Vilest of viruses

The public, God bless it, enjoys nothing more than a good outbreak of some bitterly hostile and malignant disease. Killer Virus (Pearl 8.30pm) cashes in on this by presenting a whole chamber of horrors of organisms that are likely to kill you should you get within snorting distance.

There's no mad cow, but all manner of other evil is here, from Ebola in Africa to equine fever in Australia and dengue fever in Puerto Rico. Killer Virus has an unbridled passion for all things deadly. 'Around the world, flesh-eating viruses are attacking humans, killing almost instantaneously leaving behind mutilated corpses,' says the host.

This documentary was made for America's The Learning Channel, but is too intense for children. It is crammed with drama and mystery, but deficient in the objectivity department, as proved by the over-ripe narration. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, where dengue fever leads to crippling pain and then death, a boy is shown playing with a mosquito doll. 'She [the mosquito] is the flying equivalent of a dirty syringe, and all her victims share the same needle.' Killer Virus contains footage from the world's seven 'hot zones', the places where these viruses make their attacks. For instance, the Ebola epidemic is traced to its index case, a poor charcoal worker in Kikwit, Zaire. After he died, grieving family members touched him in one last act of connection. Within days 11 of the mourners also fell ill and died, and hysteria ensued.

21 Jump Street (STAR Plus, 8pm) is the show that gave the sullen Johnny Depp his start in acting. It's a cop drama, but with its focus on teenage issues. Depp is one of a bunch of rookies who have their headquarters at 21 Jump Street and pose as students to infiltrate the world of teenage crime.

My So-Called Life (Pearl, 6.20pm) is another series with pseudo teen-angst at its core. It's wild and kind of scary, says the synopsis.

It certainly is.