Guest Author - Pam Lawrence

It seems ITV has finally got a grip for the new television season this spring and summer. Perhaps everyone is as fed up as I am with reality TV and all the hype surrounding it. Here's a look at some of the (hopefully) quality drama in store on the network.

Robson Green fans should be positively salivating at the prospect of the fifth series of Wire in the Blood, which, according to author Val McDermid on her forum, began filming in January. I'll let you know when I hear about air dates for this. Green will be in Texas in July (according to his forum) to film a stand alone epiosode/telefilm of WITB. More on this as news comes in.

Green is also starring in a new series called City Lights, following the further adventures of the neighbours chronicled in Northern Lights- only now, they're in London, with a new identity. On ITV1 and ITV3 from April 4. 'Ole Geordie blue eyes will also be starring in a two parter, Little Devil, about a little boy's desperate attempt to repair his parents' crumbling marriage.

If you're a Hermione Norris fan, and have been missing her now she's not Carole in WITB, you can catch her and the great Stephen Fry in a new six parter, Kingdom, set to air in April on ITV1. Personally, I have always felt Fry could read the phone book and reduce me to hysterics. It's a more sombre Fry who takes on the role of country solicitor Peter Kingdom, a man haunted by the death of his brother Simon, whose body has never been recovered. It's Fry's first outing in a drama series since his hilarious turn as dour butler Jeeves to Hugh Laurie's Wooster ten long years ago.

Norris plays Kingdom's very troubled younger sister Beatrice, who wreaks havoc in his life when she comes to live with him – fresh from rehab. Whose Line is It Anyway ? alumnus Tony Slattery also has a role as a cantankerous villager Snell, always in search of litigation. The beautiful Norfolk countryside, where Fry has lived for many years, will offer some visual luxury, as the witty, thoughtful production unfolds. Sunday night fare if ever I saw it.

A brand new thriller, Time of Your Life, starring Genevieve O'Reilly, examines just what happens when life passes you by. Kate is 36 years old, and has just awoken from a coma lasting 19 years. Over six 60 minute episodes, she begins an accelerated 'rebirth', as she sees her friends with their new families, her boyfriend in love with another, and her parents looking, well...really quite old. Plus, there's a bit of a mystery to solve about the night she fell into her coma. Why is everyone keeping mum ? And just who was the battered body lying next to her ? Sounds like a great premise, keep your eyes on ITV1.