The X Files is a division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation devoted to unsolved cases that appear to have some unexplained, paranormal element. The files take their name from the filing cabinet where they were kept - originally filed under U for unsolved, they grew to big for the drawer and were moved to the less populated X cabinet.

Originally opened in 1946 by J. Edgar Hoover - who wanted a series of murders with a half animal, half man suspect investigated - the X Files became a dumping ground for reportings of UFOs, alien abductions, and other arcana that the FBI didn't want to investigate, or didn't believe in. At least, that was the case until Fox Mulder, a high flying serial-killer specialist, requested transfer to the forgotten basement.

A true believer in the paranormal, a result of witnessing his sister's abduction as a child, he soon started to ruffle feathers in the Bureau. Eventually, he was assigned a partner - the sceptical, scientific Dana Scully. She wasn't just there to help him - she was expected to report back in order to discredit the wild-card Mulder.

Slowly convinced by the mounting evidence, Scully became Mulder's staunch ally. Over years of investigating cases no-one else would touch, the pair have come across paranoia inducing gas, vampire fetishists, plagues of grasshoppers and Luke Skywalker's love children. But this is just the detail...

The key to the files runs deeper than any strange phenomenon - there's a conspiracy at the heart of the government, and aliens are trying to take over the planet. Not just any old E.T.s, mind - they can possess people using Black Oil, and shapeshifting aliens are already among us. Luckily, there's a rebel faction who are on our side...

Chris Carter wanted to make a scary show. "I don't mean scary in the horror-genre sense, but scary in the way that speculation pushes beyond scientific credibilty to enter a realm of 'extreme possibility,'"

While a lot of writer-producers might have come up with something similar to The X Files, it took Chris Carter's off-kilter talent and particular quirks and influences to envision and create a show that ranks with television's greatest, like Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek.

The main characters for the show were Special Agent Fox Mulder played by Actor David Duchovny (seasons 1-8), Special Agent Dana Scully played by Gillian Anderson, Special Agent John Doggett played by Robert Patrick (seasons 8-9), Assistant Director Walter Skinner played by Mitch Pileggi, The Cigarette-Smoking Man played by William B. Davis, Special Agent Monica Reyes played by Annabeth Gish (seasons 8-9)

SCULLY: Agent Mulder. I'm Dana Scully. I've been assigned to work with you.

MULDER: Oh, isn't it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded. So who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?

SCULLY: Actually, I'm looking forward to working with you. I've heard a lot about you.

MULDER: OH, really? I was under the impression you was sent to spy on me.