by Emma Saunders BBC News Online entertainment staff

Watch out, or you may get a nasty surprise

Hidden camera show Swag introduces itself as "Candid Camera meets Crimewatch", although it is hard to see any similarity with the latter.

Whilst Crimewatch reconstructs real-life crimes, Swag deliberately tempts members of the public to commit misdemeanours, varying from the trivial to the more serious.

The premise behind this exercise is to turn the tables on opportunists and criminals who fall into their trap. And more importantly of course, to entertain the viewers.

It starts off promisingly enough. Some of the set-ups are genuinely amusing, for example, a woman who parks in a disabled spot comes back to find her car surrounded by empty wheelchairs chained to each other in protest.

Another sees a would-be burglar climb through an open window only to be confronted by three people dressed up as the Three Bears - needless to say, the chancer leaves open-mouthed and empty-handed.

Ritchie's film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels made him famous

But others are not as satisfying as you might expect - one boy steals a push bike, resulting in firecrackers and water jets spurting from the back of the seat. It just isn't funny enough.

Frankly, Beadle's About did better stunts and that was in the 1980s.

There is also an unsavoury element to some of the set-ups. One dupes a man into marrying an illegal immigrant for �25,000 and there is no indication of whether any of those fooled will be prosecuted after the show.

One could argue that an honest person would not participate regardless of temptation but it still seems underhand.

Guy Ritchie is responsible for the show's format - it seems ironic that a man who's films could be said to glamorise crime has now turned his hand to moralising about it.

Of course, we are not supposed to take it that seriously - and perhaps you would not linger on its meaning if it kept you entertained beyond 10 minutes.

You can imagine it working as a slot on an entertainment show such as Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway but it is hard to engage with a half-hour episode, let alone an eight-part series.

Still, next time you find a tenner on the pavement, you might think twice before taking it.

Swag is on Five, formerly Channel 5, at 2030GMT on Sunday.