I was hooked from the very beginning to this excellent and classic series that introduced us to the now legendary Gene Hunt and the long suffering and completely confused Sam Tyler. Other previous reviewers will have probably covered the salient points: 21st Century police officer knocked down in random road accident whilst investigating the kidnapping of his colleague and girlfriend wakes up to find himself in 1973. How did he get there? Sam was there the first time round - but he was 4 years old. Now he must try and work out why he's back, who the hell are these strange people he must interact with, why he's doomed to wear cuban heeled boots and why oh why is he stuck with the worst boss in the world ever, DCI Gene 'Genie' Hunt, in order to return to the life he unwilling left 35 years in the future. Its a drama, a homage to the police procedural, with moments of humour, pathos, drunken revelry, fist fights, a pretty cool soundtrack, fashion that makes you shudder, Berni Inns, chain smoking, and a marvellously just underplayed romance for our hapless time travelling cop that helps him find some stability in a situation he can't control and seems to have no way of understanding.
Excellent performances from the leads, Phillip Glenister and John Simm, but the rest of the cast more than do their own bits to make this watchable time and time again.
Oh, and of course, possibly the *most* satisfying conclusion to a tv series *ever* :)