1. Black Mirror
I'm glad I like Charlie Brooker, because if I didn't I'd be so sick and tired of the breadth of his work I'd probably have smashed up my TV screens a long time ago and given up any hope of writing anything original. Black Mirror's first trilogy of episodes, one part Tales of the Unexpected to two parts 1984, spawned three powerful and intense dramas about technology. With The National Anthem, he took an old Screenburn column idea about a PM having to make a beastial sacrifice and turned it into a commentary about the way TV can turn us all into members of a clamouring mob. Meanwhile, 15 Million Merits took the quest for popularity via reality TV, and how it can corrupt the original intentions, to a sickeningly murky end. And finale The Entire History of You effectively put Sky Plus in people's heads, allowing them to replay moments from their lives when they wanted, along with the consequences. Original, thought-provoking, disturbing and quite unlike 99% of mainstream TV, here's hoping the second series can be just as good.
Genius Moment: Loads to pick from, but still with me 18 months after I saw is a scene from The Entire History of You: the moment where one tiny detail - a picture on a wall - makes Toby Kebbell's character realise the truth about his life, his wife and his son. Okay, the story wasn't written by Brooker, but it's his series so I'll let him have this one.
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