My taste is neither highbrow nor lowbrow, but a combination of the two. Specifically, I like genre-based TV shows - it has to be in a recognisable genre and I'm wary of ?new-fangled genre mash-ups - that combine all the standard elements of the genre, but also have well-drawn, three-dimensional characters that drive forward absorbing story lines. Ideally, these characters should go on a journey over the course of the show's different seasons - the show shouldn't be open-ended, but have something like a beginning, middle and an end - and the story lines should unfold over the course of the show's three-, four-, five-or six-season lifespan. The Sopranos and Breaking Bad are the pre-eminent examples here. If it extends beyond six seasons, that's usually a bad sign - the best shows begin to exhibit signs of exhaustion in the third or fourth season and the final season is usually a tying-up exercise - and the Sopranos was two seasons too long in my view. Each season should have its own story arc (often charting the rise and fall of a new character, ending in the character's death), and each episode in each season should also be a self-contained unit.

For all Mr Rouhani's hints at the UN last week that Iran is prepared to take a more constructive approach in negotiations over its nuclear programme, the issue that is really driving Mr Rouhani to seek better relations is the damaging effect sanctions are having on the Iranian economy. To this end Iran has set up a series of clandestine network in turkey, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates to evade UN sanctions.

In 1994 Major also decided it was time to unleash his inner bulldog. On the eve of a summit on majority EU voting, he lambasted the Labour leader John Smith, infamously branding him "Monsieur Oui, the poodle of Brussels". Major, in contrast,? could guarantee Britain would "fight its corner hard."

You'll develop key skills and techniques in an informal, supportive environment.

Omid Djalili, whose parents are Iranian, is to play Morgan Freemans role in a stage version of The Shawshank Redemption film.