Looking for a TV gem? It’s hidden away on Channel 5 – and it’s all about bailiffs!

Sometimes, the most interesting TV is not the blockbuster series that brings in a 12 million-strong audience every week or the irresistible sporting spectacle. Sometimes the most interesting viewing can be found in the shallows of the minor telly stations, nuggets that pop up when you’re panning through channels, bored and restless.

That’s where I first came across Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away, an oddly gripping show that has been quietly broadcast on Channel 5 since 2014. A fly-on-the-wall documentary about people who can’t pay their bills? It sounds like the worst kind of voyeurism, with viewers sitting on plump sofas, eating toast paved with caviar while being entertained by the hardships of others.

Yet Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away is not like that. Equal parts compassion, desperation and inspiration, it follows the work of High Court Enforcement Officers whose job it is to implement High Court writs to those who have failed to make repayments on a debt or – a common scenario – who have refused to vacate a property because they have not paid their rent.

So far, so dull, you may very well cry. Don’t depress me with the misery of others! However, I feel the same way about Can’t Pay as I do about my beloved Antiques Roadshow on BBC1, which is that if you look beyond the obvious – the missing hallmark on the silver jug, the dreaded knock on the front door – all human life is there.

Can’t Pay gives a compelling snapshot of Britain today, one that is more accurate than many a poll or study. Personal debt is soaring at more than £1.4 trillion and it affects those at both ends of the economic scale. The programme, produced by Brinkworth Films, does not get into the why and how of debt. It focuses instead on what happens when debtors hit the end of the tracks and their creditors call in the money. Expect high drama when people who haven’t paid their rent for over two years get belligerent. Equally, there are moments of pathos when those who, through little fault of their own, fall on hard times.

Greed, fear, avarice, cruelty, violent confrontations – it’s all here, just like a suburban version of Game Of Thrones, only with writs instead of weapons. I also like the gentle heroism of the bailiffs, especially Del Anglin, who is as placid and kindly as a department-store Santa. Even when a debtor’s wife assaulted him in the new series, Del managed to remain respectful yet determined. It’s an awful job, but someone has to do it to keep the wheels of society turning. All credit to them for doing it with more than a drop of humanity. Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away, Wednesday, 9pm, Channel 5.