The X-Files return gives Channel 5 a ratings boost

After a 14-year break, ignoring the underwhelming second movie in 2008, The X-Files returned to UK television screens last night.

The series premiere gave Channel 5 its highest rated US drama launch since 2009. An average of 3.5 million viewers tuned in and this doesn't take into account streaming and recording of the episode. The X-Files will very likely become one of Channel 5's most viewed shows in 2016.

As a huge fan of The X-Files in the early to mid 1990s, voraciously consuming books, comics and more before transmedia storytelling became de rigeur, I was excited to see FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) back.

Doctor Who, Star Trek and Star Wars have all been successfully rebooted in recent years. So, why not The X-Files too?

The series premiere has left fans deeply divided. So, I'll pass you over to fellow X-Phile Andrew Lewin who investigates the premiere "My Struggle". By all accounts the mini-series improves dramatically.

Is the truth still out there? Let me know in the comments below.

The Lone Gunmen revived in The X-Files

The Lone Gunmen, who starred in their own short-lived spin-off series in 2001 and appeared to meet their end in The X-Files ninth season, are back in Fox's much-anticipated mini-series reboot.

The news was broken by actor Dean Haglund on Twitter. The popular trio comprised of Frohike, Langly and Byers, played by Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund and Bruce Harwood respectively, will be joined by DC Universe star Robbie Amell (The Flash). Amell has been cast as Agent Miller.

The X-Files returns in January 2016.

You will believe again in The X-Files

The X-Files cast and crew have taken to social media and posted tantalising teasers from the set of the upcoming mini-series.

The original pilot episode remains a touchstone in setting the look, feel and tone of a series. The nod to Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark did not go unnoticed by genre fans.

I was sold on the conspiracies and bought the official magazine, comics, books, CDs, posters and season box sets on VHS and then, latterly, DVD. An era when new Doctor Who was a pipedream, Buffy had yet to crossover from cinema to television and the Star Wars prequels were nothing more than speculation - a fun pastime with friends.

Yes, there was The Lord of the Rings reprise Babylon 5, Space: Above and Beyond and more, but none captured the pre-Millennium zeitgeist as adroitly as The X-Files, which was catapulted from cult to mainstream cultural phenomenon, making Mulder and Scully household names.

As a fan who became disaffected with the later seasons and swore never to watch the second movie, I want to believe, again. Seeing the onset photos of Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) is a giant step towards that goal...

The revival is a thing and it premieres January 2016 on Fox.