TV heaven - Jim Sangster

The Halliwells of British telly, guaranteed to feed your TV addiction

From the moment TVs entered our sitting rooms in the 50s we became a nation hooked by our favourite soaps, dramas, comedies . and now reality TV. This complete guide covers classic British telly, cults hits, and imports old and new such as Star Trek, Neighbours, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, and Desperate Housewives.

What was it about The Prisoner, The Avengers, and Dr Who, that got the fans excited? Which were the best episodes (and the worst)? This one-stop A-Z guide to over 2,000 terrestrial shows reminds you of the best TV moments, the locations, the characters, the writers, and is absolutely packed with websites to visit and related series to watch. Hyperlinks send you on to other programmes of similar genre influenced by the series, and the next programme chronologically to have been broadcast. In this way the Collins Telly Guide offers a family tree of the programmes on our screens over the last fifty years.

The authors are unashamedly passionate about television, so you can expect a vigorously researched, highly-opinionated guide, brimming with personality and trivia that will send you diving for the remote control.

For the 100 most influential TV series of all time we've included longer feature entries, with full cast lists, photographs and top ten listings. And as if that isn't enough, the shorter entries also include plenty of series-related trivia, perfect for pub quiz fanatics and general Christmas day disputing . so which Eastenders character is connected to every other?