Homicide: Life On The Street is just amazing. To use a cliche, it is ‘gritty’, can be very moving, and the acting is uniformly excellent (at least until Jon Seda joined the cast at the end of season 5)!

The show focuses on a Police Homicide unit. Unlike shows like CSI, it doesn’t rely on special effects, and the characters don’t all look like they should be sashaying down a catwalk. Instead, we get to see them doing their job – sometimes with an unsatisfying result – and how the job affects their lives. Just like in real life, sometimes, the criminals are never caught. Sometimes a case stretches on for week, rather than getting all neatly wrapped up in one episode. And in one of the episodes in the first season, there is actually no crime for them to solve. Instead, we see the squad sitting around chatting in the squad room, reading the paper etc., doing all the things that people do when they have nothing else to do.

Personally my favourite character is Meldrick Lewis, played by Clark Johnson, although the favourite of most viewers seems to be Frank Pembleton, played by Andre Braugher. But all of the characters – particularly in the earlier seasons – bring their own special ingredient to the mix.

All I can say is – if you haven’t seen it, get it!!