NATURE

BRIEFS ENCOUNTER Mary investigates BBC2, 9.30pm

The title sounds as if Attenborough has been recast as a comic book hero, with a vast supercolony of ants on hand to perform his every evil deed. Fortunately, our beloved broadcaster is in his usual mode, up a mountain in a woolly hat.

He’s in the Swiss Jura to discover the secrets of a giant network of tunnels and chambers, home to an empire. It’s believed to be one of the world’s largest animal societies, where more than a billion ants from rival colonies live in peace.

There are astonishing facts – they use tree resin to make their own antibiotic medicine and create their own central heating. And we witness the extraordinary mating process, and a hunting technique that Attenborough describes as: “Lunge with jaws open and hope for the best.” C4, 9pm

BRITS spent a whopping £7.5billion a week this year, but what on earth did we spend all that cash on? Anyone else suddenly feeling a bit nauseous?