I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I sayLove My Wayis the most underrated Australian television show of all time.

This little TV gem slipped by almost unnoticed in the mid-00’s and quietly defined a whole generation of Australians.

Love My WayisThe Secret Life Of Usmeets Offspring meets really gritty – yet fresh – Australian drama.

It’s the kind of show that sneaks up on you, kicks you in the gut, and leaves you wanting more – and it’s a series everyone in their 30s should watch at least once.

Set in Sydney,Love My Wayfollows the life of single mum Frankie (Claudia Karvan), her eight-year-old daughter Lou, Frankie’s ex husband Charlie (Dan Wylie), his new wife Julia (Asher Keddie), and Charlie’s brother Tom (Brendan Cowell).

It’s a slow burn, the first seven episodes gradually draw you into theLove My Wayuniverse and the characters’ complex, yet loving, relationships.

By episode eight you’re completely enamoured of theLove My Waycrew.

Thenithappens.

The scene that’s been described as one of the most shocking and devastating in Australian drama history.

Basically episode eight, A Different Planet, sneaks up on you and rips your bloody heart out. Then you spend the next two and a half seasons trying to recover, to grieve, to move on – right alongside the main characters.

Without giving too much away –Love My Waydeals with death and grief in a truly unique, refreshing and raw way. There’s no escape from the moment – no tragic Grey’s Anatomy-ish soundtrack, no flashbacks, nothing to ease the full on assault on our own mortality. As a viewer you have no choice but to stay in the moment with the characters, to feel their intense grief, panic, confusion, knowing there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

Love My Way is The Secret Life Of Us meets Offspring meets really gritty - yet fresh - Australian drama. Image via Foxtel.

It's the kind of series that stays with you, years after you've watched it.

Having said all that,Love My Wayis bloody funny too. Dan Wylie and Asher Keddie's characters riff off each other in a rhythm that becomes so familiar by season three, you start to feel like you know them.

Brendan Cowell is at his best in the series, playing Charlie's complicated brother and Frankie's sometimes love interest.

In season three, Ben Mendelsohn joins the cast adding yet another layer to the complex dynamics of theLove My Wayuniverse.

The show deals with the reality of being in your 30s and 40s, and everything that goes along with it - marriage, infidelity, divorce, addiction, failure, birth, death, grief.

In true noughties style,Love My Wayisn't available on any streaming services but you can pick up a box set at Big W, JB Hi-Fi, or the ABC shop - or you can ask your Gen X mate if you can borrow theirs.