The Internet has fundamentally altered the nature of business and communications forever. Writer and self-confessed geek, Robert X. Cringely, explores the past, present and future of the Internet in The Glory of the Geeks a new three-part series starting on Saturday, Channel 4, 8 p.m. This first programme traces the birth of the Net and looks at the pioneering work of email inventor, Ray Tomlinson. Plus, how a group of university graduates from Stanford University started a Web media company and made a fortune.

On Sunday The Money Programme, BBC 2, 7.30 p.m., kicks off a new series with a one-hour special entitled The Great Depression of 98? In the wake of recent economic crises around the globe, the programme examines whether Britain can stand the shocks from abroad, or whether the country is about to topple into a recession or worse. On Monday, at 7.30 p.m. BBC 1, Here and Now, the current affairs series, includes a report on firms making money out of the jobless in Britain. Companies advertise the chance to earn money from home in exchange for enrolment fees. But then work is rejected and payment withheld.

World in Action, Monday, UTV, 8 p.m., goes undercover in Fat Profits, to look at the business of liposuction, one of Britain's most popular cosmetic surgery treatments. Critics claim that doctors are making fortunes from operations that are costly, unnecessary and sometimes dangerous.

On Tuesday Leargas, the Irish documentary series returns to RTE 1, 7.30 p.m. with a look at gambling in Ireland, which funds a multi-million pound business. And Tech TV on Network, 2, Tuesday, 8 p.m. includes details of how to design your own PC to suit your personal requirements.