For most British people Tunisia and Morocco are simply holiday destinations - the one offering an exotic take on the seaside package deal (with perhaps a Roman ruin thrown in), the other a more up-market experience in ancient cities like Fez and Marrakech. Perhaps because they were both French colonies, somehow outside any UK-centric view of the world, our newspapers and TV screens are silent about their internal affairs - unless and until they make an appearance in the 'war on terror'. Both countries have direct experience of al-Qaida linked violence. In 2002 there was an attack on an ancient Jewish site on the Tunisian island of Djerba in which German tourists died : then in May 2003 bombs exploded in Casablanca with a death toll of 45. Beyond the shores of North Africa men from Morocco and Tunisia have been arrested on terrorism charges across Europe - in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany … And the perpetrators of the Madrid bombings were Moroccan.

This programme sets out to draw up some kind of 'political audit' of Morocco and Tunisia as they both celebrate fifty years of independence. They are both 'pro-western' ; both partners of the US in the 'war on terror' ; and both are significant recipients of western financial and military aid. Both claim to be creating pluralist democratic structures and to respect fundamental human rights. But how true is this ? Both are increasingly closely linked to the European Community via the Euro-Med Partnership established in 1995 ; but is Brussels doing anything effective to encourage Maghrebian democracy ?

The programme asks how it has been possible for President Ben Ali of Tunisia to establish what even the Financial Times has recently described as a 'police state'. Amnesty International now bracket his regime with the likes of Burma and North Korea. We spend time with the exiled Tunisian opposition - both secular and Islamic - in both Paris and London. Particularly important is an interview with Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia's banned Islamic party Ennahdha, who argues the compatibility of Islam and democracy. We speak to a prominent Tunisian political leader who has just broken off a hunger-strike. And we question the Tunisian Ambassador in London on his country's human rights record. We do not go to Tunisia because contact with foreign journalists puts Tunisians at grave risk.

We do report from Morocco, questioning how far the rapid US-driven liberalisation of the economy is resulting in greater poverty and unemployment. We speak to the Moroccan government and to prominent academics and Islamic leaders about the delicate balance between democratisation and the 'containment' of radical Islam.

The Maghreb, as the tourist adverts say, is only two hours away by plane. Tunisians and Moroccans are Europe's most immediate southern neighbours. This programme sets out to explain a little of the complex reality of their daily lives.