Primeval is a monster hit

There's just one problem with Primeval - and that's ITV's marketing department. Yes, the first series was about a ragtag team that goes around dealing with rampaging dinosaurs, but the writers were clever enough to realise how limiting this could be and started throwing in beasts from the future, time paradoxes, butterfly effects and oodles of conspiracy theories. Why not sell the series as that and win over some of the snootier sci-fi fans out there?

And now in its third series, Primeval has blossomed into Britain's best sci-fi franchise for some time. Hell, it's probably the best British drama on TV at the mo (not that there's much competition). The loss of painfully earnest thesp Douglas Henshall has brought about a reinvention, with new lead Jason Flemyng bringing some Tennant-esque charisma and derring-do to proceedings. The rest of the cast have been brilliantly repositioned, and Juliet Aubrey is still amazing as totally bonkers eco-warrior bad gal Helen.

And with 10 episodes to play with this time round, there's a proper story arc involving a sinister government group that looks set to bring about Armageddon. Oh, and there's the odd dinosaur on the loose too. But that's barely worth mentioning.

Here's a look at the next episode, which looks to be the most frightening thing Saturday evening telly has seen in a long time...

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Dollhouse axed or saved? Who can tell....

Blimey, Twitter has gone into meltdown over the Dollhouse debacle. Felicia Day twittered that her forthcoming episode - the last of season one - has been pulled, giving rise to chatter that Dollhouse has been axed.

Now Fox claim that they're just not showing the 13th episode as they only ordered 12 (the 13th came about after Joss shot a second pilot). So in theory, the 13th episode which was due to introduced Felicia in significant role - as well as Alan Tudyk as the much mentioned rogue active Alpha - could be the first episode of season two.

But there's still no word on Dollhouse getting a second season. Which is vexing. Could this whole episode 13 situation be engineered to give the show some press and mobilise Dollhouse fans into supporting what has the potential to be a brilliant series?

What to make of The Wire, then?

One week into The Wire and it's not clear how it's meant to the TV opus that many a boxed-set-loving, mainly lads-mag reading male bore claims it is. It is incredibly watchable and I'm glad I've finally tuned in, but it doesn't seem that far removed from other US cop dramas. So far, it's pretty linear with only the potty-mouthed language and the inclusion of black and gay characters making it any different to some of grittier episodes of The Bill. It's had great PR though, with anyone watching it made to feel clever for having the ability to follow it.

The Wire seems to be the sort of programme that people who don't watch much TV think is brilliant TV. It has been held up as an example of well-written, gritty, cinematic telly - and indeed it is. However, great TV is not a rarity. Having grown up with Oz, The Sopranos, Buffy, Six Feet Under, Battlestar and many more brilliant shows, I'm used to great dialogue, involving plots and expert acting. If you can follow Oz, then The Wire holds no problem. In fact, I expect TV to be insanely great, which is probably why The Wire isn't impressing as much as I hoped.

And lead actor Dominic West is right - The Wire would never get made in Britain. TV execs here are too influenced by ratings and advertising revenue to take a gamble on daring TV. Not enough people would watch a British equivilent to make it commerically viable (though the Beeb should be far less concerned by that than they are). So the problems with us, the public, not the TV industry. ITV1's attempts to educate their ageing viewers into watching more Lost in Austens than Midsomer Murders has fallen flat, and C4's attempts at producing classy drama (ie Red Riding) only budgeted for the cast and flashy directing, neglecting to get a decent script.

Thank Joss, then, that networks in America are still willing to take the odd gamble, then.