Californation - Season 1 to 3 DVD Box Set

RRP: £69.99

Best Price: £16.97

There's an old adage in TV and film that characters must, above all else, be likeable. If we like someone, we empathise with them - if we empathise with them, we'll laugh when they laugh and cry when they cry.

That old adage is, it seems, nonsense.

Californication stars David Duchovny (X-Files) as the aptly named Hank Moody, a man who lives a 'just say yes' lifestyle - yes to drugs, alcohol and sex with as many women as possible. He's selfish as much as he is self-loathing, constantly stuck in a pit of his own doom and gloom, obsessed with the notion that he is a writer although, in truth, he doesn't seem to get much writing done. Add to that a series of frayed - no, obliterated - family relationships and, well, you'd hardly call him likeable.

And yet somehow he's immensely watchable. In part, that's down to a confident performance from Duchovny as a man who charms his way through life and, impressively, wins us over despite his many faults. He's troubled and reckless but, in truth, he's not a bad guy and when it comes down to it, we're on side with him. Essentially, we know that his redemption is in reuniting with his girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone) and daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin) - what we hope for, as we watch, is that he'll come to realise that too.

The plot of the show for the most part follows Hank's attempts to prove himself to his family, but with regular excursions in the vices of California living, remains varied and exciting from episode to episode. Sometimes funny, sometimes warped, but always worth watching, Californication is never willing to be tied into format like so much American drama. Imaginative plots go wherever the story takes them, from dirty bars to strip clubs to crack dens, all the while held together by the sheer charisma of Duchovny's performance. This variation also allows for a great blend of comedy and drama, things never getting too heavy or too light, just sitting in a comfortable medium.

The evidence, on paper, says that Hank Moody should be universally disliked, but time and time again he gets the girl. The same evidence says Californication shouldn't work, but, somehow, it does.