@ Anonymous Coward
"I can confidently state that even a mediocre episode (by their own high standards) beats anything UK TV has shown into a cocked hat."
You have GOT to be joking!
L & O is the best (sorry - the only half-decent) US show, but to say that it beats anything from the UK into a cocked hat simply boggles the mind!
There are plenty of shows on either side of the pond which are pure and simple rubbish, no doubt about it, but I would certainly prefer what the UK has to offer over what the US has so often stolen from the UK and usually ruined in the process. CSI(put your own town's name here) being a prime example.
L & O is one which runs counter to this trend (All in the Family, Three's Company, Sanford and Son etc.) and has an enviable record of dealing with current themes in an intelligent manner. Methinks Dick Wolf(?), the producer, is the probable reason for their better-than-most track record. I can only hope that it is he who produces the inevitable re-make of Red Cap!