Sex in the city

After last week's harrowing episode of Shanghai Vice (World, 10pm), tonight we have some light relief. In A Serial Killer we get to find out about the city's changing attitudes towards sex.

The most popular programme on Shanghai radio is Night Time Whispers, in which the city's residents can, in a manner unheard of until recently, pour out their concerns about sex. Like an enlightened matron, presenter Weilan tells a caller unsure if he should be concerned about his lack of sex because he is a party member: 'Communist Party members have sex too and should enjoy it.' She runs the show with a Professor Chen, who has a well-patronised sex clinic in Shanghai.

Scenes from the radio show are cut with frank discussions between two sharp-tongued housewives, Xiao Wang and Xiao Ma, about their relationships with their husbands. They are elated after visiting Professor Chen's clinic. 'After today we're experts,' they boast after sitting in a circle during which couples reveal their intimate lives in front of Phil Agland's camera. The openness is astounding. Not long ago, people could not even hold hands in public.

But this masterful episode has a darker sex story running through it: a woman has been murdered and a serial rapist is on the loose. Agland follows the story, from the discovery of the first victim to the netting of the culprit. While the rapist is at large, during which he rapes another four women, the police keep the news from the unsuspecting public, even though they give Agland full access to the unfolding story.

The police operation is impressive. The crime squad is determined to end the sex spree as soon as possible and concern is felt at the highest levels in Shanghai. But they are also lucky. The rapist operates within a small area and they stumble on him in the act, not before sending out their own women as decoys.

Once the news is out, it becomes the hot topic for discussion on Night Time Whispers, and Weilan even pays a visit to the rapist to find out why he has gone astray.