In praise of TV drama

Rupert Smith in Media Guardian (free registration required) says that drama is the best thing on TV.

Thank God and the commissioning editors for popular drama. At a time when television seems to be swirling inexorably down the celebrity plughole, it's good to know that you can still trust the old formats of one-offs and continuing dramas to deliver something amusing and even thought-provoking. Drama can do this because it has writers. They don't have much status in the improvise-and-edit world of reality voyeurvision, but without them we might as well pack up our toys and go home.