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... apart from "Rake", which belongs in its own category altogether.

The subject matter - mental illness in patients in a mental home in the Blue Mountains, NSW - may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is in part the realism which makes this series so watchable. Then there is the cast. I could go on and on about the wonderful cast, and the writing and directing, but I'll mention two of the main characters only. British actor, Rudi Dharmalingam (who played James in the UK series, "The Split") wins my award for the most authentic Australian accent by a non-Australian actor .. ever. He is also in nearly every scene, and is charismatic as the troubled Nik, searching for answers to his own mental 'issues'. Alongside Dharmalingam is Mandy McElhinney, the head nurse who plays games with both patients and staff. There is a touch of Nurse Ratched from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" about her character, and Mandy McElhinney is perfect in the role. All performances were outstanding, but the two I mention here were in a class all of their own.

Lastly, there is that other main character, the Blue Mountains, which forms a backdrop of breathtaking beauty throughout all 8 episodes. The final episode of the series reveals all, and a few surprises as well.

If I could give this more than 10 stars, I would.

For the reviewers who compared this with "Black Mirror", shame on you. It is nothing like it. This show is propaganda, pure and simple, as the presence of Emma Thompson - playing a northern politician - should tell us. If her appearance on Skavlan is anything to go by, she is on the payroll of the ridiculously scientifically unsound climate change lobby.

No mention is made of who really rules the world - not Donald Trump, that's for certain - and the images of a possible dystopian future are scary, but nonsensical.

The 5 stars are for the technological predictions, most of which are probably already available, just not to everyday people - yet. The kid who is into the digital world in a major way IS interesting, and rather disturbing.

The news that Series 4 of "Rake" is to begin on Australian free-to-air TV on 19th May this year has brought me out of the cupboard to comment on this series as a whole (so far.)

Brilliant doesn't even begin to describe it. The names Peter Duncan and Andrew Knight as co-writers of much of the first 3 series' is generally a recipe for classy, tight writing. The concept, the delivery, the moral ambiguities, the lines nudged and then stepped over - it is all very, very Australian, and so typically modern Australia is it that perhaps it should not have been re-made with a US cast. The cast of this is universally brilliant, with Richard Roxburgh receiving a special mention from me, because any other actor may not have been able to walk that fine line between (almost) law-abiding citizen and absolute rogue, coming out after all his scrapes and gaol terms as someone we are prepared to forgive (almost) anything. The writing and acting of Cleaver Greene's relationship with his son is worth a special mention, in particular the odd turn this relationship takes in S.3 - just classic.

I'll make mention also of the subject matter in Ep 5 of S.1, where Sam Neill guest stars with Heather Mitchell. It's the "family dog" episode, and on first viewing I thought, 'did I just see that, or did I imagine it?'. According to Charles Waterstreet, whose experiences as a Barrister in Sydney provided the inspiration for the character of Cleaver Greene, the case of the stolen DVD made by the good doctor and his wife was based upon a real life case. This is an instance of real life being far more outrageous than fiction.

I can give this series - so far, at least - no less that 10/10.