Whenever I hear someone bemoan the state of Australian television - "Why can't we make something good?" "Where are the classy-looking shows?" "Do we have to watch Neighbours again?" - I think to myself, the poor dear obviously doesn't have pay TV.

(Note: for the record I don't have it myself, but fortunately my couch-partner does.)

And while our subscription channels might not yet be at the world-conquering levels of Showtime and HBO in the US, the past few years seem to have demonstrated just how broad the potential scope for locally-made comedy and drama can be when it has the luxury of pay TV to reside within.

Worries about ratings and whether The Children™ will still be watching evaporate and writers and producers can explore the nooks and crannies of television that can't or won't be picked up by the networks.

Sure, sometimes it doesn't quite work - I never warmed to Satisfaction, for example - but the freedom to make those mistakes and allow a show to find its way without fear of being moved to 2.38am on a Wednesday means we end up with some terrific shows, either non-stop quality or at least flashes of brilliance.

After all, even if I didn't like Satisfaction, it's still enjoyed three seasons (and counting, presumably) within which to expand and evolve. You can't say that for many network dramas.

The champion of Australian pay TV drama so far must surely be Love My Way, which was lavished with critical praise and paperweights.

The sense of relief that seeped from every pore of that show - and the viewers', too - was palpable; here was a piece of television free to breathe and explore its characters' inner workings.

Swearing, sex and drug use were there not to provide "cor blimey" fodder for the network promos but because, finally, a show about adults had been made for adults, and treated accordingly by its home network. (Even if Foxtel did rather infuriatingly move it from Fox8 to W and finally to Showcase.)

Spare a thought, then, for its little cousin Tangle, which is doomed - unfairly - to forever carry the tag, "from the producers of Love My Way"; eternally in our subscription television drama trailblazer's shadow.

However, with its debut season done and dusted, Tangle's second series should allow it to break free and stake its own claim among the Australian drama firmament.

Season Two premieres next Tuesday (20th July) on Showcase at 8.30pm and, should you be blessed with pay TV, is worth setting the reminder for.

The first episode back finds Ally (the divine Justine Clarke) dealing with the fallout from her husband Vince's death.

Watching Clarke's face as she drives home from the doctor, half-singing to The Triffids' Wide Open Road, is a perfect example of the space and thought that is afforded to subscription television shows.

You can't help but feel a network show would have dispatched the scene - and not only that but Scooter up in Sydney would have barked "The Triffids? Who the fuck are they? Put some Powderfinger in there instead".

Pleasingly returning from the Australian film and television no man's land for this season is Kick Gurry, who rides in on his motorbike and into Tangle as Vince's estranged brother, Joe.

Perhaps the nicest thing about it all, though, is feeling secure in the knowledge that it's not going anywhere.

With most new Australian content on network television disappearing at the drop of a hat (often after just one episode), the idea of being able to watch a whole series on television without having to resort to downloads or DVDs is quite a novel experience.

If, that is, you have subscription television.