The Wire: Complete HBO Season 5 [DVD]

As with every season of The Wire, there's an underlying theme running alongside the exploration of both sides of Baltimore's drug problem, and this time it's the media. Fighting cutbacks, yet trying to maintain quality, the staff of The Baltimore Sun prove to be a compelling addition to the mix. On top of that, there's also Mayor Carcetti's battles at City Hall with the budget, a stretched police force looking for easy statistics, and fractions among the city's main drug dealers. Desperate times, ultimately, call for desperate measures, and it turns to McNulty to come up with a plan that threads through each of the city's factions.

That The Wire has maintained its standards for five straight seasons is surely something to be celebrated all by itself. Yet what's even more remarkable is the way that it leaves our screens, seemingly forever. No character is safe and nothing is black and white, right up to the quite wonderful final episode. And what a way to go that last instalment proves to be. Giving nothing away, it's a superb fanfare to a genuinely stunning--and unequalled--piece of television drama. If you've not already, you really should find out what all the fuss about. --Simon Brew