Dexter is an American television drama series based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay and adapted for television by Emmy Award-winning screenwriter James Manos, Jr. The show premiered on the premium cable network Showtime on October 1, 2006. The show has been renewed for a third season.

Set and produced in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan, a serial killer who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood pattern analyst.

Dexter has received considerable critical acclaim and has won two Emmys in technical categories, and has also generated public controversies concerning its content and promotion.

An edited version of the series began airing on CBS on February 17, 2008, due to the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike creating a shortage of new content. CTV simulcasts episodes along with CBS, and is also airing the edited version in order to avail of Canadian cable simultaneous substitution rules.^[1] Dexter debuted in Canada on The Movie Network and Movie Central on October 2 at 9 PM ET and October 1, 2006 at 8 PM PT respectively.

In the UK, FX aired the first season in the Summer of 2007, with the second season to air in July 2008. FX hold lifetime rights to the first run of every season in the UK. ITV aired the second run of season 1 on Wednesday 27 February at 10.35pm, to a much larger potential audience than the cable and satellite only FX.