Last year, I finally forgave the British for inflicting “Big Brother” and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” on the world.
   The finest comedy and the finest drama of 2003, to my mind, were both British imports: “The Office,” the smash British sitcom shown (in these parts) on BBC America, and A&E’s chilling spy series “MI-5.”
   For months, I’ve been suffering from withdrawal. “MI-5” has been off the air since November, though it’s due to return later this year. “The Office,” sadly, has closed up shop for good.
   This week, BBC America premieres a new sitcom and a new drama, which aim to fill the void. “Trailer Park Boys,” a Canadian comedy debuting tonight at 9 p.m., imitates “The Office” in style but not, alas, in substance. Another faux-documentary, it has all the subtlety of “The Office” without any of the personality—or, for that matter, humor.
   The best that can be said for it is that it’s innocuous, the visual equivalent of elevator music.
   By contrast, “State of Play,” a new six-part drama series premiering Sunday at 9 p.m., is simply stunning. A seamless blend of political conspiracy thriller and "All the President’s Men"-style investigative journalism, it’s tense, gripping and instantly addictive. It’s easily the best new show so far this year.
   The series begins with two deaths—a gangland-style street slaying of a low-level criminal, and the presumed suicide of a young female researcher working for Stephen Collins (David Morrissey), a member of Parliament. Stephen’s emotional response to the news of the woman’s death leads the notoriously aggressive British papers to deduce an affair—“Either he’s fakin’ it or he’s nobbin’ her,” says an editor—which he’s eventually forced to admit.
   Meanwhile, at the semi-respectable paper The Herald, investigative reporter Cal McCaffrey (John Simm)—who happens to be Stephen’s former campaign manager and friend—begins looking into the woman’s death. When his colleague Della (Kelly Macdonald, now appearing with Colin Farrell in the Irish ensemble comedy "Intermission") discovers a link between the two seemingly unrelated deaths, a race begins between the media, the government and the police to figure out the truth.
   Interestingly enough, the men and women toiling at The Herald are the closest things to heroes in “State of Play,” despite the fact that they’re treated like maggots by the politicians and police.
   But, like everyone else in the series, they’re deeply flawed and motivated largely by self-preservation. When they discover evidence tying the deaths together, they think nothing of withholding it from the police while they attempt to crack the case on their own.
   Though it is, at heart, a mystery-thriller, “State of Play”—written by Paul Abbott, creator of the British miniseries “Touching Evil,” which spawned the strong adaptation currently airing on USA—is strikingly ambitious.
   It touches on journalistic ethics, the conflict between self-interest and loyalty to one’s friends, and the complex relationship between politicians and the press, who despise and rely on each other in equal measure.
   The story is intricate and unpredictable, though never difficult to follow. There are shadowy, sinister government figures up to some no-doubt nefarious plot of their own, mysterious faxes sent by “a well wisher,” affairs and betrayals and all that good stuff—enough to sink many a show. But it’s all done with such skill that none of it seems overblown or melodramatic.
   There is, alas, one enormous, glaring problem with “State of Play”: In six short weeks, I’ll be suffering from withdrawal all over again.