The hit American TV show Dexter has finally made its way to ITV and be warned, its highly addictive viewing!

Michael C Hall (remember him as the uptight undertaker from 6 feet under?) plays Dexter, a top police department forensics expert who specialises in tracing blood trails and everything related.

Having solved some of the top cases it comes as quite a surprise to us as viewers when we learn that in his spare time Dexter has an unhealthy obsession with murder.

Unlike your typical serial killer Dexter only kills people he feels deserves to die, murderers, criminals and the scum of the city are his targets and he takes great pleasure in tracking them down.

As a troubled child Dexter was adopted, his adoptive father (and police officer) soon figured out his homicidal tendencies and encouraged him to channel them towards more constructive methods, suggesting that if he MUST kill and cannot fight the urge, then to target those who have slipped through the cracks of justice.

It’s definitely hard not to like Dexter, and the morals of this show are challenging to figure out! We find ourselves rooting for Dexter as he chooses the lowest of the low as his victims and by doing so he almost becomes a hero.

However Dexter himself lacks some of the normal human emotions that you and I would feel, he struggles with intimacy issues in particular, and except for his closeness to his sister the only other relationship he has is with his ‘Girlfriend’ Rita, the victim of a brutal rape who also has her own issues where intimacy is concerned, making them appear as almost the perfect match for each other.

Of course, Rita knows nothing of Dexter’s dark secret and uses him as almost a cover to make herself feel more normal. Fans of the TV series ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ or ‘Angel’ will recognise Rita as Julie Benz who played the vampire Darla. Like Michael C Hall she also has somewhat of a cult following in the entertainment industry making this a hard show not to want to watch!

I love the fact that you never quite know where you stand with Dexter, is he good or bad? Are we supposed to like him quite as much as we do? So many questions are posed and yet the storylines flow seamlessly and are gripping from start to finish.

If you like psychological drama series then Dexter is definitely one you should be checking out, with a great cast, superb plotlines and some decent special effects it’s not to be missed!

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Full cast list for the TV series Dexter: Adam Lieberman, Angela Alvarado, Anna Maganini, Brad William Henke, Brandon Killham, C.S. Lee, Christian Camargo, Christina Robinson, Daniel Goldman, Dave Baez, David Zayas, Del Hunter-White, Demetrius Grosse, Devon Graye, Dominic Janes, Eli Goodman, Erik King, Francisco Viana, Geoffrey Pierson, Haley King, Jaime Murray, James Remar, Jennifer Carpenter, Jillian Bruno, JoBeth Williams, Jonathan Banks, Judith Scott, Julie Benz, Kathrin Lautner, Keith Carradine, Kiko Ellsworth, Laura Marano, Lauren Vélez, Lizette Carrion, Margo Martindale, Mark L. Young, Mark Pellegrino, Mary Alyce Kania, Matthew Willig, Maxwell Huckabee, Michael C. Hall, Minerva Garcy Monique Curnen, Nicholas Simmons, Preston Bailey, Romeo Brown, Roxanne Beckford, Rudolf Martin, Sam Witwer, Scott William Winters, Teddy Lane Jr., Tomiko Martinez, Valerie Dillman, Wing Armstrong.

One of my favourite shows to watch on a Sunday night had to be ‘Dancing on Ice’ it gets better and better every year with the quality of skating improving each time.

Presented by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield and featuring some great performances and choreography from top Ice Skating professionals Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean it was one of the most watched shows at the weekends.

The final celebrities left in the competition this time around were:

• Hollyoaks star Chris Fountain (he was my favourite to win)
• retired tennis player Greg Rusedski (who is wonderfully clumsy on the ice)
• pop star Gareth Gates
• singer Suzanne Shaw
• Coronation Street star Zaraah Abrahams who was a newcomer to the competition after Michael Underwood broke his ankle.

As I watched each week, I became quite fond of all the contestants left in the competition, they all put everything they had into their performances and even Greg who is hilarious on the ice still manages to push his performance to the max every week. The judges were often brutally honest and in my opinion gave quite low scores this year for fantastic performances, Suzanne Shaw’s routine one week sparked fury between several of the judges and rightly so after Suzanne was given stupidly low marks for an amazing performance.

The judge panel itself is made up of the following people:

• Robin Cousins - One of Britain’s best individual skater’s.
• Nicky Slater - Competed as a pro ice skater with resident judge Karen Barber.
• Karen Barber - Resident Coach and appeared as Nicky Slater’s partner in the Olympics.
• Jason Gardiner - Choreographer, actor and dancer Jason is the judge with the razor sharp tongue who we all love to hate.
• Ruthie Henshall - Olivier award winner who has starred in many west end musicals.

It was great to see Torvill and Dean once again performing some stunning routines together and equally interesting to watch as they take the skaters under their wing and put them through their paces during the week in preparation for the live show.

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Full cast list for Dancing on Ice 2008: Aggie MacKenzie, Andrei Lipanov, Chris Fountain, Daniel Whiston, Frankie Poultney, Fred Palascak, Fred Palascak, Gareth Gates, Greg Rusedski, Jason Gardiner, Karen Barber, Kristina Lenko, Linda Lusardi, Maria Filippov, Matt Evers, Melanie Lambert, Michael Underwood, Natalie Pinkham, Nicky Slater, Pavel Aubrecht, Robin Cousins, Ruthie Henshall, Samantha Mumba, Sarah Greene, Sergey Malyshev, Steve Backley, Susie Lipanova, Suzanne Shaw, Tim Vincent, Victoria Borzenkova, Zaraah Abrahams.

Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn star in this brilliantly over the top comedy about two men who spend all of their free time crashing other peoples wedding parties.

The basic aim of this and their twisted logic is that weddings are the perfect place to meet women and along with the free food and party atmosphere it never seems to grow tiresome for the two of them.

Things soon begin to change however when the pair crash an exclusive bash and meet up with treasury secretary William Cleary (played brilliantly by Christopher Walken) and his attractive young daughters Gloria (Isla Fisher) and Claire (Amy McAdams).

Whilst Jeremy has to attempt to fend off the advances of Gloria, a completely crazy and immature but gorgeous young woman John finds himself falling head over heels for the other daughter Claire, who seems to be feeling the same way about him until she reveals that she has a boyfriend. Determined to find out more about Claire and win her over John and Jeremy manage to bag themselves an invite to the family home where they end up in various different uncomfortable and often (in Johns case at least) embarrassing situations along the way!

This is definitely one of those films that you can just sit down and watch without having to concentrate or worrying that if you nip out to grab a drink you will have missed a vital plot point. It’s a simple, great fun comedy that has some genuinely hilarious laugh out loud moments that will appeal to both men and women.

Most of the fun revolves around Gloria and Jeremy, Isla Fisher does a fantastic job of playing this clingy, kooky and downright scary girl whose attraction to poor Jeremy never gives him a minute’s peace.

There is a definite chemistry between the two of them that really works and manages top be sweet and jaw droppingly funny at the same time! The romantic element of the film is more focused on John and Claire as they start to grow closer despite her overbearing and often chauvinistic boyfriend.

Christopher Walken delivers a flawless performance as usual and is a real asset to the film there is also a great cameo from Will Ferrell which is worth watching out for. All in all Wedding Crashers is the perfect movie to watch when you’ve finished work and just want to sit down and chill out!

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Full cast list for Wedding Crashers: Al Cerullo, Amber Matthews, Arnold Chun, Beau Bowden, Betsy Ames, Brad Newman, Bradley Cooper, Camille Anderson, Carolyn Robertson, Carson Elrod, Chao Li Chi, Charles Kahlenberg, Christina Lindley, Christopher Walken, Cindy Taylor, Claudia Barroso, David Conrad, Diora Baird, Dwight Yoakam, Dylan James Turner, Ellen Albertini Dow, Frank Ray Perilli, Geoff Stults, Gill Garci, Henry Gibson, Holly Traister, Ina Haybaeck-Rogers, Irene Roseen, Isla Fisher, Ivana Bozilovic, Jacob Newman, James Carville, James McDonnell, Jane Seymour, Jed Bernard, Jeff Fields, Jennifer Alden, Jennifer Massey, Jesse Henecke, Jewel Donohue, Joe Koons, John G. Pavelec, John H. Tobin, John McCain, Joshua Wheeler, Jules Mandel, Juting Tsang, Karen Miller, Kassie Pinegar, Kathryn Joosten, Keir O’Donnell, Kelsey Wedeen, Larry Joe Campbell, Laura Orrico, Lindsay Schoneweis, Lisa Beach, Lou Cutell, Lovelynn Vanderhorst, Maria Arcé, Mark Duane Anderson, Melanie Hawkins, Michael McKennitt, Michelle Woods, Mike Bellesfield, Mike George, Naureen Zaim, Ned Schmidtke, Neil Patil, Noel De Souza, Norma Michaels, O.J. Watson, Owen Wilson, Pamela Fischer, Paola Perla, Patricia Place, Phyllis Samhaber, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Sterling, Rebecca De Mornay, Richard Riehle, Rita Rani, Robert Neal Marshall, Robert Randolph Caton, Ron Canada, Roopashree Jeevaji, Schuster Vance, Shawn Barber, Sophia Blouin, Sparkle, Stephanie Nevin, Stephen J. Downs, Steve Carson, Steve J. Termath, Summer Altice, Tanaya Nicole, Tiffany Turner, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, William F. Smith, Z.M. Nan Khan.

Every now and again a concept for a show comes along that has the potential to be truly amazing. When I first heard about a new show being planned on ITV I must confess to being really excited about it.

You have all probably seen the show by now, its called Echo Beach, a soap opera set in Cornwall. Although this doesn?t sound like anything new at first glance, when you hear about the show that airs before hand called Moving Wallpaper it all starts to seem much more clever.

You see, Moving Wallpaper is the fictional show following the (fictional) production stages of Echo Beach. Lead by director Jonathan Pope (played absolutely brilliantly by Ben Miller) it shows the fake “behind the scenes” info that we don’t usually get to see. The whole “Show within a show” concept really appealed to me so I made a commitment to watch the first couple of episodes to see how it actually worked.

I was very pleasantly surprised with how good “Moving Wallpaper” was. The cast were brilliant and Ben Miller gets funnier with each episode. Its also great fun to spot the “in jokes” which later go on to appear in Echo Beach itself airing straight after it.

Echo Beach has a generally good cast, Jason Donovan (Daniel) and Martine McCutcheon (Susan) seem quite natural in their roles and Hugo Spears does a brilliant job of playing the rich, controlling character Mark Penwarden, Susan’s husband. Some of the younger cast do let the show down a little bit with their acting skills but I hold on to hope that this will all be ironed out in time as they gradually become a bit more natural on screen.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with how the show has turned out and although I’m currently enjoying Moving Wallpaper much more than the main Soap Echo Beach right now I’d love to see Echo Beach take off as a soup opera in its own rights. With a few more dramatic storylines and good plot twists I think it could have the definite potential to do just that!

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Full cast list for Echo Beach and Moving Wallpaper: Ben Miller, Chandeep Uppal, Christian Cooke, Dave Lamb, Ed Speleers, Elizabeth Berrington, Gwyneth Powell, Hannah Lederer-Alton, Hugo Speer, James Lance, Jason Donovan, Johnny Briggs, Jonathan Readwin, Laura Greenwood, Louise Rose, Lucy Liemann, Marcus Patric, Mark Frost, Martine McCutcheon, Naomi Ryan, Patrick Adolphe, Perdita Avery, Raquel Cassidy, Sarah Hadland, Sinead Keenan, Steven Kynman, Susie Amy.

I recently watched the whole of series one of Skins on Channel 4’s 4OD (4 on demand) online service. It’s actually pretty cool, you can sign up for the service and then stream the episodes of series one of Skins live on your media player or download them to watch later. Some of the programs on there you have to pay for but Skins was free to watch so having completely caught up I was eagerly awaiting series 2 which has just recently kicked off.

People who use myspace may have already seen the first episode in four parts over there, but I was determined to wait and watch it in all its glory on E4. I’m pleased to say that it has most definitely been worth the wait!

Last series ended with Tony seriously injured after his accident, we pick up a little while later in series 2 and Tony is now out of hospital but has very little control over his own body and is a far cry from the character we saw last year! He needs help with pretty much everything and feels demoralised and belittled having to rely on his friends for help constantly.

Michelle and Sid are avoiding him, which is hardly surprising the way things were left last series and Sid is pining for Cassie who is away in Scotland with her family, I’m not sure if this is permanent or not but I hope she makes a comeback as she was a huge part of the show. Her overuse of the word Wow which seemed annoying at first is surprisingly sorely missed this time around.

Brilliant comedian Bill Bailey makes his first appearance in the show as Maxxie?s dad. He is perfectly cast in this role, and being from Bristol himself makes him appear right at home with the other characters. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of him as the series progresses.

We didn’t see much of the other characters for the rest of the show, but obviously the main focus had to be on Tony after the accident, I wonder how quickly the writers will have him recover, the show does seem a little strange without him leading the way forward, organizing the partying etc but it was good to see Maxxie get more screen time for once.

Overall I was really impressed with the first episode of Skins series 2 and if they can keep it up this series could be just as good, if not better than the first one!

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Full cast list for Skins: April Pearson, Arabella Weir, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Bill Bailey, Daniel Kaluuya, Danielle Jadelyn, Danny Dyer, Dev Patel, Geoffrey Hughes, Georgina Moffat, Giles Thomas, Hannah Murray, Harry Enfield, Johann Benet, John Weldon, Joseph Dempsie, Kaya Scodelario, Larissa Wilson, Mike Bailey, Mitch Hewer, Morwenna Banks, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Capaldi, Robert Wilfort, Siwan Morris, Stephen Walters, Tom Payne.