TV's best shows

It's good to know that there are at least three good shows on television. The bad news is two of them are on their last season. The really bad news is that the two that are concluding are the best two. Well, at least we still have Heroes.

If you like your TV as pure escapism you can't go wrong with Heroes. Okay, maybe all the plots are cast-offs of X-Men comics circa 1980 but it still has me hanging on to the edge of my seat. These guys have made me rush home to watch despite the fact that I could probably download all the episodes or "watch again" on the BBC iPlayer. I like the fact that I'm watching this when it comes out and I like that I "have" to wait to watch the next episode. It's like Christmas every week!

But of course that's because it's on the BBC. If it was on FX or the Sci-Fi channel I'd have to resort to downloading or buying on DVD. And since I absolutely hate watching movies on the machine I'd have to buy the DVD... which is what I had to do for my two favourite shows: The Wire and Battlestar Gallactica.

If you haven't seen either, let me just recommend them right here by saying that they are the two best show, not just on TV at the moment but -- and I'm sticking my neck out now -- the best written TV shows of all time!

The Wire is a gritty, realistic police procedural drama. Produced by HBO it profits from the fact that it doesn't have to race to solve the crime at the end of each episode. One of the reasons I love it so much is that solving the case is not at the forefront of the writers' story. It's really about life in Baltimore and how tough it can be whether you're a police (as they say in Baltimore), a drug dealer, a politician or a dock worker. Everybody's just trying to make a living and it's hard! In fact the only two people who seem to be having a good time most of the time is corrupt politician Clay Davis (with his catchphrase: shiiiit!) and the guy who's brave enough to steal from the drug dealers: Omar. This show should, however, come with a warning: If you've got a short attention span, if you want to see the good guys always win, if you want good guys against bad guys, if you don't like social realism, then this show isn't for you. On the other hand, every politician, teacher, policy maker, policeman, citizen ought to watch.

But the best show has got to be Battlestar Gallactica. If you've seen the original from the 70s, and I have to admit I have only vague recollections, then put it out of you mind. That's the sort of thinking that kept me away from this brilliant show for so long.

This show explores current social issues within a science fiction context. Like Heroes each episode is a self contained story and like The Wire there's an overarching plot that keeps ticking on. This is the only series that has you asking in the middle of the season if the people you've been following and rooting for are the good guys?

Unlike The Wire and Heroes where you pretty much see the problems in front of you Battlestar has you asking questions on just what it means to be a human being and what choices you would make if you were forced into impossible situations — a real allegory for our times.

I haven't seen any of the final seasons of The Wire or Battlestar I'm waiting for the DVD box set, in my humble opinion the best way to watch.