A DOCUMENTARY which follows the trials and triumphs of the staff at United Utilities will air next week.

Sewermen will air on TV next Thursday and will focus on the men and women whose job is to deliver some of our most "vital and least glamorous household services-water and wastewater".

Fatbergs, blockages and goo are the order of the day, but it’s not all about sewers.

The series will also follow United Utilities’ clean water staff as they work against the clock to build the UK’s biggest new water pipeline in Cumbria.

Among the show’s ‘stars’ are John Hilton whose job overseeing the company’s £300m West Cumbria Supplies Project means he shoulders ultimate responsibility for delivering 100 kilometres of pipeline, a new treatment works, service reservoirs and pumps, some of it in the Lake District.

The show follows John and some of his team as they launch a huge tunnelling machine under the River Derwent, near Cockermouth. And his colleagues have a big surprise in store for John when the machine arrives.

“The Cumbria project is the biggest water project in the UK at the moment and there are lots of challenges," he said

" When you’re leading a difficult project like this you sort of get used to expecting the unexpected but being filmed as it was happening was like stepping into the unknown. The film crew spent several days with us and some of our workforce are real characters. It should be good."

To make the programme, Label1 cameras got unique behind the scenes, under the ground and round the bend access to United Utilities 5,000 employees and almost 120,000 kilometres of pipes from Carlisle to Crewe.

The first episode sees the launch of a mammoth water pipeline tunnelling machine under the Lake District as well as a flooded pub in Blackburn and whiffy basement in Birkenhead.

Commenting on why United Utilities had decided to open its doors, Customer and People Director Louise Beardmore said: “We’re one of the North West’s most familiar household names and millions of people rely on us.

"The chance to show our customers the real people who keep the region’s tens of thousands of kilometres of pipes flowing was not to be missed. "They keep smiling even when the job gets really difficult and the pride they have in serving our customers just shines through.”

The show will broadcast at 9pm on 5Spike (Freeview 31), Channel 5's entertainment channel, with the rest of the series continuing every Thursday.

Fatbergs, blockages and goo are the order of the day, but it’s not all about sewers. The series will also follow United Utilities’ clean water staff.

United Utilities provides water to more than seven million people and provides an essential service to every home and business in the North West. Its staff manage 42,000 kilometres of water pipes and 77,000 kilometres of sewage networks across a vast and varied region with differing environments posing a new set of challenges.