When you walk through the garden...

The Wire. It is quite simply the best television programme ever made and I'm not usually one for making such bold sweeping statements.

In the UK, it has just been shown on FX, which means that most people haven't even heard of it. We discovered it (I'm including my OH in this as he loves it too) because there was an article in The Guardian's Guide magazine about it when the first series was released on DVD and being a big Soprano's fan (its an HBO programme), my OH decided to take a chance on buying it.

The first episode didn't really grip me - it was ok, but to be honest, I struggled with the dialogue. I'm a white middle class woman from England - the language of the streets of Baltimore is somewhat alien to me. Also my hearing in general isn't that good - I really struggle with song lyrics. (I was convinced the lyrics to Primal Scream's 'Country Girl' were 'What kind of Pope are you?' - rather than 'What's a poor boy to do?).

Anyway, since we'd bought the set, we had to stick with it, and by the end of the second episode, we were hooked. And my ears began to adapt to the accents and dialects. After we raced through the first series, OH tracked down the second on Ebay (from Hong Kong) as we couldn't wait for it come out here. Then Season 3 from the USA (recorded off the television - probably not legal to resell it, but we were desparate).

So now, we are revisiting Season 3 for I think the third time. It is, as my OH says, like an old friend. Admittedly, that would be a rather violent old friend with no morals and a Class A drug habit, but an old friend nonetheless.