The X- Files

Chris Carter’s quirky FBI procedural soon became a bona fide phenomenon, bouncing from “monster of the week” ( usually with memorable gore) to “paranoid conspiracy thriller” with gleeful abandon. Mulder’s wry, open- minded Fed and his sceptical, rational partner Scully became pop culture archetypes – Welsh popsters Catatonia even took their names into the top 5 in 1997. Sure, all that bees and black oil business eventually became a drag but at its best The X- Files defined a deeply ’ 90s strain of jittery telefantasy.

Do that for too long and your shins kill.