As we enter the fall season of TV, it’s time to assess the new school of drama. With HBO lining up a January trailblazer in the form of True Detective, the smaller networks are staking their claims for ‘most downloaded’ now.

With a plot akin to Silence of The Lambs, but with the procedural elements that make your everyday crime drama a comforting affair, The Blacklist has been taken in as a promising project by the critics.

IGN say: “Entirely conscious of the exact kind of show he's in, Spader chews up every bit of the scenery he comes into contact with, as the rest of the cast races to keep up with him; which, ultimately, feels just as it should be. Though we can't promise that it will deliver, the potential for a fun and engaging bit of weekly intrigue is there.”

They offered up a 7.8 – a similar score to that of ABC’s new drama, Agents of SHIELD.

“There are two versions of this show, really, and it’ll be interesting to see in which direction Blacklist veers going forward,” say Entertainment weekly. “The pilot put forward a wide variety of questions — we’ll have to see if the show can answer them. The most important question of all, clearly, is: Will Keen stab a pen into Red’s carotid artery every week?”

This is an important time for new dramas. With Breaking Bad coming to an end, everyone’s looking for that new drama to hook onto. HBO are attempting it with True Detective – their response to AMC’s upcoming Walking Dead/Mad Men schedule drivers.

Charles BakerCharles Baker of Breaking Bad stars