Yet heavy-hitting crime drama Breaking Bad seems to have been a perfect career move for Cranston. Not only has it given him a platform to show his diverse range of acting talent but he has also become one of the greatest anti-heroes of all time.
The premise of the show is far from simple. Walter White (Cranston) is a timid and unassertive middle-aged family man. He's also a chemistry genius but his immeasurable talent is wasted in a dead-end job as a high-school teacher. His wife Skylar White (Anna Gunn) is pregnant with an unplanned baby and his only teenage son Walter Junior (RJ Mitte) is cursed with cerebral palsy.
It's a scenario that could break any man, but Walter is too afraid to stand up and face the world.
Yet all of this changes when he's diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Staring into the jaws of death he realises that a life of being pushed around has left his family on the poverty line and has given him nothing to show for himself.
But after a trip with his Drug Enforcement Agent brother-in-law Hank Schraeder (Dean Norris) and a coincidental run-in with ex-pupil and small-time drug dealer Jesse Pinkman, (Aaron Paul) Walter finds himself cooking meth with Jesse in an attempt to fund his treatment and leave his family with a hefty nest egg.
The storyline itself is gripping but it's the character development that really steals the show. The gradual transformation of Walter as he struggles with his morality is fascinating to witness. He's just an ordinary man, sprung into a dark new world of violence and ruthlessness, all the while having to hide his secret second life from his family and more importantly from his drug agent brother-in-law. It's a life that not many of us will ever experience but it's strangely relatable.
Throughout, the writers present you with unavoidable preconceptions about a whole range of different characters, preconceptions that are duly crushed as each individual story unfurls. You convince yourself that junkie Jesse Pinkman is nothing more than the very bottom of society's barrel yet his optimistic personality and his difficult background leaves you with feelings of compassion instead.
Every episode ends with a cliff-hanger as Walter's web of lies and intrigue grows even harder to juggle and more people are dragged into his whirlpool of self-destruction. You'll be left frustrated by a few of his decisions, some of which selfishly affect the lives of others, but ultimately the love for his family and his unerring pride shines through.
The meth-shaped plot anchor takes a backseat to the rich tapestry of characters painted into this frighteningly voyeuristic world of crime. That is what makes Breaking Bad genius. Much like a chemical equation it has worked out the right formula. No other programme comes close in terms of enveloping its audience into its universe and throwing them onto the roller coaster of emotion that every character experiences.
It's practically flawless. It satisfies almost every watcher's TV desires, drama, mystery, documentary even a stab at the kind of dark humour found in programmes such as Dexter.
If you want to commit to watching something this year, you'd do no better than Breaking Bad. But you will certainly have to commit, because once you have a taste there's no way you'll be able to watch anything else until you hit the end.
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See also: Dexter (2006-Present), Weeds (2005-Present)
Dir: Vince Gilligan
Dir: Vince Gilligan
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, RJ Mitte, Aaron Paul
USA, 2008-Present
Synopsis: After being diagnosed with lung cancer, high-school teacher and chemistry genius Walter White turns to the world of drugs and uses his talents to produce the world's highest quality meth in order to provide for his family.
Guest post by Callum Winterford
Guest post by Callum Winterford
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