Where The Heart Is (ITV1); A French Affair (C4) - Should you find your mind straying during Where The Heart Is, you might usefully spend the time ticking off the essentials of Sunday night feelgood TV as they crop up.

There's the nice scenery. The second episode of the latest series opened with spectacular scenes on the top of the Moors. "I'm high on the air," said nurse Karen's long-lost son Russell. By the end of the hour, we knew he was getting high on something else - heroin - after his mum found a syringe and bag of white stuff under his mattress. We needn't worry too much. The air's so clean and pure, he'll be cured within a few scenes.

That, of course, is another rule of feelgood TV - no one should feel bad for very long. So bossy hairdresser Gloria began thinking she had a brain tumour, but ended up only needing glasses. Past experience of medical shows told me from the start, but new nurse Sally needed a storyline to demonstrate her strength of character.

Then, you need the light relief, if the plight of a man recovering from a heart attack can be classed as light relief. Sally spent a lot of time and energy trying to get her sick father to rest and stop smoking.

You also need sex but, as this is pre-watershed, the physical side can extend no further than a polite, "Give us a hug". When a woman asks her man "Do you want a full English?", she's not suggesting something saucy in the bedroom but a good fry-up.

There was something quaintly old-fashioned about nurse Beth's reluctance to move in with her boyfriend without a proposal of marriage, as well as the advice from her female friends. Make him jealous, they said, and he'll soon be down on one knee asking to marry you. "Men sometimes need a gentle nudge in the right direction," said wise Sally.

Good advice, whether it's medical or emotional, is another vital ingredient of feelgood TV. "We always start the day with a cuppa and a gossip, and a pastry on special occasions," Sally was told. Clearly, the NHS crisis has by-passed Skelthwaite if medical staff have time to sit around and chat.

With a wedding (on a picturesque hillside, of course) and a rugby match (reuniting a arguing father and son) as well, this episode of Where The Heart Is laid it on a bit thick even for feelgood TV. And yet it's strangely watchable. I thought I'd managed to give it up after the first series. But, like Russell, I'm getting addicted.

The French do things differently, and usually accompanied by a good meal and lots of wine. A French Affair was an oddity - a fly-on-the-wall series that began as a travelogue, became a programme about wine-making, and eventually ended up telling of the rivalry in the small village of Curtil-Vergy.

The local winemaker claims the Mayor is persecuting him. The Mayor claims the local winemaker is flouting regulations. Instead of pistols at dawn, the two are locked in a propaganda battle as the mayoral elections approach. The two never actually meet, content to slag off each other while eating and drinking with their friends.

"It's ridiculous, but it's France," says an observer. And it's miles away, both geographically and emotionally, from Skelthwaite.

Published: 14/07/2003