Himalaya (BBC1)

Rosemary And Thyme (ITV1)

THE opening sequence of Himalaya made me think I'd mistakenly stumbled across an old episode of Great Railway Journeys Of The World. There was Michael Palin aboard the Khyber railway, travelling in carriages being pulled by an engine built in Lancashire in 1916.

It emerged that this steam-powered journey was but the starting point of the BBC traveller's trip across the Himalaya range of mountains. In future episodes the track will be of the "off the beaten" kind on the North-West Frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a highly volatile area where few tourists go.

What makes Palin such a good guide is his willingness to talk to strangers as if they're old friends. He visits places most of us would cross the road to avoid - such as the Khyber Dental Clinic. Despite knowing that the dentist "didn't go to dental school but picked it up from an uncle", Palin plonked himself in the chair and demanded an examination.

Having been probed in the mouth "with a finger like a tree trunk", he demanded to see the dentist's drill. Even Palin paled, saying he wasn't "entirely reassured" as "it looks like the type of thing you put up a bathroom cabinet with".

He also has an eye for a bargain. In "a town that lives by guns", he found a Kalishnikov automatic rifle for £80. A jokey remark about a James Bond gun resulted in the gunsmith producing a fountain pen which fired bullets that 007 would have been proud to use.

Palin's not afraid to have a go at local sports, especially if it's cricket. He was out first ball while his bowling was like a Monty Python sketch. Wisely, he opted out of bullock-racing.

This involves the rider "surfing" on a board being pulled along by two speedy beasts with no sense of direction or road safety. Palin was introduced to a racer who'd lost his arm racing, just before he was forced to abandon his position as a pair of rampaging bulls charged towards him. Meanwhile back home, over on ITV1, gardening sleuths Rosemary And Thyme returned. The biggest mystery is why they're back. Critics, including yours truly, wrote off this series of horticultural whodunits but viewers made it one of the most watched new series of last year. So, like a weed you can't keep out of your garden, they're back.

I still can't see the attraction - or see the episode shown last night as I was sent the wrong preview tape (of next Friday's story). This had its advantages. It only lasted an hour, unlike the one broadcast which was double that length.

Felicity Kendal is like her Good Life character only older, while Pam Ferris fusses around looking like she's being pursued by a nasty garden insect. Flower beds were vandalised, a chap with a drink problem and dicky ticker dropped dead, and Kendal gave the worse impression of someone snoring I've ever seen (and heard).

It was all painless enough and just as unexciting - much the same as watching grass grow.