You the Jury: Miranda Peters and James Burstall

Andy McNab's Tour of Duty

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Miranda Peters and James Burstall on the latest TV shows.

I've always thought it a great shame for the female population that Rupert Everett is gay but it's never stopped me drooling over him in Hollywood movies, and I think it was a genius idea to get him to author Channel 4's Victorian Sex Explorer. Let's be honest, it would never have been commissioned otherwise.

Everett retraces the steps of maverick Victorian explorer Captain Sir Richard Burton - a man responsible for lifting the lid on sex in the British Empire and translating The Karma Sutra and The Arabian Nights into English. Right from the opening scene Everett seduced me with his charm, charisma, knowledge and genuine interest in the subject matter. It'd be great to convince Everett to kiss goodbye to Hollywood, stay a little closer to home and become a regular face on C4.

Andy McNab's Tour of Duty for ITV4 is something I'd normally steer clear of. Testosterone-fuelled television is not my thing. However, it turned out to be a very watchable programme - well shot and well produced.

My fear is that because of McNab's enforced anonymity, the series isn't going to work for ITV4 in the same way that the Ross Kemp series has worked for Sky One. The ambush story is a good one but the film is told retrospectively - hence we know everyone survives (and they're sitting in their front room retelling their tale!). For me this is where the energy of the piece is lost.

I watched ITV1's Britain's Biggest Babies with personal interest because I recently had a very large baby myself. Ever since, I've been intrigued as to whether babies really are getting bigger and consequently if childbirth is getting more dangerous - and if so why is this happening? Unfortunately the film doesn't provide any real answers.

There were snippets of interesting and genuine medical info but on the whole the film follows the all too familiar path of other voyeuristic shock health docs that are proving to be successful in providing bums on seats for other channels. The producers got great access to medical teams and fantastic case studies but they just stuffed in too many of them. The film needs some space to breathe and to explore a genuinely interesting subject matter.
Miranda Peters is development producer at Tern Television

Celebrity reality is well and truly taking over the world. It dominates television in the US and is starting to do so here. But, you can either do it well - or be overpowered by it.

I found Rupert Everett's approach to Victorian Sex Explorer a real turn-off. And that's not just because he spends the whole film in a "muscle Mary" vest. Everett takes over the film and swamps it.

The film is supposed to be about Victorian traveller Captain Sir Richard Burton, who travelled from Mumbai to Mecca exploring Asian approaches to sexuality and thus kick-started the sexual revolution. But, the potential of Burton's story was lost because of Everett's own prancing about in front of the camera - even at one point singing The Hills Are Alive… with a bunch of Indian nuns. Call this the sexual revolution? Please!

We are left with no real sense of Richard Burton the man, the traveller, the adventurer, the pioneer. As a history film, it loses its way in soft porn and star-struck celebrity. That's not to say the film isn't shot and edited well - it is. It makes India and Egypt look stunning. But style in this history film is not enough to make up for its lack of substance.

ITV's new celebrity reality offering Andy McNab's Tour of Duty is a vehicle for the eponymous ex-SAS man. This is a dynamic 21st century version of Police, Camera, Action featuring paras rather than police cars.

With a combination of personal testimony, warzone actuality, reconstruction and heavy gadgetry, he retells the personal experiences of the men and women caught in the crossfire. It brings to life the very real dangers they experience on a daily basis. It works well as McNab lets the squaddies do the talking and the action is dramatically shot.

Britain's Biggest Babies is a total celeb-free zone, but offers plenty of chavs giving birth. 34-year-old Karen from Andover was pregnant with a 13lb baby boy. Fortunately some rodent research suggests that not all her babies may be born obese, so there is hope. I can see the appeal of these fat docs - they do rate - but they cover the same ground over and over again and this film does not bring anything new to the table. I wish Karen well - but get up and do some bloody exercise!
James Burstall is chief executive at Leopard Films