Being Sarah Ferguson (five) ; The Trouble With Sleep (BBC1)

SEVEN years ago Sarah Ferguson was depressed, overweight and on the verge of bankruptcy. Her HRH title was replaced with the label of the most-hated woman in the UK as her antics caused her to be shunned by the Royal Family.

With the nickname the Duchess of Pork, she could have been forgiven for turning her back on the world and wallowing in self-pity but she decided to do something about it.

Her first problem was earning money and realising she had used up all her chances in the UK she set her sights on America and began to sell the only thing she had left - her name. She became the face of Wedgwood and, more importantly, an ambassador for Weight Watchers - a role which has now brought her the kind of adoration usually reserved for pop stars. Walking into a WW meeting she was greeted by a screaming, cheering standing ovation.

Shrewdly playing the crowd, Fergie looked shocked, then smiled and cracked a joke before getting down to the serious business of flogging her latest book to her fellow slimmers.

Later she was seen in a US mall - again selling her book to weeping women who said Fergie was the nearest thing to Royalty they'd ever see - she wasn't Princess Diana, they claimed, but she would do. Then she was on a chat show getting very angry with her PA for not giving her a copy of the book to show off while she talked,

Back in the UK, so-called friends tried to explain how the Duchess was misunderstood and her image was bolstered by footage of her buying presents for sick children in hospital. But the over-riding image was of a very hard, very determined business woman, still trading on her defunct Royal status, who would stop at nothing to sell whatever she could to make money and get approval.

But not even Fergie's Weight Watchers book could help housewife Susan Cope featured on BBC1's look at disturbed sleep. Having struggled with her weight for years Susan couldn't understand why the pounds kept piling on despite her obsession with counting calories.

The makers of The Trouble with Sleep were able to solve the mystery by rigging up a night camera in her bedroom. The camera showed that every night sleepwalker Susan, went into the kitchen and ate anything she could find - all without waking up

Sadly it seemed her willpower disappeared when she nodded off and after watching the evidence the best advice dieticians could give her was to lock the kitchen door and hide the key.

Published: ??/??/2003