Many of the best cop shows are made by ITV so let’s stick with that channel and not let the BBC have all the exposure. By the way, do most people realise that the BBC is paid for by a licence fee that everyone who owns a television must buy? That means there is no advertising on the Beeb. ITV must make its own way with advertising so it’s at a disadvantage, especially in these straitened times. Having said that, ITV does make plenty of quality drama.

Midsomer Murders is a very popular and long-running series starring John Nettles as Inspector Barnaby and is filmed in the beautiful rural villages around Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Despite these picturesque and peaceful locations, fans of the show know the body count in each episode can almost get up to double figures!

The stories always include facets of village life: church fetes, vicars, parties at the lord of the manor’s house, a shop keeper whose antiquarian book shop is just a front for crime, a lady novelist who turns out to have wielded the dagger. In the midst of all this intrigue steps Inspector Barnaby and his faithful sidekick Sergeant Troy (played by Luke Casey - I always think of Far From the Madding Crowd when they say Sgt Troy).

The joke in the UK is – why would anyone live in such a dangerous village? Even the Queen is a fan as she commented to John Nettles, ‘Is there anyone left alive in Midsomer?’ Despite the body count, the series has a strangely comforting appeal and retains its popularity – a new series is being commissioned in 2010. Sadly, I understand the Biography Channel in the US is no longer showing it. Email and beg them to reinstate.

Another super cop show in a similar mould is Inspector Morse played by the late, great John Thaw. Morse, with his own sidekick Sgt Lewis, is set in lovely Oxford but with a body count almost as high as in Midsomer! Morse himself, the opera loving, crossword doing, bachelor policeman who drives a lovely old red Jaguar car round the dreaming spires always gets the murderer. John Thaw died in 2002 not long after his screen character had a heart attack on the green lawn of an Oxford College. The most moving episode when Lewis said goodbye to his old boss was a huge ratings winner. There have since been a few episodes called Lewis, featuring his faithful sidekick.

A touch of Frost is a 15-year-old cop show featuring grumpy widower DI Jack Frost (David Jason) whose maverick tactics always lead him to the killer. David Jason has said he will retire this year but all the shows are available on DVD. Set in the fictional town of Denton, A Touch of Frost does not have quite such beautiful locations and gruesome murders as Midsomer but the plots are always extremely clever and convoluted.

I just want to finish with mention of a two-part drama shown on ITV recently. Called A Place of Execution, it starred Juliet Stevenson and Lee Ingleby and was a brilliant police story. The plot was partly set in 1963 when a young girl disappeared and the evocation of that time, clothes, cars and interiors, was excellent. Told in a series of flashbacks, a modern day documentary maker seeks to interview the detective who originally investigated the disappearance. The twist at the end was so unexpected. Fantastic.