A Life Of Grime New York (BBC1); Blood On Our Hands: The English Civil War (C4): I HATE to think what the viewing public's fascination with programmes about dirty houses and rat-catchers says about the state of the nation, but the BBC isn't about to let a ratings-winner escape.

So A Life Of Grime moves across the Atlantic, with Louis Armstrong singing What A Wonderful World on the soundtrack as shots of rats scampering about the Big Apple fill the screen. This is a city of eight million people and 70 million rats, an interesting statistic but who, I wondered, had actually counted them?.

We've seen this all before and, quite honestly, didn't want to see it again. Especially not Donald and Henry entering the house of a woman who died and wasn't found for ten days.

Nothing seemed to faze them, although viewers may have been reaching for a sick bag. "I think she died right here because of the stain," said one of them pointing to a patch on the floor.

Fortunately, the body wasn't shown. Unfortunately, its condition was described to us. Those of a nervous disposition should skip to the next paragraph, for we learned that her dogs "ate away a good section of her" including portions of stomach, leg and face.

After this, the abandoned car crawling with very large rats was a breath of fresh air. Then there was Michelle, who falls into the category of "clutterer" as there didn't appear to be an inch of vacant space in her apartment.

Ronald, from clean up company Disaster Masters, was called in to de-clutter the place. The superintendent of the building wasn't helpful. He was a foul-mouthed bully who wouldn't let them get on with the job.

It ended with him fighting and punching Ronald. The super was arrested and charged with assault, proving that not all the dirty rats in New York have tails.

More brutality and gruesome deaths followed in Blood On Our Hands, a long - very long at two hours plus - history lesson about the English Civil War. This wasn't dull or uninteresting but I could have done with a playground break halfway through.

It certainly told you everything you wanted to know about the causes, chronology and choreography of the Cavaliers v Roundheads conflict, caused, as so many wars, by a difference of opinion over religion.

The inevitable talking heads commented on events, but much came from letters and papers of those who witnessed what happened. Amid all the written evidence it was good to hear a modern professor's take on Queen Henrietta. She was tiny, vivacious, chirpy and loved court entertainment. "In personal terms, she was a sweetie," he said.

Published: 11/02/2005