After watching the Hidden Lives documentary, I felt that my wife should write this column. Surely she'd have some time left after doing the cooking, cleaning and ironing the creases out of my copy of The Northern Echo.

But I lacked one thing - a copy of The Surrendered Wife, the manual that instructs a married woman how to love, honour and obey. Particularly obey. The wives in this documentary aren't desperate, they're submissive whether it's doing all the household chores, putting her husband's toothpaste on the brush (how can you expect a man to squeeze the tube after a hard day at the office?) or scrubbing his back in the bath.

The book, we're told, claims to teach bossy women to chill out. More, it shows men how to treat their wives like slaves. And ones that are styled by their husbands, who choose their clothes and hair-do. Particularly badwas Jesse, a young attorney whose wife Crystal has been so brainwashed that she tells us: "Every day he opens his drawer and says thank you, I have clean socks."

Before leaving for the office, he presents her with a list - a long list, by the look of it - of things to do while he's at work. Even their two-year-old daughter knows what's what. "Daddy is the king of our home, isn't he?" she says, little knowing what slavery awaits her if she marries someone like daddy.

Skye, who's married to American Frank, turned to The Surrendered Wife because their marriage was in turmoil. The feisty Glaswegian is now a submissive Stepford Wife who admits to a sense of achievement from doing the housework.

Wakefield mother-of-two Karen turns to the book and teacher Ellen to learn how to be less in control. Keep quiet, is Ellen's advice, and helpfully suggests visualising duct tape over her mouth to achieve this.

Back in the US, Caroline wears a blindfold when she's a passenger in the car, so she can't criticise husband Chip's driving. He takes her on a date, choosing both the restaurant and what she wears. "What colour blindfold can I wear?" she asks - a little cheekily, I thought.

The book advises that women should surrender themselves sexually to men, with Ellen suggesting to Karen that she should "make yourself available" at least once a week. Skye says her husband always takes the lead (presumably the same one he uses when he takes her walkies) in the bedroom.

Worrying is the husband who takes the view that "if a woman says no, she means yes". The name for someone who has sex under those circumstances is not husband.

Dutch identical twins Liesbeth and Angelique have a close relationship that borders on the frightening. Seeing them measure out their food so they eat exactly the same amount and hearing them constantly arguing about this is disturbing.

Trapped By My Twin is a remarkable portrait of two people who can't live apart but find it increasingly difficult to live together.

The balance of power has shifted over the years. Angelique was considered more beautiful and talented, working as a fashion designer in Paris for five years. Liesbeth's career as a photographer failed to take off and she became depressed. At one point, she was sectioned under the mental health act and her weight dropped to 29 kilograms.

Angelique gave up her job and the twins began working as artists. Now they spend their lives arguing over food. At 35, Liesbeth wants a life of her own. She found a boyfriend on the internet, but he died. This has put an additional strain on the twins' relationship.

But Angelique is anorexic and, if Liesbeth leaves her, she knows she'll probably die. "I see other possibilities of things we can do differently," says Liesbeth. Her hopes of achieving that don't appear good