By Clara Chow

WAY back in 2008, a then United States senator said in a newspaper interview that The Wire was his favourite television show.

Two years on, it's still easy to see why President Barack Obama, plus truckloads of critics, love this hard-hitting social drama.

Created by former Baltimore Sun crime reporter David Simon, the series has been much praised for its gritty realism, and the way it trains an unflinching eye on the problems and issues faced by the poor, black community in the American city of Baltimore.

Following the exploits of cop-with-a-heart Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), the show employs a sprawling ensemble cast, many of whom are non-actors plucked for their roles.

Each season focuses on a particular aspect of city life: from police corruption, port activity and the stevedore union, to the print media.

In the fourth season, which first aired in the US in 2006 (it premieres here only this month - better late than never), the action revolves around education and four Baltimore teenagers who struggle, and, ultimately, lose the fight, to stay on the straight and narrow path in the rotten school system and mean streets.

ECLECTIC: British actor Dominic West (top right) leads a motley crew of thespians in this acclaimed HBO series which is set and produced in Baltimore, Maryland.

Meanwhile, a new drug boss has taken over in town, but police are puzzled as to why there have been no bodies, given the bloody nature of such transitions.

Elsewhere, a mayoral election is hotting up, as young, ambitious and fresh-faced Tommy Carcetti takes on the corrupt incumbent Clarence V. Royce.

The Wire is for people who keep their ears open: watching it with the volume turned down while doing the ironing is a strict no-no.

Miss a moment of dialogue, and you've likely lost not just nuance, but also some crucial plot points.

The New York Times has described it as ''literary'', and the programme does indeed come across as a very chilling, frustrating, uncomfortable, yet, ultimately, humanising portrait of urban living and decay.

CABLE THE WIRE SEASON FOUR HBO Signature (StarHub Ch 66) Tuesdays, 8pm

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