This Life

I still hold firmly to the belief that the last episode of this landmark show is the best 40 mins of British TV drama ever. Any number of storylines coming sharply to a head, the terrific wedding reception with its toilet sex and terrible dancing, darkest secrets coming horrifyingly to light and the legendary punch. But how sad! If we'd known then that there would never be another series we would have stormed the BBC ourselves. But think positive. The show is endlessly rewatchable, and its influence has lived on in Queer as Folk, Attachments, Teachers, Metropolis, Tinsel Town and most contemporary drama since.

Just please, please publish the damn scripts!

There could have been no duller a subject to touch than young Solicitors and their shared house in Southwark. However, the reality was a unique snapshot of two years in the life of drug-taking, hyper-sexed twenty-somethings.

The only downside to the two series', was that they never made a third.

A near-perfect study of life's transitional period between careless partying and responsible adulthood, this addictive British series touches a nerve with anyone who's waged that cumbersome battle. The absorbing characters and first-rate acting draw the viewer in until you feel like you want to jump into the fray yourself. Don't miss this on BBC America.

This has just finished a repeat of the whole series in the UK, being shown late every week night during the summer. It is amazing it was first shown nearly five years ago and has been finished over three years now. This has brilliant and believable scripts, tight storylines told with economy, all played with great panache.

Nearly every actor has gone on to better things, if there could be anything better than this, Jack Davenport to Hollywood films, Daniela Nardini into several very good homegrown dramas and Andrew Lincoln does the voiceovers for about 50% of British ads.

The final episode has to be the most satisfying piece of television ever and the final scene of that episode made it into the top 100 TV moments of the Millennium as voted by the UK's Channel 4 viewers.

As a piece of British life in the mid-Nineties it will probably become an icon of the period. As a lawyer myself, the legal scenes were spot on, as befits the author's origins. They left this at the top, and rightly so as anywhere from that final scene would have been down hill.

This must be, by far, the best television show ever to have been made...it's 'hand held camera' approach makes it more realistic, and the storylines are very believeable. The writers are not afraid of trying anything, from homosexuality, to bulemia, to alcoholics. Everybody has a favourite character, mine being Warren and you feel like you know the cast. I was devastated when I heard that they were not going to make a third series, but in a way, I am glad that they finished where they did. Other shows run out of ideas, but keep on going, creating ridiculous storylines, and that is what they are remembered for, but This Life stopped while it was ahead. It will be remembered for its genuine plots, and not for going downhill taking its reputation with it. I would recommend everybody to watch This Life as it's brilliant!