Hard to believe, but we are now almost a decade into the new millennium. Television has changed so much during this time, especially the rise of so-called reality shows, and it now has to compete with so much else: computer games, the internet, Facebook, Youtube etc. for everyone’s attention. So here is my pick of programmes divided into Drama, comedy, reality, factual shows and soaps. They are not necessarily the ones I would always choose to watch, but they have been important over the past 10 years…

Drama
Life On Mars – a brilliant time-travelling story, original, funny and sad (I would add Lost In Austen here too)
Dr Who – who would have thought this children’s sci-fi show, which is nearly 50 years old, would have achieved such a stunning renaissance
Bleak House – Dickens’ classic was given a new twist with innovative camera techniques, brilliant acting and dramatic music (North and South would fall into this category as well)
Cranford – a little-known (some would say dull) book by Elizabeth Gaskell was made into gentle, funny, sweet story of village life in the 1840s.

Comedy
Ricky Gervais is the big name of Noughties comedy. First came The Office, which at first hardly anyone watched and some even thought was a real documentary. Gradually it gained traction until the final double Christmas episode in 2003 was watched by a massive TV audience. The series went to become a great success in the US where they produced their own version.
Extras was Ricky’s next comedy vehicle where A-list actors queued to be shown up as thoroughly despicable characters in this show about film-making.
Peep Show – David Mitchell and Robert Webb star in this comedy about two flat mates with very different personalities. The character’s thoughts are aired over the dialogue and the camera serves as the viewer. Great fun. (I’d put Spaced in here too).
Comedy quiz shows where the point is the wit, not the quiz element. The best are Mock the Week (political satire with the acerbic and shocking Frankie Boyle), Never Mind the Buzzcocks, a pop music quiz which has lost its raison d’etre now the brilliant Simon Amstell has left and QI hosted by polymath Stephen Fry, a highbrow general knowledge quiz with tons of humour.

Reality shows
Two words define this – Simon Cowell. He has spawned Pop Idol, Britain’s Got Talent (which launched Susan Boyle) and The X Factor. The franchise was sold throughout the world and they think this year’s X Factor final could be watched by 20 million people (we’ve not seen figures like that since the 1980s).
Strictly Come Dancing has brought back old-fashioned ballroom dancing. Professionals and celebrities compete and are judged by a professional panel and viewers at home can vote as well. Highly popular.
I’m A Celebrity…Get me Out of Here. Despite the title, this actually involves a collection of has beens or never wases who are whisked off to the jungle in Australia and made to go through a variety of ordeals such as putting their face in a box of cockroaches or eating a kangaroo penis (not while it’s on the kangaroo of course). It’s very popular but I always think – what’s the point?
I suppose I should mention Big Brother here but I don’t want to.

Factual
We’ve had a plague of celeb historians such as Simon Schama, David Starkey and Dan Snow who have toured the country telling us all about Henry VIII, Elizabeth 1, the Romans, The Vikings etc. Time Team has made archaeology more accessible and Who Do You Think You Are? where the famous are taken on a tour of their personal family ancestry is a boost to genealogists. Also I loved Meet The Ancestors which investigated archaeological sites around Britain. When a skeleton was found, they often recreated the facial features – always the best bit.
The Live 8 show was not quite as big in the Noughties as Live Aid was in the 1980s but when Pink Floyd reformed and sang Comfortably Numb, I thought all my Christmases had come at once.
Everyone loves a list (like this one) and there were endless lists of the best this or that. The Best Britons had various celebrities championing the virtues of historical characters to earn the title Best Briton. Jeremy Clarkson made a great case for the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. However in the end Churchill won, as we knew he would. It will be interesting in 10 years’ time to see who wins then.
Speaking of Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear is ostensibly a show about cars. Under his management it is silly, funny, annoying and interesting even to those who have no interest in cars.

Soaps
There are really only two Soaps worth mentioning. Next year, Coronation St will be 50 years old. Set in a working class area of Manchester, the soap details the lives of people living in a particular street – there are love affairs, murders, arson, births, deaths and marriages.
The arch-rival is EastEnders which is set in a working class area of East London with love affairs, murders, arson…