Films:
1. Far From Heaven
US indie director Todd Haynes’ take on 1950s melodrama (a la Douglas Sirk) produced quite sublime results.

2. Uzak
Nuri Bilge Ceylan wrote and directed this Turkish film which detailed the life of Mahmut, a 40-year-old independent photographer whose life is utterly changed when his wife leaves him.

3. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days 
Set in Ceausescu-era Romania, this nightmarish thriller, in which a young woman helps a college friend secure a backstreet abortion, grips like a vice throughout.

4. Hidden 
A married couple in France are terrorised by a series of videotapes planted on their front porch in this Hitchcockian slow-burner from Michael Haneke.

5. Dogville
Lars Von Trier’s audacious film (no sets, minimum props) starred Nicole Kidman, a woman on the run from the mob in Colorado during the 1930s. The premise seemed ridiculous, the results were astonishing.

6. The Incredibles 
In a decade of near solid gold hits for the Pixar studio, this tale of a family of superheroes coming out of retirement was not only one of the funniest films of the decade, but also the most thrilling.

7. Together
Swedish director Lukas Moodyson’s Mike Leigh-style study of the disparity between 70s hippie idealism and its practical application was incisive and heart-warming.

8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 
This magical martial art-house epic from Ang Lee was astonishing in its scope and contained fight scenes that were genuinely balletic.

9. The Death of Mr Lazarescu 
Hospital hopping high-jinx as the increasingly ill Mr Lazarescu is carted from pillow to post in this Romanian classic from Cristi Puiu.

10. The Beat That My Heart Skipped
A compulsively watchable, thrillingly accomplished film from Jacques Audiard concerning the activities of a shady estate broker who rekindles a long abandoned passion for piano playing.

Television:
1. The Sopranos
Consistently brilliant throughout its run the mobster drama was the American Dream refracted through eyes of all human (low) life.

2. The Wire
From the street-corner drug dealers to the mayor’s office, this superlative drama was a Dickensian morality tale for the 21st century.

3. Doctor Who
Russell T. Davies’ re-boot of the long-running series cast the whole of time and space as a huge adventure playground and let the good Doctor romp purposely around in it.

4. Peep Show
A modern day take on The Likely Lads, Armstrong and Bain’s comedy (shot from the point of view of each character) was the funniest thing on TV over the last decade.

5. The Trap
Adam Curtis’ fantastic follow-up to the Power of Nightmares (also essential) examined how governments pay lip service to freedom, while curtailing the way that we live our lives. It was dizzying in its intellectual rigour.

6. Deadwood
Set in Deadwood, South Dakota, circa the 1870s, David Milch’s fantastically florid series could almost be said to be Shakespearian – yes, Shakespearian – in tone.

7. Mad Men
Advertising doesn’t reveal, it masks; a truth usefully employed in this superb existential drama which took us beneath the sheen of advertising executives on Madison Avenue in the 1960s

8. The Office
This is us cheating slightly as we’re including both the brilliant UK series and the even better US remake. (Yep, even better).

9. Planet Earth
Unbelievable photography in this beautiful BBC series which saw David Attenborough describing what snow leopards get up to when they think that no one is looking.

10. Life On Mars
Great original BBC drama that successfully managed to combine sci-fi elements, with cop drama and comedy.