It's difficult to know what kind of programme this is anymore. Doctor Who clearly isn't a hard SF series (not for years, anyway), but this magical "anything goes" fantasyland with extra glitter on top is hard to recognise as being the same show. It's a noisy, garish mess, a show with a cretin as a lead ("Humany-wumany"? Really?) and constantly insists upon itself. The Doctor travels around meaningless, consequence-free setpieces informing the viewer how "brilliant" and "genius" everything around him is, while Murray Gold ramps up the music to slam home whatever hollow "emotion" we're supposed to be feeling this week. Awful stuff.

Only the pleasing-yet-anal continuity fest of the final episode keeps the rating here at average marks. The quality control on Misfits has, sadly, fallen greatly this year, and old footage of Robert Sheehan in the final episode only drives home how much the show misses him. Joseph Gilgun is perfectly fine in the replacement role of Rudy, but it's an obnoxious character, hard to like, and the rest of the cast often have little to do. Worse still, a lot of the episodes feel like treading water. After the show became more "arc" led in the second season, it's hard to contend with episodes that you could comfortably skip without truly missing anything.

As with the first season I may have been a little harsh with my rating, as the cinematic series continues to compel. If there's one complaint with this fourth season it's that it it's perhaps never really able to surprise or wrongfoot the viewer... events transpire pretty much how you'd expect them to, yet still entertain all the same. This is a series that dares to make you dislike its central character, and this 2011 season spends the majority of its duration making you root for Jesse over Walt. There's a sense of finality to the entire thing, but a last season is promised for 2012...

As might be expected, there's a pretty significant, Nathan-shaped hole in this third season of Misfits. And while it was an ensemble show, some characters always resonated more than others... Lauren looks lonely without Nathan around, and no one was really tuning in to see what Curtis was up to, were they? That said, while Rudy is a stop gap replacement at best, this third season is still watchable stuff. In fact, it was only the presence of a deeply silly "Misfits vs. Nazis" episode that took the final rating down a star. For the first time in its history the viewing figures for Misfits are going down, not up, but it remains E4's most-watched programme, and rightly so.

Terrific third season that sees Breaking Bad begin to fully realise its true potential. Gone or downplayed are the overstated juxtapositions, and the previously forced comedy moments are now genuinely amusing. But where it really excels is in the increasingly complex plotting. Whereas the previous two seasons had seen straightforward A to B adventures, season three gives us twists and turns with a rewarding line-up of newer supporting characters. Mike, Saul Goodman and, especially, Gus Fring, all elevate the programme to new heights. Skylar's inconsistent characterisation is a minor distraction in a show as good as this, while daring experiments like The Fly display Breaking Bad at its best and worst simultaneously.

Possibly unprecedented in TV circles (I can't think of another example offhand) Vegas Baby is a nine-and-a-half minute special to explain why Nathan leaves before the third season of Misfits. With the talented Robert Sheehan getting more and more job offers, he decided to move on, but not before generously giving us this look at Nathan in the US. Imagine if other TV series had done a similar thing... a special showing Liz Shaw leaving Doctor Who back in 1971, for example. Of course, specials like these could perhaps only really be made in the digital age... Vegas Baby is exclusive online content, a medium that Misfits has always embraced.

The second season in 2009 saw a longer run (thirteen episodes) after the first's run was curtailed to just seven in the writers' strike. With the added length the series sees a more leisurely, low-key style and the chance to flesh out the support. As Walt's moral centre becomes increasingly skewed we get some extra dimensions to the previously comic Jesse and Hank, a welcome addition to two great characters. Underpinning the entire season is the left field concept of the interconnectedness of events, with Walt's amoral support of Jesse leading to dire consequences...

Like a lot of modern drama I've come to this series late. If anything, I've been too harsh with my rating, a series that is effortlessly well made and has a superb central performance from Bryan Cranston as chemistry teacher-turned drug maker Walter White. If there's one criticism of this first season it's that it perhaps never really surprises, a rock solid show made up of familiar tropes rejigged in new guises. If that's a complaint then it's a small one, and if Vince Gilligan's creation isn't exactly reinventing the wheel, it's at least presenting it in one of its most enjoyable forms. Like all of the series covered on this page, it can be ordered from this site's online store by clicking on the image, left.

The insufferable smugness of Let's Kill Hitler aside, this second half of Doctor Who's 2011 season was considerably better than the first, albeit still in the "expect the viewers to get emotionally involved in two dimensional ciphers" mould. Making viewers laugh at the cartoonish characters in The God Complex is one thing... but then expecting them to cry over their fates is another. An example of how fannish the show has become comes with a major plot point being based around the Doctor learning of the Brigadier's death... while a touching reference to Nicholas Courtney's real-life passing, the character hadn't been a regular in the series for over 35 years.

A classic 70s kids show, which, when watched as an adult, comes clear that it's a cleverly disguised diatribe on Eastern philosophy. The esoteric storylines offer many rewards to the viewer, with series closer The Cherry Tree teaching children how to cope with death... albeit in the most left-field way imaginable. Other episodes, such as Bod's Dream, are almost surrealistic explorations of the Taoist beliefs. John Le Mesurier's measured tones provide class, while Derek Griffiths brings his A Game on the music. Superb.

After revitalising this misguided franchise with the rewarding Children Of Earth, the makers expect too much by extending an inspired-yet-ultimately-fruitless plotline over ten hours. It demands a lot of application from viewers, but ultimately doesn't quite pay off, particularly with the increasingly irritating Gwen Cooper. I say "misguided" for one reason, incidentally... though Torchwood can be a fun show, having an adult spin-off of a family show is deeply troubling. Though as we live in an age where the word "prostitute" is used in an episode of kid's show Doctor Who alongside references to oral sex, then maybe, as Brian Wilson once said, I just wasn't made for these times.