Million Pound Properties, Channel 4, Wednesday at 10pm
Now here’s an interesting outcome of London’s runaway property market – it’s redistributing wealth around the UK.
Is it Jeremy Corbyn socialism at work? No, some Londoners have realised just how much further their money will go away from the capital.
With bedsits in some of the swankier parts of London going for seven-figure sums, it’s not a surprise that families have started spotting the opportunities elsewhere.
Photocopier salesmen Dwayne Hill likes to move up in the world every four or five years after growing up in a “rat infested” council estate.
Dwayne, whose job clearly paid more than I would have imagined, was eyeing a castle outside Edinburgh which would mean trading his London home for 14-bedroom Ravenswood House, set in 16 acres of West Lothian countryside.
For just £250,000 more than the value of their current house the Hill family could move to the castle.
Dwayne, who liked a bit of bling, loved the idea of being lord of the manor although I’m not sure his style would suit a 19th century castle.
On the other end of the scale a 470 square-foot flat in Knightsbridge in London was on the market for £1.15 million. And that included a fold-away bed and a terrace big enough for two people to stand on.
It was owned by former NHS chief executive Ron de Witt, clearly the second best job in the country after selling photocopiers.
Ron finally settled for £995,000 after the new owner rejected the estate agent's proposal he hit the magical £1 million figure.
We got a very limited view this week, however, of the property everyone wanted to see.
Rooney: The Man Behind The Goals (BBC 1, Monday at 9pm) was a bit of a disappointment.
The Manchester United and England footballer does his talking with his feet, but I thought we’d at least get a look at the lifestyle, the cars and the bling.
Rooney and wife Coleen also came from a council estate but unlike Dwayne they retained an affection for the place they grew up in.
Rooney took us for a tour of his old stomping ground in Croxteth, Liverpool; showed us his old house, his granny’s house, where his brother lived and the patch of grass where he learned to play.
There were some interesting bits. I didn’t know, for instance, that his mum still worked as a dinner lady, that he turned up at a Liverpool scouting session as a eight-year old in an Everton kit and that after his first premiership goal as a 16-year-old he was too young to celebrate beating Arsenal with his team-mates so went for a kick about at the sheds in Croxteth.
Overall though, presenter Gary Lineker never got beneath the thick anti-tabloid skin Rooney has had to develop. We learned little more than he is an ordinary chap with an extraordinary talent.
The stars at the Rugby World Cup (ITV, TV3) earn a fraction of their football counterparts but the entertainment has matched anything from the round ball game in recent years.
Leaving aside whether you’re happy or sad at the departure of England, it has been the best ever Rugby World Cup.
There have been fewer mismatches, the attendances have been incredible and the broadcasters have done an excellent job.
With all the matches live on ITV and TV3, I am wondering again what I get for my BBC licence fee.
It happened again on Thursday night when all the international football was on Sky and the BBC announced that it was turning down its right to broadcast the Open golf next year.
