Reality TV shows A Life of Grime and Food Police have brought the everyday life of an environmental health officer into the limelight.
From virtual obscurity, suddenly everybody wants to know about rat infestations, food poisoning and filthy flats.
Dirt and germs have taken over from last year's Big Brother rejects as the latest stars of the screen, but is the TV image an accurate portrayal of the job?
West Wiltshire District Council's environmental health department fielded an estimated 65,000 calls last year, following through with 5,000 inquiries.
From noisy dogs to noisy neighbours, air pollution to E.coli outbreaks, wasp infestations to pub licensing laws, the scope of the job is a great deal wider than most people realise.
The department is split into three main areas covering food safety, environmental protection and health and safety/licensing.
West Wiltshire's food safety officers have arguably had the most hectic of years, dealing with an E.coli outbreak at a Trowbridge nursery and a sickness bug, which swept through Center Parcs holiday resort, near Warminster.
A total of 699 food premises were inspected last year, with 287 food poisoning and infectious disease complaints investigated, a hefty workload by any standards.
Environmental health officers continue to face an uphill battle to reduce pollution levels in two west Wiltshire towns, in response to government guidelines.
Streets in both Bradford on Avon and Westbury have been earmarked as Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA), with officers having to draw up ways to reduce excessive nitrogen dioxide levels by 2005.
As well as dealing with the deluge of public complaints, officers have a duty to enforce the ever-changing batch of laws and guidelines, governing air pollution, health and safety issues and licensing.
Licensing laws in isolation cover everything from sex shops, tattooists, taxi drivers and street traders.
Before the clutch of TV shows, prosecutions were the only way the public got to see the results of officers' work first-hand, with bad news guaranteed to hit the headlines.
But Clive Harland, who heads up the health and safety team, said the TV shows were no different in wanting to highlight the controversial side of the job, with the everyday workload kept firmly in the background.
"You don't tend to notice us when we are going in and doing the job, it is always when something goes wrong it becomes more noticeable," he said.
"Prosecutions are always the last resort in any area. It is either because the breach is so serious, or because we have given the company or person enough warnings before.
"Life of Grime shows the extreme end of the scale but it proves filthy flats are not just an inner city problem, it does happen here.
"Although it is passed off as entertainment, it is sad when things get in to such a bad state."
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