mad men is very good.

if you like aaron sorkin's writing, you should watch studio 60 on the sunset strip. not quite as good as the west wing but has its own charm.

we also enjoyed firefly, which was a strange sci-fi/western hybrid written by joss whedon of buffy the vampire slayer fame. it's way more mature and layered than buffy.

House

Admittedly I've not seen the Wire but comparing it with Mad Men seems a little apples and oranges no? Mad Men series 2 is starting on BBC4 soon.

Andy have you got the 1st series of Wire I could borrow? Sounds like something I could lose February to. How many series were there?

Unaesthetic and I enjoyed True Blood. I'm not sure if it's available in this country yet. It's an HBO show. It's not in the same league is The West Wing or The Wire, but the writing is pretty good. And vampire Bill is a biscuit.

Also, if you like courtroom drama, check out Boston Legal. I think the last season just finished in the States. I have friends who planned their week around this show.

To all Wire fans- has anyone else spotted Aidan Gillen aka Mayor Carcetti in the area? I've seen him at least twice in Stroud Green, legend.

Mr. Brooker up the road recommends Deadwood.

Mad Men's good as an exercise in time travel, if a bit slow.

I quite liked Californication, though maybe not gritty enough for you.

Boston Legal is very good. James Spader and William Shatner play it as pantomime.

I think we know the road that Mayor Carcetti lives on, but we haven't seen him around in a while, now he's famous an' all.

I've also heard that Carcetti has been seen on the Parkland Walk, which is very exciting.

If you haven't watched The Wire, do so - I don't think TV gets any better.

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What series is he in? We've just ploughed through the first 7 episodes of series 1, pretty sure I've not seen him in that or on SGR so far :(

SPOILER ALERT! Not made it past season 3 yet - he's just ******* to *** for *****!

How about: 'If you haven't watched the Wire yet, no need - Cllr Richard Watts will tell you what happens'?

Which reminds me...

@ Ian - nearly done with the DVD of season 3. Just the final three to go (which we'll try and finish over the weekend).

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You can borrow ours.

Deadwood definitely recommended. Watch out though, it's the sweariest thing I've ever watched, and if you watch too much in one go you end up as foul-mouthed as they are. Mad Men I think is excellent - but I agree you can't really compare with some of the other series mentioned here.

It's a bit old now, but what about Six Feet Under? I missed out completely when it was on TV, and watched all the series on DVD over a year or so. That was a sad loss when it ended. We have all the box sets if anyone wants to borrow.

First three or four series of 6ft under were brilliant. I lost interest in it after a bit. Definitely worth picking up if you're new to it.

@hellojo - Good idea. Done. I've also done a tiny edit on your post (taking out the example) so no-one will ever know.

I love the idea that we've got yet another stick to beat a local councillor with. "There's the dog poo and the council tax and the CPZ and the burglaries AND HE LEAVES SPOILERS FOR THE WIRE ON THE INTERNET"

When series 5 of the Wire was on tv a few months back, I had to completely avoid the guardian website, because they ran a series of features where every single headline was a Wire spoiler.