Florida is known as the sunshine state but the BBC have managed to find the most dreary, lifeless people in the whole of America to star in this latest fly-on-the-wall documentary.

Pop Idol judge Nicki Chapman presented Escape to the Sun (BBC1) which featured ex-pats who had decided to make their home in Florida.

As a pop guru, Nicki got all excited when she discovered Darius, Will and Gareth but there were no teen heart-throbs for her on the golden sands and she failed to muster any enthusiasm for a Glaswegian family chased out of their apartment by an army of ants.

That 'dream' apartment was let by property tycoons Jean and Denise, who made their fortunes flogging the Florida dream to fellow Brits.

The ladies likened themselves to Thelma and Louise but sadly these two haven't yet driven off a cliff.

Jean's role in the business was described as 'hands on' which meant she straightened pictures and smoothed duvet covers down in apartments so small they would have fitted inside the airing cupboard of her palatial home.

There seemed to be an obsession with bed making in America - another couple from Newcastle chose to buy a holiday home in Florida so they could enjoy three months of sunshine without having to master a foreign language, eat any unusual food or live without their teapot. And the highlight of their annual breaks were the apartment staff who turned their quilts down and folded the bath towels into interesting shapes.

All the poor souls in this show had fallen prey to one of the army of estate agents (or brokers) just looking for gullible English people to reel in to buy a house.

One such piranha was Neil, who loved himself more than any of the properties he was trying to flog.

But Neil wasn't half as good at his job as he would like his clients to believe, having failed his broker exams three times.

As we watched him drive to his fourth retake, he turned to divine inspiration and phoned his mum to ask her to pray for him. Someone should tell him if he doesn't stop using his mobile and drinking coffee at the wheel not even his mother's prayers will save him.