ANOTHER day, another new reality TV show. I was prepared - determined even - not to like Channel 5's The Mole in which ten contestants have to perform tasks and unmask the traitor in their midst to stay in the game. The original Belgium version was a Golden Rose award-winner at Montreux with the idea snapped up by broadcasters eager to find this year's Big Brother. Channel 5 has spent £500,000 advertising The Mole.

It is unlikely to outdo the Big Brother phenomena that dominated TV screens in the latter part of last year but it's not bad. A cross between Treasure Hunt, that series in which Anneka Rice rushed about by helicopter following a trail of clues looking for buried treasure, crossed with an Agatha Christie whodunit and Don't Try This At Home. Part of the attraction is that the emphasis is on following contestants as they undertake tasks rather than just observe their every boring move.

For starters they had to jump out of a plane and locate one of their number who'd been "kidnapped". They didn't seem a well-organised bunch and the missing man's method of signalling his colleagues was low-tech - he dangled something out of his prison window.

The mystery element is that one of the ten has been planted by the production team to try to sabotage the others' winning the £200,000 kitty although judging from their initial efforts they are quite capable of doing that without any outside help whatsoever.

Presenting the show is ex-Coronation Street actor Glen Hugill, from Barnard Castle, who is far too nice to contestants. He commiserated with the first one to be ejected as he carried her bag to the car. I can't see Anne Robinson doing that.

No sooner had The Mole debuted than Channel 5 was announcing "the ultimate endurance test" in which a TV critic is forced to watch reality shows non-stop for a month. Only joking, they meant Touching The Truck in which a contestant can win a £50,000 top-of-the-range four wheel drive vehicle by keeping their hand on it for the longest amount of time. The winner of the US version lasted 125 hours and 37 minutes without sleep or removing his hand.

At least Channel 5 has had the sense to change the US title Hands On A Hardbody - although, on second thoughts, that sounds exactly like the sort of programme found late at night on Channel Smut. As contestants' friends and family are allowed to do anything to keep them awake, we can perhaps look forward to marathon sessions of snogging (or something more X-certificate) as loved ones find new and novel ways to stop those taking part closing their eyes. "The physical and mental endurance involved will be really extraordinary to watch," says Channel 5's Senior Programme Controller Chris Shaw. This may apply to viewers as much as contestants. The Mole continues on Channel 5 tonight at 8pm. Apply to take part in Touching The Truck by contacting the production company on 0207 636 1756 or logging on to the website at www.channel5.co.uk

The BBC's Edge Of Darkness is one drama that usually gets mentioned when people start talking about TV not being as good as it used to be. The 1985 Bafta Award-winning series found Bob Peck's police inspector investigating his daughter's death and uncovering an international conspiracy.

The drama is listed among director Martin Campbell's past work in publicity material for his new mountain climbing movie Vertical Limit. It omits to mention him directing The Sex Thief or Eskimo Nell, a pair of bare-breasts-and-innuendo comedies from the 1970s when such offerings were all the British film industry could manage.

Campbell himself isn't so shy about mentioning these gems from his past. Indeed, over lunch to talk about Vertical Limit, he volunteers the information and tells how Roy Kinnear's character in Eskimo Nell, a mickeytake of British film-making, was based on a real producer.

In mitigation, Campbell can reel off involvement in such popular TV series as The Professionals (on which he made his directorial debut), Shoestring and Minder. More recently, he directed two episodes of the US TV detective series Homicide.

On the big screen, he directed Pierce Brosnan's first outing as James Bond in GoldenEye and The Mask Of Zorro uniting Welsh thespians Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Vertical Limit was filmed in mountains in Campbell's native New Zealand although you wouldn't get him climbing "for all the tea in China" as he's scared of heights. He watched old climbing movies, including Clint Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction and Sylvester Stallone's Cliffhanger, to prepare for a film whose budget was considerably more than he ever had in TV. His early BBC work taught him how to get a long way on very little money. "The great thing about the BBC then was that with Edge Of Darkness I disappeared for five months and got one telephone call after four months saying, 'you are using too many extras in this scene'. That was the only conversation," he recalls.

FANS of Channel 4's axed North Square will be pleased to know that BBC1 is considering adding the legal eagle series to its drama roster. Beastly Channel 4 officials didn't recommission the series because of poor ratings although it acquired cult status among followers (including a small but faithful contingent in The Northern Echo features department). It's not unknown for a programme to switch channels. Men Behaving Badly blossomed on BBC1 after being abandoned by ITV is a case in point. Let's hope that if the Beeb does adopt North Square they ensure Phil Davis, who gave a standout performance as the Machiavellian clerk of chambers, is attached to the project.

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