From election debates to world-beating dramas to innovative comedies to mind-expanding documentaries to sporting gold and mouth-watering food series…the UK’s commercial TV programmes are the reason why people are watching record amounts of TV – and ads.

The commercial TV prize-winners are covered on p.46, but across the board commercial broadcasters continued to beam the very best content in every genre to our living rooms during 2010 and maintain the unrivalled environment that TV provides for advertisers, despite the ad revenue drop in 2009.

Event TV juggernauts like X Factor, I’m a Celebrity, Big Brother, Britain’s Got Talent and Derren Brown’s The Event were agenda-setting front page news once again.

It was a World Cup year and, even if England’s performance on the pitch was below par, our broadcasters’ performance across this and a host of top-class sports once again provided one of the most compelling forms of event TV. And more event TV in 2010 was sparked by the May general election. The televised election debates, two of them on ITV1 and Sky News, plus the Chancellors’ debate on Channel 4, glued a nation to its sofas and reminded everyone of the investment commercial TV makes in quality news and current affairs and TV’s huge influence. John Pilger’s The War You Don’t See was a devastating piece of investigative journalism and the Dispatches strand, such as Politicians for Hire and Orphans of Burma’s Cyclone, shone light on many difficult

Quality drama – one of the most sought after spaces for TV advertisers – enjoyed a scorching year in 2010 with stand-out UK originated programmes such as Downton Abbey, This Is England ’86, Whitechapel, Misfits, Identity, Bouquet of Barbed Wire, 7 Days, Any Human Heart and Going Postal.

These major dramas are supported by the longer running UK dramas: Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Shameless, and Skins. We were also treated to some of the best US drama with the likes of House, Desperate Housewives, Dexter, already with large followings, and new gems like The Walking Dead which developed passionate fanbases in a short time.

Comedy also had a sizzling 2010, with Harry Hill continuing to share his genius, The Inbetweeners garnered more awards and Phone Shop and An Idiot Abroad broke new ground. Alongside these were shows like the Alternative Election Night, Benidorm, 8 out of 10 Cats, and of course great US imports such as Glee, Two and a Half Men, 30 Rock and the evergreen The Simpsons.

Successful new entertainment included The Cube, Got to Dance, Take Me Out - 2010’s answer to Blind Date - and who could forget Louie Spence being launched onto an unsuspecting public in Pineapple Dance Studios. The innovative Million Pound Drop, which allowed viewers to play live at home alongside the TV, showed us a vision of TV’s two-screen interactive future where commissioning is a multi-platform game. Factual series from Heston’s Feasts and Australian Masterchef to Embarrassing Bodies and The Biggest Loser also provided some big hits.

And Four Weddings and My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding proved that we all love a bride, whatever she’s wearing.

It is hard to do any more than scratch the surface of the breadth of quality programming on our TV screens in 2010, but we’re confident that 2011 will be just as brilliant.