I miss Ally McBeal. Since she left in 2001, there has been a gap in my life: a weekly television drama about lawyers. The one series of Channel 4’s North Square was an enjoyable fling but not a serious relationship. But just before court one morning last October, Edward Faulks, QC, introduced me to Boston Legal. I have been inseparable from the DVDs of the first two series ever since. The third series began last Thursday night on Living TV. It will make you laugh out loud, and occasionally shed a tear.

Denny Crane (William Shatner) is the ageing senior partner at the Boston law firm of Crane Poole & Schmidt. Once a great lawyer, he is losing his mental and physical prowess, and trading on his reputation. He lacks empathy for clients (“So you’re a sicko?”) and his main interest (excessive even in a profession of massive egos) is himself. Sometimes his only question in cross-examination of a witness is: “Denny Crane?” But he can still win cases, on one memorable occasion by taking down his trousers and showing the jury a bull’s-eye drawn on his underpants.

Alan Shore (James Spader) is an exceptionally talented young advocate who is prepared to be as rude as necessary to a difficult judge (“I don’t mean to pry, your honour, but is everything OK at home?”). His diversionary tactics in court and out are not just close to the line but frequently well over it. Who else would bring the judge’s mother to court, on the pretext that her son is to receive an award, to encourage the judge to behave himself. Alan Shore can persuade any jury but he has an unfulfilled personal life. In relationships, he “can’t do emotion” except in his friendship with Denny Crane. The most he will ever tell a woman is: “You smell good.”

Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen) is the named partner whose good judgment and calmly eloquent advocacy ensure that order prevails while the careers and personal lives of her colleagues disintegrate around her. She is as tough as Rosalind Shays in LA Law(before she was written out by falling to her death down the lift shaft), but has had a more interesting love life. Denny Crane laments: “You left me for a secretary.” Shirley responds: “He was Secretary for Defence.”

This combination of legal lunacy and realism is the latest product of the creative genius of David E. Kelley, mother and father of Ally McBeal and occasional writer and producer of LA Law. In the legal world according to Kelley (an accurate portrayal in my view), tragedy merges into farce against a background of eccentricity. There’s a judge who can be persuaded to make any order so long as he thinks it is not “nancy-pansy”, and another who will not tolerate “jibber-jabber” in his courtroom. Counsel for a man who wants his sick cat (“Barry Manilow”) put down despite the objections of the ex-wife complains to the arbitrator about people who give their dogs “barkmitzvahs”. Counsel for Bev, Denny Crane’s estranged sixth wife (he cheated on her during their wedding reception), announces: “My client's trauma is incalculable and — look at me — I’ve calculated it.” And in one extraordinary episode, the Rev Al Sharpton (the flamboyant New York activist, playing himself) bursts into court to make an impassioned submission on behalf of the black plaintiff who has been refused the chance to play the title role in Annie.

Of course, this being television law, each case raises a profound moral or political issue that is resolved within 42 minutes (excluding advertisements). A surprising number of cases are heard the same day as the client first walks into the law firm. Some of the drama defies even my capacity to suspend disbelief. Denny Crane is prepared to shoot a child rapist in the kneecaps, and claim self-defence, to avoid having to defend him. Brad Chase (Mark Valley) is made partner two episodes after his acquittal (owing to some exceptional advocacy) on charges that while impersonating an FBI agent he used an axe to chop three fingers off the hand of a Catholic priest (it’s a long story).

This is well written and expertly acted award-winning drama. It does not take itself too seriously. At one point Alan Shore tells Denny Crane: “I’ve hardly seen you this episode.” When Alan Shore is attracted by another lawyer, his secretary warns him: “Don’t fall for her: she’s just a guest star.” There are many (perhaps too many) “Beam me up!” references to Shatner’s former television life as Captain Kirk in Star Trek.

But behind the laughter, the tears and the chaos, Boston Legal is making a serious point: in an age of increasing conformity and subservience, individualism is under threat, and the basic rights of people to dissent often depend, in the last resort, on the lawyers who represent them. This is Ally McBeal without all the angst. I can’t wait to see them again.

The author is a practising barrister at Blackstone Chambers in Temple and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford

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