Just thought I'd give a heads up for UK Sky/Virgin viewers about a new US drama that premiered last night on FX, which provides 'uncompromising TV from Fox'. It's a bit confusing, as the series was actually shown on Showtime in the US, a subscription channel.

Based on the novel 'Darkly Dreaming Dexter', this opening episode explained how the adopted Dexter was guided by his policeman foster father to use his homicidal tendencies to catch murderers who haven't been caught by the police. When I say 'catch', I mean 'kill', with Dexter disposing of a killer of small boys and a rapist in the first episode. Amusingly, Dexter thinks himself above these two horrid specimens of humanity, and uses his forensic skills to tidy up after himself to avoid detection. He allows himself one trophy; a microscope slide of his victim's blood, which he keeps in a special box in his AC unit at home.

No-one in the Miami PD, especially not his Vice Squad foster sister, suspects Dexter of being a serial killer, although one sergeant accuses Dexter of 'giving him the creeps'. Dexter, however, is excellent at faking emotions that he cannot feel, to the extent that the (female) police chief regularly flirts with him. When Dexter follows the trail of a killer whose abilities appear to rival his, he finds himself wondering if he's bitten off more than he can chew...

Why am I bothering to tell you this? Well, it's really rather good, conveying the horror of the subject matter without resorting to excessive gore, and concentrating on Dexter's relationships with others. It's on Sunday nights at 10pm, and if you want to read more, go to the appallingly-designed website.