Pitched as a gritty, hard-hitting crime drama series about a mob family, Kingpin invites inevitable comparisons with The Sopranos--the pilot episode is even directed by Sopranos alumnus Allen Coulter--but the basic premise is more a south-of-the-border Godfather, with Miguel Cadena (Yancey Arias) as the conflicted Michael Corleone-type character who finds himself inexorably but somewhat reluctantly taking charge of his family's Mexican drug cartel. Written and produced by David Mills, a graduate of NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street, the show has all the right credentials for a successful TV drama, combining a colourful ensemble cast and evocative locations on either side of the Rio Grande, but somehow it failed to find enough of an audience in the US to get beyond one season (a similar fate befell the equally praiseworthy Boomtown).

Unlike Tony Soprano, Miguel's (American) wife Marlene (Sheryl Lee, still best known as Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks) supports her husband's position with Machiavellian schemes of her own, though both parents strive to shelter their eight-year-old son from involvement in the messier side of the family business. After a bloody coup in the pilot episode, Miguel and his ruthless brother Chato (Bobby Cannavale) cement their hold over the business while struggling with the twin threats of family infighting and law enforcement pressure. As in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, the DEA agents--principally go-getting Delia Flores (Angela Alvarado Rosa)--are significant characters in their own right. Also north of the border is cowardly plastic surgeon Dr Heywood Klein (Brian Benben), who enjoys the lifestyle too much to break his illicit connection with the Cadena family. It's all gripping, bloody, amoral stuff that makes for compelling viewing. Unfortunately, Kingpin never quite attains the effortlessly sublime levels of its northern predecessor and thus never quite breaks free from the long shadow of The Sopranos. --Mark Walker

Originally broadcast in the UK on Channel 5, Kings & Queens is a documentary series detailing the lives of 12 significant English rulers between 1066 and the present day. From William the Conqueror via Richard III to Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II, presenter Dr Nigel Spivey takes the viewer through the ages, describing the political intrigue, lust, battles and bloodshed that make up the histories of a "millennium of monarchs".

By no means a definitive or exhaustive guide to the history of the nation's rulers, Kings & Queens is still a solid and watchable series. The most enjoyable episodes are those based on the more colourful royals; such as the incestuous, betrayal-prone Richard III, the mysteriously virginal Elizabeth I, or the "fat, gluttonous, sex-crazed" Henry VIII. Spivey is a lively and entertaining guide, but his energetic efforts to make the subject matter relevant and engaging are hampered by the series' low production values, which can only stretch to suspiciously repetitive battle reconstructions, a primitive soundtrack, cheap dramatisations and a 23-minute running time that leaves a number of the biographies feeling rushed and lacking in depth. The fact that a number of the historical chapters he is attempting to recreate--most notably Edward I's clash with "Braveheart" William Wallace, and Queen Victoria's relationship with John Brown--are familiar from more lavish, feature-length productions does not help. This is a shame, as those instances in which Spivey illustrates his stories using credible and authentic source material, such as a close examination of the Bayeaux Tapestry or, in the latter episodes, photographs and documentary footage, are vivid and engrossing.

On the DVD: Kings & Queens is a two-disc set featuring episode and scene selection and subtitles but no extra features. --Paul Philpott