Season six sees Buffy the Vampire turn dark - perhaps too dark. Buffy's back from the dead, but it soon becomes clear that she hates her life so much she'd rather be in the grave. Meanwhile, Willow becomes "addicted" to black magic, in a clumsy drug abuse metaphor.

It could have worked - after all, Season Five sees Buffy dealing with the death of her mother, which is about as bleak as it goes - if the show still had that Joss Whedon humour and flair. But for whatever reason, Whedon's touch appears to be absent, perhaps because he was off doing other things and left season six in the hands of colleagues.

It's all rescued, to an extent, in the final four episodes, when the gang's problems come to a head in dramatic fashion.

But overall, season six doesn't live up to the high standards of what's come before.