Indian takeaway

An awful lot is going on in All Saints, the daily Aussie import that I'm sure the BBC would love to be popular enough to fill the gap left when Neighbours moves to five.

I doubt this will happen as this hospital drama looks pretty sickly compared to other medical dramas and the soap element isn't frothy enough.

Dr Rick seems to be running the place single-handed, so the arrival of an officer investigating the death of Ma O'Connell isn't welcome. There's a suspicion that he helped her on her way.

Then there's Jacko, an outbacker with a nail through his hand. He does a spot of DIY surgery, pulling out the nail himself. No, it didn't hurt, he says. "Ever been gored by a water buffalo? That's pain." I'm happy to take his word for it.

Teenager Jasmine has bad stomach ache. Her GP mother, who's been treating her, has dismissed it as crap - chronic recurring abdominal pain. Dr Luke discovers it's germ cell cancer, proving that her mother's diagnosis was indeed crap.

Talking of which, the nightly magazine programme, The ONE Show, continues on its merry weekday way without getting anyone very excited. It's so dull that it makes you long for the days of Nationwide with its skateboard ducks.

Adrian Chiles makes a cheery enough host, assisted by the heavily pregnant Myleene Klass, returning this week after a few days away. Dr Chiles gave us a medical report, "She's back and it's still in there."

No ducks, skateboarding or otherwise, but there were some fat cats. These podgy pussies are no laughing matter as their health is threatened by being overweight. Too much food and not enough exercise was the expert's verdict, which could be applied to a lot of people, too.

With half-a-dozen items crammed into 30 minutes, you could be certain that nothing would be covered in any depth. A news story about houses that float when the water rises and beat the floods received equal billing with Suzy Quatro plugging her autobiography.

The excitement reached fever pitch the other night with a guess how many coins in the jar competition. Viewers had been sending in their answers and then it was the turn of someone with a degree in packing measures, who'd come in handy when trying to get all your clothes into a suitcase for your holiday. Her guess of around 1,000 was closer by 18 coins that any suggestion from the viewing audience.

The Ganges, the lovely-to-look-at series about the Indian river, continues to weave its way through the Friday night schedules offering a feast for the eye and enough facts to fill several guide books. For instance, did you know that the river supports half a billion people, with one in every ten people on the planet living within the Ganges basin?

A procession of animals, from huge herds of deer to solitary tigers, fill the screen. Some look more friendly than others. The gharial is the Cyrano de Bergerac of crocodiles thanks to its very long nose. As few as 200 of these bizarre looking creatures survive in the wild.

In one village along the Ganges, the cobra is king. Because of the snake's religious signficance, these creatures are left alone and can be seen slithering all over the place as people go about their daily business. Cameras even catch them swimming around in the water by the pumps as locals wash.

Inevitably, people get bitten, but they reject medical treatment, relying on faith to heal the wound. They maintain that no one in the village has ever died from a cobra's bite.

Other animals aren't tolerated. With farmers claiming so much of the land, there are few remaining herds of wild elephants. Those that do survive are forced to raid crops in search of food.

Villagers, who also need the food to survive, are seen banding together and, brandishing flaming torches, run the 100-strong herd of elephants out of town. Chasing a herd of food-seeking elephants is a risky business. Hungry elephants can, like hungry humans, be extremely aggressive.