ITV, evidently unsure what it should be doing at around 10pm on a Friday, has followed the trashy trail blazed by Sky One and Channel 4 and produced some sex-charged TV, complete with a wet T-shirt competition and the Miss Black Nude event.

But instead of following lairy lads and lasses around Ibiza/Las Vegas/a Greek island (delete where applicable), the channel has shunned the twentysomething crowd for what we can only assume are representatives of its own target audience. Thus we have Pleasure Island (ITV), a tawdry docusoap-cum-advert following the goings-on at one of the Hedonism resorts in Jamaica.

Here, middle-aged men and women cavort and caper in various states of undress, all pendulous breasts and blow-dried coifs (and that's just the men). There is nude volleyball, a fake orgasm contest, the tweaking of ladies' nipples - all among a sea of flesh slippery with cheap sun cream.

The televisual equivalent of a swingers' party in Surbiton, Pleasure Island managed to displace the news for the evening. Trevor McDonald cannot be chuffed.

As good television, Pleasure Island's credentials are dubious. As an insight into the abyss-like psyche of holidaymakers who choose Hedonism - and by doing so give hedonism a bad name - it is irresistible, if scary.

Take Bekki and Rob. Farmers from North Yorkshire, they left behind the stresses of agriculture for a week of getting legless, trading insults and generally putting a strain on their marriage. Rob played volleyball (naked) while Bekki complained that Rob was rubbish. Rob played darts (clothed) while Bekki flirted with Henry, a handy "stud". Rob played gooseberry while Bekki and her stud got on awfully well.

Hanging about with this pair was like spending an evening with George and Martha, the sparring couple in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - but for two things. First, we never had to look at George's bits dangling in the sun like a couple of raisins and a cocktail sausage.

And second, Stuart Maconie, not Edward Albee, wrote the script to Pleasure Island. Now that's something he never mentions on those I Love Nostalgia shows.