Desperate Housewives - Series 1 - Complete (DVD)

A smash hit, if a risky step by ABC to produce the programme, 'Desperate Housewives' takes all the stereotypes (or should that be male fantasies and nightmares) of picket-fenced US suburbia - the man-eater, the dizzy single parent, the career woman making a job of bringing up her kids, the unfaithful trophy, and the Stepford wife with attitude. Oh yes, and then there's the dead narrator? This is a harder spin on 'American Beauty', an ironic, not to mention cynical glimpse behind the Martha Stewart façades of post-yuppie domesticity. It's funny, it's dark, it's electrifying.

Each episode provides a stand-alone drama, beating out a theme, pulsing to the rhythm of some moral … stated at the outset, restated at the conclusion, but with a sharp twist of irony. This is not the neighbourliness of Capra, George Bailey, and "Wonderful Life". There are good neighbours. And there are bad. It's a competitive world living in the suburbs - whatever else happens, you have to maintain the façade, you have to appear to be perfect, or at least have a credible explanation if you're not.

This is a wonderful series. It carries along the mystery of its narrator's death. Others will die. Murder can be brutal. It can also be quite functional. It can have charm. And one by one each perfect household comes unpicked, exposes a flaw like a run in a pair of stockings - once you've noticed it, you can't take your eyes of it. And while you're distracted with one plot strand, writer Marc Cherry works his sleight of hand and conjures up another twist.

The cast is wonderful. With perhaps only Teri Hatcher as a 'star' name, albeit she'd dropped out of sight for a few years, Cherry assembled an ensemble cast who generate some great chemistry onscreen and who amplify one another's talents and energies. There's scarcely a weak performance in sight. Direction and editing are excellent - the juxtaposition of scenes and shots, the ironic counterpoint of humour and mystery, the rapid cutting from one household to the next, and the overall quality of the production keeps your attention rapt.

But the script's the thing. It is beautifully crafted. The DVD extras accompanying season one give you some excellent insights into the writing process. You get a look at the making of the series, you get brief interviews with actors. You get some very interesting commentaries. And much more. It's a fascinating series. The DVD's, like the writing and the concept, are beautifully packaged. Excellent value, a series you can watch again and again. And again.

Why would perfect wife and mother Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) suddenly decide to commit suicide? That's the mystery at the heart of ABC's darkly funny Stepford-esque soap opera. While Mary Alice's friends Susan (Teri Hatcher), Lynette (Felicity Huffman), Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) and Bree (Marcia Cross) try to find out what happened, their own lives and loves get increasingly complicated. Nicolette Sheridan and Jamie Denton co-star.