Alexander The Great's Mysterious Death: Revealed (five); Ads That Changed The World (five); ALEXANDER the Great liked nothing better, after a hard day's conquering, than to have a party and a few drinks.

So was his boozing the cause of his death at the age of 32? Or were more sinister forces at work?

It's a bit late to assemble the suspects in the library and have Hercule Poirot exercise his leetle grey cells to reveal whodunit, but that didn't stop top Scotland Yard detective Commander John Grieve re-opening the case.

He tested existing accounts of the Macedonian king's demise using modern scientific methods, expert opinion and a computer-controlled dummy corpse. Various causes of death were considered - liver or kidney problems caused by heavy drinking, cerebral malaria, and poison (with Aristotle the prime suspect as supplier of the deadly potion).

For anyone who likes a good mystery, this was as baffling and exciting as anything you'll find in a Sherlock Holmes book.

Take the reports of dead birds around the time of Alexander's illness. That could have been an indication that he had West Nile Fever (no relation to Saturday Night Fever, I assume), an expert in tropical diseases stated. The same thing happened in New York more recently prior to an outbreak of the disease.

Grieve's conclusion was even stranger: Alexander was poisoned, but not intentionally. He was given an accidental overdose of a drug being used in his treatment. Inspector Morse would have been proud of him.

The title of Ads That Changed The World sounded like a big claim, but the programme - the first of three tracing the evolution of TV adverts - found some justification for it.

When Nick Kamen walked into a launderette and stripped to his underwear in a commercial on Boxing Day, 1985, the advertising industry was revolutionised. This was the first time a male body had been used to sell something (legally and in public, at least).

Kamen became a pin-up, Levi's jean sales soared 200 per cent over two years, and boxers became a fashion essential. The makers of such knickers can thank advertising watchdogs for that. Kamen only wore boxers because the authorities thought Y-fronts would be too revealing.

All very different to 1898, when the first ad, for Sunlight soap, appeared. Later we learnt that nine out of ten screen stars used Lux. "Try new Lux, I'm sure you'll love it," purred Jane Fonda, dabbing the frothy stuff over her cheeks.

If it didn't exist, the advertising industry invented it. The term BO was thought up to plug Lifebuoy toilet soap, although today nobody would dare use the word "toilet" in association with a product you put on your face.

The names kept coming - Captain Bird's Eye, Mr Kipling, Smash, Yorkie and Henry Cooper splashing it all over in his Brut ads.

They don't make them like that any more and, thanks to video and fast forward, we don't have to watch them.