After last week’s huge success with Dubai, Piers’ next stop is the world’s most expensive place to live, Monaco.

Piers scratches beneath the surface of this mesmerising place and meets some of its wealthiest residents, the celebrities who have settled there and even manages to buttonhole the current ruler, Prince Albert. He also works out how much money he would need to buy the best yacht, apartment, car and accessories on offer.

He also meets some of Monaco’s less wealthy residents to find out what it’s like living alongside incomprehensible affluence, including Easyjet’s Stelios and British High Street king Sir Phillip Green, who along with other tycoons, were lured to Monaco because residents don’t have to pay tax.

Against a backdrop of yachts - one worth a staggering £250m - in the harbour, he also meets the man known in the area as ‘Mr Yacht’, the leading boat broker in Monaco who tells Piers he would need at least 100m euros to have the best one in town.

He says: “Anything that money buys, Monaco delivers very well, whether it’s five star hotels, restaurants, we’ve got a very nice cultural life as well, I’m a friend of the opera, friend of the orchestra…in the last few weeks I’ve been to Diana Ross, Celine Dion, and Katie Melua.”

The programme follows Piers as he visits the world famous casino in Monte Carlo. Until it was built in 1863, Monaco was one of the poorest places in Europe, but the casino was the saviour of the country and within a few years was generating enough money for income tax to be abolished.
Piers takes a look around the six exquisite gaming rooms and meets the professional gambler who once won £1m in one session!

Piers also meets some of the country’s better known residents including Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall and Formula One champion David Coulthard who won the Monaco Grand Prix twice and moved there to escape tax and the paparazzi. David, who now owns a hotel in Monaco, tells Piers: “It’s totally unique, I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere in the world. There is no paparazzi, I went into St Tropez yesterday, and paparazzi everywhere…It should just be another place where you can go and hang out and have fun with your friends.  Monaco, they’re not here.”

And Piers takes a look around Mohammed Al Fayed’s yacht - the one that Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales spent their last holiday on. Mohammed talks to him about spending time with Diana and Grace in Monaco.

After visiting the country Piers feels disgruntled that incredibly rich people can afford to leave Britain without paying tax, yet the rest of us are left behind picking up the bills. He discusses this with Dragon’s Den star James Caan who disagrees and says he believes Monaco is the ultimate prize for being successful. He says: “There has to be a prize for being successful, Piers, you know, what’s the point in working so hard all of your life, if there isn’t a prize at the end, and maybe Monaco is the prize.”

Catch the show on Thursday night on ITV1 at 9pm