Underworld

The excellence of the series lies in the characters, their clashes, and their truly first class portrayals by the cast. The weak and insipid William (James Fleet), a middle aged teacher, is married to flighty young Gilda. Gilda is barely able to read her own tattoos according to William's strong, bitter and brittle sister Susan (Susan Wooldridge - amid A1 performances she manages to stand out), whose own husband left her for another woman. Their lives become entangled with two sets of gangsters. Boss Teddy Middlemass (Alun Armstrong) is tough but trying hard to raise himself to a higher moral and cultural level, an effort despised by his father (Vicar of Dibley's Trevor Peacock). Rival boss Mr Jezzard is a rolled-gold psychopath, whose sadism is lightened only by his love of the theatrical. The second tier of characters are also well drawn and brilliantly brought to life.

Like other reviewers I am immensely frustrated at how this series has been buried. If any old TV series should be re-run it's Underworld.