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Back in 1999, the cast of a new US TV Drama were assembled for a "Getting to know each other" barbecue. The show's star, James Gandolfini remembers it well: "I was looking around and thinking 'It's just a bunch of fat guys from New Jersey - this is nuts, who's gonna watch this programme?'". The programme was, of course, The Sopranos and - in answer to Gandolfini's question - the world and his wife wasted no time in getting hooked on this sharply-scripted, darkly humourous tale of everyday American-Italian Mafia folk.

That the show has been an unqualified success is beyond question, and even the most firmly-entrenched doubters would be hard-pressed to argue with a record-breaking twenty-eight Emmy nominations in just two years. What is a little less clear, is our fascination with a subject that's already had more than its fair share of onscreen treatments. Robert Iler (Gandolfini's onscreen son, Anthony Jr) points to one crucial difference, saying "Other Mafia shows just take you out to work with the Mob. This one brings you home with them - it shows you the mobster's life, his family." His onscreen mother, Edie Falco (Carmela Soprano) nods in agreement. "I don't even look at it as a show about the mafia," she clarifies. "It's a show about family.

The show's combination of no-holds-barred violence, free-flow swearing and some far-from-coy sex scenes certainly came as a shock to British viewers more accustomed to the traditionally heavily-sanitised Disney-esque fare that reaches us from America. In the US, of course, the show is broadcast on subscription channel HBO, and Sopranos-creator David Chase is only too happy to keep it that way. "It's not like I set out to shock people by using harsh language and sex. That certainly isn't my motivation. But this is a show that could never work on American network television. We'd just be selling soap, and that's not what this is about."

Ask him what the new, third season promises, and Chase is tight-lipped to the point of paranoia. It's left to Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) to offer us the following, irressistible teaser: "If you thought the first two seasons were good," he grins, "well, buckle your seat-belt for this one. You'll be crying, laughing your ass off, and wondering what the hell just happened to you." We can't wait.