Wife Swap (C4)

Wife Swap Changed My Marriage (C4)

What man hasn't wished at some point they could swap their wife or partner for a different model - one that would obey their every command and be totally without annoying little habits.

The reality of acquiring a new missus, even temporarily, is very different. That's what made Wife Swap unmissable first time out.

The new series opened in spectacular style. The twist was that the two husbands were brothers, with different lifestyles and incomes. Their two wives hadn't met for years and had never been to the other's house.

What's fascinating about Wife Swap isn't just providing viewers with jaw-dropping entertainment as mismatched couples attempt to get along, but giving participants themselves sometimes shocking insights into their relationships.

As follow-up documentary Wife Swap Changed My Marriage showed, the series affected people's lives. One man proposed marriage to his partner, a wife posed topless for a tabloid newspaper, and one couple went their separate ways.

Clearly, this swapping experiment has the ability to make couples take stock of their situation. This week, after spending time as Dave's wife, Nicola decided she was unhappy and wanted out of her relationship with husband Jason.

He preferred locking himself in his games room than playing with their two children. He thought money, of which they appeared to have plenty, solved everything. He paid Nicola to do chores around the house, but ignored the children and it was obvious that son Lewis was hurt by this neglect.

Given the opportunity, Jason's temporary wife Jayne made him play by her rules. She made trips out with the children obligatory for him and put a new lock on his games room to keep him out.

Round at their cramped Newcastle house, Dave was trying to keep temporary wife Nicola to his family's tight £160-a-week budget. This proved difficult as she was used to spending £500-a-week on her family.

She tried to emancipate Dave from doing all the cooking, cleaning and looking after the children, telling him that his wife Jayne was taking advantage of him.

At the start Nicola was declaring that "money does make happiness - if I had more money Jason and I would get on even better". That changed after seeing family man Dave enjoying being with his children.

It made discontented Nicola consider splitting up with Jason. At which point the makers of Wife Swap must have thought they were going to be the first TV programme named in divorce proceedings.