Life of Grime (1999)

Life of Grime follows a team of people working for the Department of Environmental Health in London. The people followed are the health inspectors, bin men, rat catchers, and the workmen who do the every day jobs, such as unblocking bunged up drains, and clearing homes ready for new tenants. As well as meeting the various people that perform these often thankless tasks, we meet the people they interact with - the compulsive hoarders, the mentally ill, and elderly people simply unable to look after themselves in a safe and hygeinic way , as well as the social workers and police officers who try to help them . The show is very interesting and varied ...  Read the complete review

WHAT IS IT ABOUT: This gritty documentary follows the work of the Environmental Health Office in inner city London. Narrated by John Peel, the show often follows hygiene inspectors, animal welfare officers, and those unlucky council workers who get to empty out the flats of dead or evicted tenants. IS IT ANY GOOD: This has to be one of the best documentaries around; it offers a fascinating insight into the often disgusting work these people do. For example, a man dies on the toilet, and isn't found for days. After his body has been removed, we get to follow the cleaning crew who (now get this) clean the bit of head that got stuck on the bathroom ...  Read the complete review

It's back, Mrs D is once more glued to the screen, and I'm trying desperately to stay in the kitchen and away from the screen. It's Life of Grime, back on our screens after a long time away ... and it's as disgusting as ever! It's been transplanted from the seamy side of London (with the foul old man - Mr Trebus - who'd used the rubbish in his garden as his own personal toilet) to the dark satanic mills of Sheffield, but there's really no difference from before. We see the filth of all humanity, the old dears with hundreds of cats doing their business all over the living room, the curry houses with their cockroaches and rats, the ...  Read the complete review

A life of Grime follows the work of the Environmental Health Officers and their teams. You get to see the work in the mortuary, the dog warden and the housing team along with many others. This is a real insight into how some people live, you wouldn't believe it unless you actually saw it! They are careful what they show when they are doing the mortuary filming so as none of the deceased could be identified, but what they do show is quite enough! One of the mortuary workers is actually a woman, and she is actually a bundle of laughs. You see her preparing the dead bodies for the relatives to come and visit, and we saw her stitch up someones mouth to ...  Read the complete review

Having much better things to do in my life than stand chained to a kitchen sink or hoover, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how other people live in this series on BBC. Following the daily work of some environmental health employees an insight was given to what the rat catcher does, the mortician, the dog catcher and the general cleaner-uppers. I often think my house is a tip but, boy, I never knew what a tip was until I watched Life of Grime. In one programme a house belonging to two brothers had to be cleared. They had both developed obsessional behaviour which meant they could throw nothing...I mean NOTHING...away - that included their urine and ...  Read the complete review