Any of my Twitter followers will know that I'm a bit of a TV addict - put Tweetdeck in front of me when one of my favourite shows is on and you're guaranteed to find your timeline filled with chat about people and things that don't even exist In Real Life. 

When talking about my love of TV shows with real-life people, I've sometimes found there's a certain snobbery on the subject - I often get a slightly upturned nose, along with the comment 'Oh I don't watch a lot of TV. I'd rather listen to music'. Well, good for you. I do both. It doesn't make me an overweight couch potato who eats Pot Noodle for dinner, eyes glued to the screen - in fact I've never had a Pot Noodle in my life. It just means I love stories.

So, with the return of one of my most-loved shows this week (Desperate Housewives), I thought I'd do a round up of the best TV series out there - past and present:

1. Desperate Housewives
My inspiration and my guilty pleasure, Desperate Housewives has always been a firm favourite and I've never missed an episode. I can't believe it's on Series 7 already - there have been a lot of laughs, murders, guns, affairs and more, and it's still going strong. Yes there is way too much Botox involved (Bree's forehead makes mine feel funny - I wish someone would cut her a fringe and hide it away) and the men are somewhat lacking since Jesse Metcalfe left, but it's still brightening up my Wednesday nights. 

2. Sex and the City

This had to be in here, didn't it? The ultimate girls' TV show will, despite the not so great films, always be top of my list for entertainment. I recently bought the boxset (no, I can't believe I didn't own it either) and I am starting from the very beginning, where Carrie had awful brown hair (for all of one episode - quick learners) and she spoke to the camera constantly. An episode of SATC always inspires me to write something and gives me ideas, and it never gets boring no matter how many times you watch it. Oh, and Aidan is hot. 

3. Damages

What do you mean, 'what?'? If you have not heard of Damages, never mind seen it, SHAME ON YOU. I cannot stress enough how amazing this show is - and it is coming back this year for season four... I. Can't. Wait. With Glenn Close, Ted Danson, Rose Byrne and the swoon-worthy Timothy Olyphant as its stars, it's brilliant enough. Throw in a fantastic, twisty twirly plot that will have you gagging for more and you've got one of the best thrillers around.

4. Harper's Island

Sadly this was a one-off show but my god, did they make the most of it. You can read my full review of this frightfest on Screenjabber; but all you need to know is that if you like horror, you will LOVE this. I do love thrillers and horrors but would not dare watch this alone, nor without a cushion at hand - it's scary, jumpy, make-you-scream-in-your-living-room stuff but the story, and pleasingly the acting (despite it being full of teenager-type people) is fan-bloody-tastic. It also has a great soundtrack and introduced me to Civil Twilight - what more could you want?

5. Friends

This obviously had to be in here. Friends, without doubt, has a line or episode that can be applied to any single situation in life. I probably quote it daily whether it's out loud or in my head, and I can't go long without watching an episode because I would miss it. It's perfect for when you need a little boost, when you're tired and just need background noise, when there's nothing else on and you don't fancy a film... etc. I still can't decide who my favourite character is, though I adore the Rachel and Ross love story, and I still cry when I watch the final episode (despite knowing she gets off the plane, it hurts when she gets on the plane). Will they do a movie? Who knows, but I would be first in the cinema if they did...

What are your favourites?

So. I am freaking out a little that I am 25. Twenty five. Twenty. Five. I have no idea where the last five years went, and I would quite like to have them back so I can do things differently. I know that's not productive, but if I'm already regretting the past half decade, what on earth will I be feeling in five measly years' time when I am thirty and looking back at my twenties? That is what is keeping me awake at night... literally, since I am starting to write this at 2:21am. I'm so worried that in five years I will be saying the same thing, that now the pressure is well and truly on for me to do something about it.

Last weekend I watched three films - ah, the benefits of being single - Step Up 3, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, and Sex and the City 2. Random choices, simply because they all showed up from Amazon and I can never wait to play with something new for long. Firstly, I did them in the wrong order, since SATC2 with all its heartbreak and crying and borderline racism depressed me just in time for bed (and blogging). Secondly, they all got me thinking, which is both good and bad.

Step Up 3 started me off on a good motivational foot, reminding me (apparently I need reminding) that I love dancing, exercise can make you feel good and I need to stop sitting on the sofa watching films and get up and move. Seeing as this is part of my new year get-me-healthy plan too, I looked into some dance classes, found a gem of a dance deal on Wahanda (where else?) and managed to rope in a couple of brilliant friends to come with me. It may not be booked yet, but it will happen. Streetdance here I come. The only bad thing about this is that I reckon in another life somewhere I am someone who has been dancing since they could walk, knew how happy it made them and chose it for life (and probably has a better figure too). I kind of wish I had done that - it would have made a good hobby, also a new year's resolution. But this will have to do, because it's a bit late for that...

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion is a brilliantly, hilariously perfect film, and if you haven't seen it then I suggest you get the girls around and watch it pronto. It is, obviously, about their ten year high school reunion and how they haven't achieved all that much since school, so they make it all up and go to try and show off. The problem with this, despite the tear-inducing comedy, is that it got me thinking about the past ten years of my life.  Uhoh.

Next year it will be ten years since I left school, which, along with the big two five and the fact that it's flown by, is absolutely terrifying. When I was younger, 25 seemed far far away; it was a year by which I would have got the job I always dreamed of, settled down with someone, bought a flat, maybe even got a ring on my finger or at least the potential for one. Probably a couple of cats in there too. As you grow up, 'that age' at which you think milestones might happen gets a little older as you realise how time has a habit of speeding up, but I didn't think I would get here and have absolutely none of the above.

It's quite earth-shattering to think that even if I move that age to 30, that only gives me five teeny tiny years to get there, and I wouldn't even know where to start. I'm not saying you have to have these things by this age or else you're a failure - we all know that people are getting married, having children later in life these days and the housing ladder is near impossible to find let alone get on; but I can't help remembering 12-year-old-me and her grand ideas of having her life sorted by the age of 26 - and I feel a little guilty that I didn't make it happen. It doesn't help that most of the people around me have managed it, sisters included (not all of the above but the ring-on-finger at least).

Which leads on to the Sex and the City 2 effect. Apart from thinking 'who the hell wrote this script?', Carrie's marriage problems combined with the slightly sickening but wonderful love between her and Big gave me the blues, just what you want before you slip off into your dreams. But I didn't know whether this was the blues because I am single and nowhere near that marriage ideal, despite many of my friends being well and truly at that stop; or whether it was because I really don't want all that messy relationship stuff (they are quite hostile and argumentative in the sequel... and in the original, come to think about it). Being single is great because I don't have to have those horrid arguments, the ones that turn your stomach and make you want to throw your phone across the room... but it's also rubbish because you don't get that 'I got you a black diamond because I know you so well' feeling, ever. Sigh. There is of course a happy ending, but that just left me wondering whether I would get one of those or whether I was going to be a Samantha (with less naughtiness, ahem) forever.

Never before has 'so much to do, so little time' been such a problem, and I'm not sure how to deal with it. Is it good to have plans, or do they just make us feel inadequate when they don't work out?

Sex and the City is brilliant, but I think they got the title all wrong (though I suppose theirs is more catchy). I've always been lucky to have some great friends around me. But moving to London for uni was tough to start with, as while a lot of my friends went to the same unis together, I was off on my own to a grotty area of south London that looked like the set of Crimewatch.

Five years on and obviously, I made a bunch of bloody brilliant friends at uni and am keeping them for life (shhh, don't tell them). And I also kept hold of another brilliant bunch from home, because they weren't getting rid of me that easily. But during that five years, I finished uni, was thrown back into singledom and everything changed.

When you're in a relationship you become so reliant on that one person or at least the knowledge that they are there if you need them, that you can lose sight of your friends and the fact that they are very much there too (apart from when he does something wrong and you go running straight to your mates for a moan).

So when suddenly you become single, it takes a while to train yourself into realising that though he's not there anymore, there are people you can reach out to. I couldn't have got through my break up without my best friends who were always at the end of the phone, in the next room or reading essay-long Facebook messages about how much it hurt. This is no easy job if you're the listener, especially if you have a few friends who have got the blues at the same time - not to mention your own problems - but the age old saying that men will come and go while friends are for life (or something like that!) is definitely true. It just takes time to get used to texting your best mate first when you feel sad, or when you have news - instead of calling the guy who's been on speed dial for four years.

Non-singles find it harder to understand, and I say this based on being one, once upon a time. I know so many people now (myself included) who find 'coupley' couples REALLY annoying... and yes, those people are all single. As soon as you're with someone, you tend to forget what it was like to be single, the feeling you'd get when someone told you something about your ex that you didn't want to hear, and what it was like to feel the odd one out because everyone else is loved up. Instead, you flaunt your new-found romance, casually mention something about your mate's ex without thinking, and smooch in public while your mates sit there feeling uncomfortable/jealous/lonely. 

My friends and I had this chat after a few bottles of wine and decided that for those of us who are single, we were all we had - none of us felt able to chat to our families about how lonely we sometimes felt, and with no boy to give us a hug we now need each other more than ever. So, to those of you who are living in singlesville - make your friends your priority. There's a reason Carrie had her best friends around her at all times.  And those of you in relationships - don't forget what it was like to be alone. Your one single friend might be in a room with a whole bunch of you, but they could be feeling completely isolated at the same time. Now, even if I do grow up to be a spinster with cats, at least I'll know I have friends who will listen, don't have four legs and can use a phone...