SHOULD we have seen it coming? Certainly, I'll be the first to admit that Helen Baxendale's dramatic departure as Rachel from Cold Feet (ITV1, Sunday) in an horrific road accident came as a complete surprise and made quite a dent in my living room.

James Nesbitt's grief as husband Adam left my fellow viewers stunned and there weren't many dry eyes around... and it wasn't anything to do with missing The Real Cliff Richard over on Channel 4 ("just because I went to one of his concerts doesn't make me a fan," said my wife with a distinctly unpleasant look on her face).

Across the country, according to one insurance company, thirtysomethings used to the amusing adventures of the Manchester couples were reaching for the phone to check on policies or taking out some cover.

This was an unexpected windfall for the business world from scriptwriter Mike Bullen who went on to explain the reasons for Rachel's death in Cold Feet - The Final Call (ITV1, Tuesday). This series, which has grown on me like an inappropriately-placed rose, is being killed off for good. Sunday's final episode allows us one last glimpse of the characters millions identified with. Mr Bullen wanted a shock ending and to split the Rachel-Adam partnership on which he based the first scripts.

Critics tended to see it as a grubbier version of Friends - ironically Helen Baxendale managed to appear in both - but it's been an all-too-rare comedy-drama hit for ITV.

Harsh reality has become more the primetime norm, so where exactly can we place Comic Relief Does Fame Academy (BBC1, nightly) in the Being Nasty By Numbers phone vote game? In my house the poll was 1-4 in favour of not watching any of it. As the "one" was my wife there was a lot of "fancy having him on after what he did" comments aimed at Cold Feet's John Thomson to put up with.

As Kwame Kwei-Armah (who plays Finlay Newton in Casualty) was the only half-decent singer and got voted off on Thursday night I think "the one" is having the last laugh. Strangely, she has warmed to last night's finalist Ruby Wax who has confessed throughout that people are mad to vote for her because she can't sing.

My own favourite has been Jo Brand who refused to take anything seriously and dedicated a song to her goldfish because he has a verruca before teasing singing star David Sneddon by dubbing him Snedders.

A Jo Brand-Ruby Wax final choice would have perfectly suited the red nose brigade. Not that celebrity means much to my wife. We were once visiting my older son in Newcastle's RVI when an entourage of people thronged around the glass entrance door and told us to wait because singer Sonia - currently on and off the bus in celebrity angst show Reborn In The USA (ITV1, Saturday) - was arriving to tour the hospital.

My wife shoved Sonia aside and walked straight through. I've never been prouder of her.