How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..........

My one true love is Doctor Who. Always has been, always will be. Like Jack, I have genuinely never doubted the Doctor, nor never will I. They had me at hello, really - in my case, hello was episode one of Spearhead from Space. And that was that.

And I have always been faithful.

But there have been.....flirtations with other shows. I can't deny it. Blake's 7, Hill Street Blues, The West Wing, Studio 60 and Deep Space 9 have all captured my heart too - HSB and DS9 especially, each having held undisputed 'number 2' position for the duration of their runs on the telly box. And DS9 is still pretty close, thanks to a complete rewatch last year with the children. But one show has overtaken all the other runners and riders and become the closest challenger, in the history of me, to Doctor Who. At a time when my devotion to Doctor Who is pretty much as high as it's ever been.

Lost (of course, was there ever any doubt?) is a masterpiece. It is quite simply the most ambitious show - apart from Doctor Who - I have ever seen. Its scope is huge. Its potential - which is most certainly being realised - is immense. The paybacks are spot on and the plot is so strong, so intricate, that they just keep on giving. And, on top of all that - it is genuinely funny. And touching. And scary (well - OK, not so much. Despite all the death. But I don't actually go for scary, much, so I'm delighted about that). The best thing about it (well, OK, the second best thing. ) is that it demands the viewers' full attention. You can't just switch off half your brain and veg out while watching it. You have to (shock horror) concentrate. And remember stuff that maybe happened 4 years ago. Complete (up to now) rewatches every close season are a must. You have to join the dots yourself - no spoon feeding here. I mean - it's not Dostoevsky. It's not Shakespeare. But....it's more than a bit David Mitchell. It's a little bit Escher. It's a lot Dizzy.

Lost isn't Doctor Who. It's Losty. And that, my friends, is (almost) as Good as it Gets.

(Shirtless. Obviously. I'm still me.)