''Help Me Anthea, I'm Infested'' is a 2007 factual entertainment television show produced by RDF TelevisionHelp Me Anthea, I'm Infested!
RDF Television website for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

, presented by

Anthea Turner Anthea Turner (born 25 May 1960) is an English television presenter. She was a host of ''Blue Peter'' from 1992 until 1994, and of ''GMTV'' from 1994 until 1996. Early life Turner was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and educated at the ...

and Mark Coltman, a professional pest control expert. The presenters visit people whose houses have pest control problems, give them advice and help them to exterminate vermin. Originally slated for six episodes, the BBC cut the series short after the third episode was broadcast.Help Me Anthea, I'm Infested
Episode Guide, bbc.co.uk According to an interview with Anthea Turner, only the first three episodes were planned to be on bug infestations, although she did not specify what later episodes would cover. Critical reactions were very negative: James Watson at the''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' described it as being both boring and exhibiting "grinding, excruciating pointlessness", while ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

s Nancy Banks-Smith described it as "frightful".

Charlie Brooker Charlton ‘Charlie’ Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English screenwriter, producer, presenter, author, cartoonist, and social critic. He first became known for creating and presenting satirical television shows that featured biting criticis ...

thought Turner came across as "a hard, judgemental piece of work who spends most of her time haranguing the human inhabitants for living in filth", and the resulting programme feels like "a strange psychodrama in which the punters are caught between unfeeling vermin on one side, and an unfeeling former ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...

'' presenter on the other".

Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English former broadcaster, journalist and author, born in Yorkshire. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate ...

used it as an example of the perceived low quality and lack of public value of BBC Three programmes in an interview with the BBC chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, on ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 10:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also avail ...

'' along with ''My Man Boobs and Me'', ''My Dog Is As Fat As Me'', '' Freaky Eaters'' and ''Fat Men Can't Hunt''. The novelist P.D. James listed it as one of the BBC's "most embarrassing programmes".

Rentokil Initial Rentokil Initial is a British business services group based in Crawley, England. It was founded in 1925 as a pest-control business. It subsequently expanded and diversified, in part through growth under the leadership of Sir Clive Thompson in ...

list the show as one of a small number of

pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest (organism), pest; such as any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the da ...

-related television shows.

References

External links

* {{BBC programme BBC Three original programming 2007 British television series debuts 2007 British television series endings British non-fiction television series Pest control

See also

References

External links