Business On Television

"In business, when the telephone rings, you think `Oh, maybe this is a customer.' Now, I dread hearing the phone ring." In the first of five programmes in the documentary series Your Money Or Your Life (Channel 4, Sunday), we meet Christopher, as deep in debt personally as his firm, Macey Precision Gears in Surrey. Macey is being pursued by two divisions of the revenue, unpaid suppliers are sending round the bailiffs, the workforce is restless. Christopher, the company secretary, has stopped paying himself a regular salary and is about as far in debt as it is possible to get. And things are getting worse on both fronts. Made over the past three years in Britain, the series follows three businesses on the brink of financial crisis and emotional break-up, showing how the financial institutions supposed to support small businesses in trouble banks, receivers, accountants can often respond with little understanding or support.

Does sick building syndrome exist, or is it all in the mind? Watchdog Healthcheck (BBC 1, 7.30 p.m., Monday) looks at why so many people take time off work for illnesses they think are linked with their workplace.

In Investing For All With Alvin Hall, (BBC 2, 7.30 p.m., Monday), Hall looks at how money is made in entertainment and leisure, visiting Aston Villa Football Club; the owners of Centre Parcs; and Clubhaus, who concentrate on golf. Where do the profits lie?

Last year, an AA survey found people prefer going to the dentist to buying a car. Why so much fear? A new series, Inside Story: Car Dealers (BBC 1, 10.20 p.m., Tuesday) shows four dealers and their techniques a new recruit, an old hand, a BMW sales outfit, and a place called Car Land in Essex, where cars are sold by computer.

Similarly, From The Horse's Mouth (TnaG, Thursday, 9.30 p.m.) at how a horse's appearance is managed to attract buyers, with hair-care and manicuring.

Ever Ancient, Ever New (RTE 1, Thursday, 10.35 p.m.), meanwhile, talks to Dublin-based millionaire Albert Gubay about his resolve to will half his fortune to the Catholic Church. It also looks at a man in desperate straits, and at a nun who chose poverty.