After, what was for me a disappointing 4th season, I can't seem to warm to the Natalie Teager character as his sidekick, Mr Monk has returned refreshed and at the top of his game again...what's really excellent about this show is the fact that writers never forget that behind the laughter, there's a very personal tragedy...thanks to Tony Shalhoub's skilled and nuanced performance you find yourself amused and touched often during the same scene...the beauty of this series lies in the fact that its a sitcom-mystery-drama hybrid realised with a very light touch. If the mystery is weak, the good humour compensates and vice versa. But when all the elements come together the show delights - the episode centring on Dr Kroger's retirement from psychiatry, which was incidentally on the box yesterday, is pure comic gold!

Great series! Always like to watch Monk. Can't wait for series 6. Hopefully its out in febuary. But im counting on an much earlier release.

Monk rocks, There's a little of him in all of us. Watch were your stepping Natalie.