Have you noticed? Listen closely and you’ll hear the beginnings of a television revolution in the wind. On the face of it, television is at an all time low having been taken over by reality shows. Some of them exploit people’s weaknesses, other’s their strengths. There are also those reality shows starring celebs who should be acting to entertain, not cooking awful food, ice-skating or ballroom dancing.

The yin to this yang is some of the best television in the history of the medium. Over the past ten years we’ve had top-class shows with outstanding writing; 24, Lost, 30 Rock, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and The Wire to name just a few.You’ll notice out of that list, the only show still around and maintaining the writing standard is 30 Rock. We are in need of a new thriller/drama series, people.

Comedy is thriving though. 30 Rock continues to make us laugh out loud, Weeds, The Office and Californication are all hugely successful and now there’s a new kid on the block: Glee.

The success story of 2009 has been Glee. Ryan Murphy is most famous as writer and producer of Nip/Tuck and most loved by the gays as writer and producer of Popular. He and his writing partner, Brad Falchuk, came up with the idea of a film about an American high-school Glee club (amature singers and dancers). It was to be the anti-High School Musical. Where High School Musical is safe pre-teen asexual fodder, Glee would tell the story of outsiders, the lowest in the social structures of American High School, not even the chess club wants to know them. The Glee Clubbers go through all of the real tries of the teen years; they are lost, lustily craving adulthood but too immature to know what that means.

The film never happened as Murphy realised it would work better as a TV series. He used his proven track-record of telly success to get Glee on the screen, but could not have known just how huge it would be.

The secret of Glee’s success is the talent of the cast and the choice of songs. Each of them can sing, with the obvious stand-outs being Leah Michele (nominated for a Globe in the comedy actress category) and Amber Riley, as Rachel and Mercedes. When Amber sings, you just want to shout out “yeah!”, but Leah is something else. A stalwart of Broadway, she is no stranger to nailing a tune but that voice is special. She’s also an excellent actress and manages to temper Rachel’s pain-in-the-bum single-mindedness with a pathos that could break your heart.

The songs chosen by Murphy and Falchuk are ingenious; pop, classic Dad-rock, show-tunes – it’s all there, sung with unbridled passion by the young cast. You’d never hear the Highschool Musical bunch sing Sisqó’s The Thong Song, Kanye West’s Gold Digger, Young MC’s Bust a Move or Rhianna’s Take a Bow.

If there is one thing that just might steal the show from the club it’s the one and only Sue Sylvester. Sue, played with undisguised relish by Jane Lynch (left, nominated for a Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy), is the coach of the cheerleading squad and is determined to undermine the glee club at any opportunity. The woman is a 24-carat bitch with the best lines in the show. Sue is already a cult hero online, with people quoting her at any opportunity.

In the middle of the mix is Mr Sheuster, the Spanish teacher who is trying to keep glee club, and his marriage, together. It’s a coup for Murphy and co that they landed Matthew Morrison (right, nominated for a Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy). Morrisson has been working and wining awards on Broadway for years, but could only get bit-parts on telly. The Glee arrived and it was the perfect match. The cute-as-a-button teacher who loves glee club and is their biggest supporter, is one hell of a performer.

A lot of the characterisations will be familiar to anyone who watched Popular. The losers versus the popular kids, the teachers who are weirder than the students, the day-glo sets and hilarious one-liners. Plus the gay.

Glee could hardly be any gayer. It’s singing and dancing after all. In it, the ex glee club teacher is as gay as Christmas with Judy, Jane Lynch is there and then there’s Kurt. Kurt is a fabulous character; gay, camp, talented and not afraid of anyone. He’s become a hero to American teens.

One of the biggest surprises Murphy has had making the show, is the ease at which he has gotten the rights to the songs.

I think the key to it is they loved the tone of it. They loved that this show was about optimism and young kids, for the most part, reinterpreting their classics for a new audience.

Billy Joel offered many of his songs and Madonna granted the show rights to her entire catalogue. The second season will feature an all-Madonna episode.

Murphy is also planning on an episode of original music

I’ve had a lot of calls from songwriters, to the point where it’s kind of embarrassing and ridiculous. So we’re writing an episode called “Original Song” where the teacher asks the kids to write their own piece of music. Diane Warren is going to do two big ballads, and if it works, we’ll see what happens … but we won’t do it all the time.

The one and only Diane Warren will write two of them.

So, as Glee goes from strength to strength, it looks like it will continue to rock the TV boat with sharp dialogue, sing-along tunes and characters to care for. Will you be going along with it and become a Gleek? Your chance starts on E4 on January 11. Excited!!