DVD: Misfits (18), Tom Green (DVD)

Misfits doesn't promise much: a bunch of community service teens get struck by lightning thereby developing superpowers. We've heard it all before, haven't we, thanks to the considerably bigger-budget NBC series, Heroes.

Happily, it delivers much more than it should. This is largely down to the spunk of E4's writers. The script is sassy and offbeat, the characters, while a little clichéd (Nathan, the cheeky chappy; Simon, the weird one; Kelly, the Vicky Pollardesque chav), are charming, and the young actors who play them engaging. Midway though the series, the plot assumes a rather darker edge: our (anti-)heroes have grown accustomed to their new skills' novelty, and have to deal with the complications they bring, whether that's the manslaughter of their probation officer or an attempted rape at the hands of the police.