The BBC isn’t really known for being too daring with its programming. After all, that’s not really what dear old Auntie is about, is it? The Beeb is there to provide us with banal, safe and somewhat beige programming like My Family or Songs of Praise.

Although there is the odd foray into the risqué, which takes the form of some tripe that’s written by Susan Nickson of Two Pints of Lager & A Packet of Crisps/Grown Ups/Coming of Age fame. You know, those shows that are so bad that even the trailers aren’t funny.

But the BBC has taken the brave choice of broadcasting someone’s death on national television.

That’s right, in the ultimate act of voyeurism that we were all warned about in numerous science fiction books, you will be able to see a man die, right there on your telly.

It’ll be like his stinking corpse is actually right there with you in your living room, ready to reach out through the set and throttle you for gawping at his demise whilst stuffing your face with Malteasers.

Naturally, this spectacle is being presented as part of some sort of educational series that takes a look at the human body, which eventually does just stop working and leaves us lying in a pool of our own vomit after a night spent snorting cocaine off the backs of suspiciously young looking Eastern European girls we found in the back of a Yellow pages.

But the main selling point is obviously the televised death of this fellow by the name of Gerald, who died at the very start of the year, in his home, surrounded by his family… and a camera crew who were probably more concerned about mundane details like the lighting or camera angles instead of how best to sensitively portray the deep emotions everyone is going through at that exact moments.

The heartless bastards, they probably jabbed his granddaughter in the ribs just so they could get some footage of someone crying as a cutaway shot.

Because nothing says BAFTA like a child crying over the death of a loved one.

For those of you morbid enough to want to watch something that hasn’t been written by Susan Nickson dying on the BBC, then Gerald’s last moments on Earth are to be broadcast during Inside the Human Body on May 12^th.

For the rest of us, there’s always the Jeremy Kyle show.

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You really haven’t got much to choose from when it comes to watching daytime TV.

The BBC generally shows you all sorts of people mulling over the decision to buy a sixteenth century house even though the previous owner converted it so it comes equipped with a replica of the Star Wars deathstar.

But ITV’s offering of morning television is substantially better. Or worse depending on your view of things. Known as the student’s favourite because they’re too hungover to get up and go to lectures, Jeremy Kyle is the king of confrontational TV. What this basically means is that for the duration of the show, we get to laugh and poke fun at the misfits of society before Jeremy Kyle loudly calls them scum. He’s done this successfully in the UK – and now he wants to go to America to do the same.

This sort of TV isn’t exactly new to us. If anything, Jeremy Kyle is simply copying what the likes of Jerry Springer brought to the American viewing public. Secret transsexuals, random spouts of violence and, of course, good old fashioned racists – it was classic family viewing at its greatest. Here’s just one of many examples:

Even if some of it was staged, the issues raised on the Jerry Springer show could never really get onto UK TV. So while we don’t quite have shock tales of pensioners being porn stars like our American friends on their confrontational TV, we simply laugh at pikeys. Like so…

Mums, dads, uncles and aunts all appear on the Jeremy Kyle show. If you ever wanted to find out if you’re the father of a child after a mass orgy with a local whore, then this show is perfect for you. All you need to do is go onstage, argue for a bit and then sit around nervously whilst the results are delivered to you.

And now, having explained to the majority of British citizens that they are in fact scumbags, Jeremy Kyle wants to hop across the pond to do the same to Americans. Speaking to BBC Online Jeremy Kyle said:

“I am particularly looking forward to meeting ordinary American people and hearing about their extraordinary lives. This show isn’t about me; it is about their issues and problems and how we can face them together – with complete honesty and openness – in front of US audiences.”

Despite the programme showing off the failings of the UK, the show has remained high in the ratings since its launch in 2005. But it looks like Jeremy might be flying the nest. After all, he can do the same job in America where the people have funny accents, plus he’ll look super skinny there, and he might even get away with properly swearing at his guests.

Of course, if Jeremy Kyle does mouth off to an American guest on the show, he may be badly beaten. Something we could all probably live with.

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December 28, and an admission. The reason why we aren't here throwing celebrity news at you like bananas in a monkey factory is because the whole hecklerspray family has gone camping.

It isn't going well. Laidlow, hammered on alcopops, has thrown up in Lindseth's sleeping bag and made him cry. Laverty tripped over the guy rope and dropped all our eggs on a cowpat. C J Davies keeps walking into a tree head-first again and again, convinced he'll be able to move it with the power of his mind and nobody has seen Annette since she went off to film that witch's hut. Only Stuart Heritage has managed to rise above this pathetic scene. Really, he's like some sort of hero or something.

Anyway, want to know what our favourite TV shows of the year were? Good, they're all here…

Stuart Heritage

I was tempted to plump for Tribe here, but didn't for the simple reason that Bruce Parry doesn't break out in whimsical song twice an episode. That isn't a problem with Flight Of The Conchords – the HBO remake of the duo's BBC radio series. Funny, understated and – as proved by the song Leggy Blonde – weirdly touching, Brett and Jermaine from Flight Of The Conchords are smarter, funnier, better-looking and better dressed than I am, and the simple fact that I don't hate them for it speaks volumes.

C J Davies

The Wire Season Three – broadcast a couple of years back, released to the masses on DVD this year – remains one of the best television shows ever made, and word is that the fourth season continues this fine tradition. In terms of new stuff, it admittedly does feel like it's been a year of wavering standards. 24 was notably below par this time around, even for a series that prides itself on far-fetched unreality. Family Guy has been missing the mark with alarming inaccuracy of late, and Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip promised to develop into something interesting but then went and got itself cancelled. Oh, and Heroes is just a big pile of shit, isn't it, really?

Hip-hip-hurrahs then to our two winners, one of which went out with nothing resembling a bang. The Sopranos ended in typically uncompromising style, dividing opinions sharply between pretentious non-ending and work of utter genius (hint: it's the latter). And Lost has made a remarkable recovery from a lacklustre second season, playing out its third year with humour, suspense and intelligence beyond any of its contemporaries.

Meanwhile in Britain, Rosemary And Thyme is set to begin it's six-fucking-millionth series.

Shawn Lindseth

The Best TV show of '08, in my humble opinion – and I have 75% of a GED so my opinion really counts – is 30 Rock. They were on their game during season one, but season two even more so. Anyone catch that Greenzo episode when Al Gore had to run out and save a whale?

Or what about when Kenneth was obligated to seduce Tracy Jordan's wife, and he did so by telling her he was a real good sex person?

Yes, in Shawn Lindseth's humble middle-school educated opinion, 30 Rock takes the '07 sitcom cake. 

Chris Laverty

Not just the best show of the year, but now one of my favourite shows of all time: Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Less hyped than Heroes and with a cast largely over the age of 30, this show never really stood a chance.

Literate and moving, funny and meaningful – this is the kind of programme that nobody you know actually watches; especially not anymore, because it was cancelled with criminal haste after just one series.

Matthew Laidlow

It has to be the Jeremy Kyle show by far. There really is no better way to wake up on a morning in a hangover state to see Britain’s morons being paraded around for my amusement. Such brilliant tales of 'My daughter's a 14-year-old smack head' and 'I’m the village bike' never fail to make me laugh. Where they get them from I don’t know, but it’s like the Jeremy Kyle show is single-handedly picking out and showing us all of God’s hideous mistakes. We all make errors from time to time, I guess. At least ITV has the chance to exploit this for an hour or so every day. All it needs is a ridiculously easy phone-in competition prize of a 20p Pick And Mix at Woolworths and it has the makings of the greatest TV show ever.

Annette Hyde

I can now somewhat confidently admit to my love of Heroes. I was ashamed at first. What was to come next? Two and a Half Men curiosity? A subtle regard for Grey’s Anatomy? But, I can now admit that I am a Heroes supporter. My main reason for choosing Heroes is that if I could heal myself like Hayden Panettiere’s character I wouldn’t have to panic wondering if I contracted a deadly disease after accidentally sticking myself with a needle at work… or needles. Yep. It’s happened more than once.

Next week – our wishes for 2008. But leave your favourite TV shows of 2007 in the comment box below. If that’s what you want to do.