On TV

20th Century Roadshow (BBC1)

Compulsion: The Confession (BBC2)

PRESENTER Steve Leonard does time travel without a Tardis. "Let's travel back to life's very beginning, 3.8 billion years ago," he suggested as Journey Of Life, the story of evolution, began.

Unlike many TV experts, he admitted he didn't know everything. "Exactly how life began remains a mystery," he said - although the series contains enough stunning photography, computer generated effects and Leonard romping in the water with sea creatures for that not to matter. He likes to shower us with statistics. The blue whale, he confided is as long as a 737 passenger jet and can weigh as much as 30 bull elephants. Leonard wasn't afraid to jump in at the deep end. He swam with dolphins and, more alarmingly, with sharks. He sat on the sea bed, attracting the Jaws stars with noise, movement and the smell of a box of fish bits (or perhaps it was what was left of the last person who tried this). He wrestled with a giant octopus (whose blue blood, three heads and nine brains made it like a very intelligent member of the aristocracy) and cuddled up to a sting ray, although was careful as its mouth "has a nasty suck on it". This would earn it a fortune in a Soho club. Some creatures resisted appearing on the BBC. A sea cucumber fends off predators by throwing up its stomach contents and intestines. "That's foul," noted Leonard as gunge and entrails flowed over his hands.

20th Century Roadshow need not detain us too long, being, as presenter Alan Titchmarsh said, "an Antiques Roadshow of the future". The valuables are much newer, ranging from deluxe box editions of The Hobbit - described as "a really proper bit of book" by the expert - to phone cards and film posters. Titchmarsh, who must be worth a bit himself these days, played the Michael Aspel role, while the programme must have sent people scurrying up into the attic to unearth hidden treasures. But, beware, collecting could get you into trouble with your loved ones. One man confessed that by spending $20,000 on Legolas's bow from The Lord Of The Rings film, he'd deprived his wife of a new kitchen.

Compulsion: The Confession was a slice - at 90 minutes, a very large slice - of reality TV that left me feeling uneasy. The relationship between subject and film-maker became so close that you wondered how much the presence of the camera influenced James Burton's behaviour. He's a gambler living in a hostel, having lost his wife, daughters and job as a result of his gambling addiction. "It's got me by the throat," he confided. He didn't have to tell us as we could see only too clearly how he was destroying himself. Allowing himself to be filmed in desperate times seemed like Burton's last ditch attempt to save himself. Whether the film-maker was right to encourage him by training a camera on his every move must be open to debate