Guest Author - Pam Lawrence

It's that time of year again when we feel the crispness in the air and all our thoughts turn from SPF 50 to what's new on the box. There have been some exceptional dramas made this past year in the UK, and Canadian viewers will be delighted to hear they are coming our way.

Quality drama, to me, is what the Brits do best and TVO, the publicly funded Ontario broadcaster, has it in the bag as far as fabulous content goes this fall. It's the channel that brings us the perennially popular long running shows Heartbeat, and Midsomer Murders as well as the quirkily enjoyable David Jason in police favourite Frost.

But this fall, the broadcaster, whose mandate is essentially 'educational' television, practically blows the competition out of the water with its drama offerings, as well as some exceptional documentaries. No fluff here, and, even more wonderful, no commercials either. This channel is a gem; our True North's answer to PBS.

In a pivotal scene from the satirical The Trial of Tony Blair, the very wonderful Robert Lindsay (Jericho) is seen scrubbing his hands with Lady Macbeth-like obsessiveness, while his wife, played by Brideshead Revisited's Phoebe Nicholls watches in horror.

Set in 2010, we see a man who has refused to hand over the reins of power, and who is eaten away by his need to establish his legacy. The Blair government has inspired more dramatization than any other, and perhaps it is a need to try and understand how a man so popular in his prime could become so vilified by his public. This North American premiere begins on September 18.

Another coup for the little channel that could is the original drama Lilies, which aired at the beginning of the year on the BBC to rave reviews. The marvellous Heidi Thomas piece will air on Thursday nights from October 11 to November 28.

Readers, you will all know by now how fond I am of Robson Green. The man, in my opinion, can do no wrong. Whether he's playing the romantic hero, or the impotent psychological profiler, he's always intense and just a little quirky.

In the North American premiere of Rocket Man, Green stars as George Stevenson, a semi literate widow coping with the loss of his beloved wife, and the collapse of his career as an engineer at the local steel mill. He struggles to put meaning back into his life by attempting to build a rocket, in his back garden, that will launch his wife's ashes into space. Rocket Man will air from October 31 to December 5.

TVO Sundays are reserved for some very worthy and hard hitting programming which will include several North American premieres. Born Equal, starring two impossibly wonderful actors, Colin Firth and Robert Carlyle, looks at the way all classes within British society are connected. Dad, a warm hearted but uncompromising look at caring for the elderly stars Kevin Whately, and Recovery, which stars David Tennant as a man who awakens from a coma with no memory at all.

TVO is available across the Canada on both Bell and Star Choice, and if you are a fan of what is truly the best of British, you really have to get this channel.