All this week we've been whizzing through our favourite TV shows of 2007. When you bring all the best bits together, you realise that it's been a pretty good year, with a healthy amount of innovative comedies, thoughtful dramas and incisive documentaries.
So far, you've voted Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe your favourite show in the 50-41 section (with a whopping 54% of the vote!) and yesterday Top Gear came out on top. Which of today's programmes - taking places 30 - 21 - was your favourite? Pop over the cut to be reminded of the best of 2007.
30. Torn (ITV1)
I don't want to bring undue attention to this fact, but it perhaps has to be said at least once that ITV1 is not going to feature terribly heavily on this Top 50. Remember Keris's School Report? I think the Headmaster's Comment was "Lazy, uninspired, an insult to the nation's rapidly dwindling intelligence. Must do better." But in my little section of the Top 50 you'll find not one, not two, but three great dramas which aired on the channel. Torn was the story of a family struggling to cope with the losing a child, and the turmoil which ensued when the mother believes she has seen her daughter in a crowd. Our reviewer John was highly impressed: "How one event can play out and have so many repercussions for so many people is brilliantly explored by this excellent drama." Read the review here.
29. Peep Show (C4)
And so starts our "comedies which split opinion and therefore have been put in the middle of the Top 50" section. We're working on the title. Peep Show has reached the grand old age of four (in terms of series) which is brave for a modern comedy - most seem to think that nothing can survive after two series. A couple of episodes were slightly messy, but overall this kept up the high standard we've become accustomed to, and the final episode featuring Mark's wedding was black comedy perfection. Read the review here.
28. The Mighty Boosh (BBC3)
Few programmes have elicited the sort of response from you lot, our dear readers, that The Mighty Boosh has received. Opinion is split right down the middle here at TV Scoop, but I'll defend the show to the death. In a sea of mediocre and derivative TV, The Mighty Boosh stands apart - funny, musical, innovative and full of heart. Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding seem to be poles apart in terms of personality, and they bring that to their characters, but they also work perfectly together. This series has been darker than the previous two, and they continue to challenge their audiences, while still being as silly and colourful as an episode of Mr Benn. Read a review here.
27. The Street (BBC 1)
For this, I simply want to hand you over to Mof straight away, as he puts it much better than I ever could... "I could give you a synopsis of the plot... I could tell you how incredible and moving the acting was throughout... I could tell you about the emotional and heart-wrenching moments that left this writer physically fighting back the tears... I could go on and on about how real the whole thing felt and how the desperation and spiraling problems of the story laid me to waste, only to salvage some heart breaking hope... but it just doesn't cut it. In short, The Street is the best thing I've ever seen on television. Ever. Watch it. Cherish it." He may have got caught up in the moment a little... read a full review here.
26. Recovery (BBC1)
Occasionally, just occasionally, things slip under the TV Scoop net, and Recovery was one of them. But never fear, I *did* watch it, and it was superb - but then with Sarah Parish and David Tennant involved, that's hardly a great surprise. Tennant played Alan, a happy, healthy family man who essentially turned into someone else the day he stepped out in front a car. It was heartbreaking to watch his family trying to love and look after a man who's brain injury means he has changed so much. And yet it was funny too, and ultimately heart-warming as little, familiar glimpses of Alan came shining through.
25. Northanger Abbey (ITV1)
Here's another of those ITV dramas that have deservedly found their way into our Top 50 of 2007. When ITV was promoting its Jane Austen season, it concentrated on Mansfield Park and Persuasion as they featured the star turns: Billie Piper and Rupert Penry-Jones respectively. But without doubt the best of the three programmes was in fact Northanger Abbey. While the other two were rather down-beat, Northanger Abbey was fun to look at, featured a great script from - who else - Andrew Davies, and had two wonderfully engaging and warm actors, Felicity Jones and JJ Feild, in the lead roles. Read the review here.
24. Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive (BBC3)
Quietly tucked away on the most maligned channel of all, BBC Three, Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive returned for a second series this year. At the time I said: "What I like about Annually Retentive, is that it is a show of many layers, all of which are utterly indistinct from one another." We come to the programme with preconceptions about Rob, and the guests on the fictional panel show, and this comedy plays with and subverts those preconceptions to make a really clever little show which probably doesn't receive the recognition it deserves. Read the review here.
23. Celebrity Masterchef (BBC2)
This is a show that people are often embarrassed to say they like, but the fact is that it's great fun. What's so lovely to see is that the celebrities who take part have a real passion for food - they *want* to be there, instead of just hoping it'll kick-start their career. The thing I remember most of all, was seeing the usually steely Craig Revel-Horwood shaking like a leaf as he tried to prepare dainty little hors d'oeuvres. He should remember that feeling when laying into Strictly Come Dancing contestants... Read the review here.
22. Half Broken Things (ITV1)
This is the final of our three ITV dramas. I missed it - and having read John's review I wish I hadn't. So I shall hand you over to him... "[Half Broken Things] centres around three characters who are only accidentally in the wrong because each of them believes they have limited choices, and the writing (and, in the case of last night's drama, acting) is so good you find yourself on their side, enjoying their brief idyllic existence even though you know it's based on lies, deceit and, in the end, murder... The tension that ran through the whole two hours made this, for me, one of the most enjoyable dramas that has been televised this year." Read the full review here.
21. House (five)
I was watching Hugh Laurie clucking like a hen in Blackadder the Third the other day, and I realised that he's had a very odd career, but a brilliant one. House, of course, has a very set formula: patient has weird illness, House goes around being grumpy for a while, House diagnoses rare disease, patient is saved. It should get boring, but it doesn't because the viewer is treated with respect and it is assumed that we have a little bit of intelligence - something rare in TV these days. Our reviewer Katie Button is a huge fan, and you can read her review of the season finale here.
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