Chelsea Tales (BBC2): AFTER the deluge of reality shows, this well-crafted but ultimately empty fly-on-the-wall series left me with the feeling I'd seen it all before.

This isn't so much Young, Rich And Loaded as Older, Rich And Equally Loaded - with the participants confined to the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

They are upper class, privileged and rich, qualities that hardly endear them to us commoners. We don't live in a world of £8m properties, private schools with annual fees of £80,000 upwards, or know a woman who's supported by her parents.

She opted out of a proper job because, she said, "If my family want to go to Austria for one month I couldn't go with them."

That was Melanie Johnson, 29, who was organising a fashion show when not looking at flats to buy (with financial help from daddy, I bet) in the exclusive area between Harvey Nichols and Harrods.

Estate agent Ed Mead said a small town house would cost £1.5m in this "quite expensive village". It doesn't have every village amenity, however. "No duck ponds here," he said proudly. Nor flying ducks on the living room wall, I suspect. The only ducks the people round here encounter are a l'orange.

Californian single mother Anne-Marie Ciccini moved to London 15 years ago because she didn't think it was a good idea to have a child in the US. As her youngster was muttering about "punching the police", his British education doesn't seem to be working. Once a company director working 14 hours a day, she's in remission from cancer and having to economise. Shopping in Harrods, best friend Angela said excitedly, "Where's Gucci? I love Gucci." Poor Anne-Marie is on the Chelsea equivalent of the breadline, telling us she's having to live on the wardrobe she's built up rather than buying new designer clobber.

Alex Chamberlin is a bit of a rebel, quitting the Army to become an artist. As war with Iraq loomed, he went on an anti-war demonstration, telling us how determined he was to participate: "I would go even if it was raining - I'm that committed."

Published: 11/09/2003