the old 1970s show commendably introducing racial minorities into the series, it's still a white male and a white female who are the nominal leads. Add to this the strangely-moled yet alluring Zoe Tapper, whose status as the lesbian member of the group seems there less for positive representation and more for blatant titillation. It's TV-by-numbers designed for the widest DVD-buying audience, and yet... I really quite like it.

Another of those shows I'd love to dislike, with pretty leads, vapid fast-cut scenes and obviously signposted romantic entanglements. Yet this 'ASBOs with superpowers' comedy-drama is actually quite good, and the news that a second series has already been commissioned is a welcome one. There are some serious mis-steps in the sexed-up formula, however: the notion of a girl with a power that makes men want to rape her is deeply, deeply troubling for TV in 2010. But despite such questionable subject matter, this shallow yet fun series is worth a look.

If I'm being honest then there were sad signs that - party episode aside - the momentum was starting to run out for Peep Show during its sixth season. While still frequently amusing, it did begin to feel a little formulaic, and it's a concern that Channel 4 might treat it like it did its other once-great property, Shameless... and keep on making it long past its sell-by date. Here's hoping not, as the first five seasons of this programme were amongst the best-written on modern TV.