On TV

THIS destroys your brain, your health and your nervous system. And no, I'm not talking about Footballers' Wives but lightning - you know, the stuff that goes with thunder. This programme came with a warning to stop viewing if you felt dizzy or nauseous, the same symptoms induced by some TV presenters.

Lightning is the world's number one natural killer, striking down more than 1,000 people worldwide every year. There are 100 lightning bolts hitting the Earth every second, adding up to eight million chances to be hit every day. You can't see it coming and it can even get you in your own home (on second thoughts, perhaps we are talking about Footballers' Wives).

As the title suggests, the opening edition of the I Survived series featured survivers reliving their ordeal, while experts conducted experiments to learn more about lightning. This was interesting up to a point, that point being about halfway through the hour-long programme. There's only so much you want to know about lightning.

Former high-flying stockbroker Michael Utley is obsessed by this natural phenomenon, which isn't surprising as he survived being struck with one million bolts on the golf course four years ago. A friend recalled how he staggered around, smoke coming from his body. "He was a scary sight," he added unnecessarily.

He's had to learn how to walk again, how to swallow and still has problems with his balance. The experts agreed that statistically he shouldn't be alive. Utley is determined to find out why he survived, setting up a website to collect information from other victims. It appears to have become his life's work.

There are many experts around the world willing to help him. Dr Ian Cotton in Manchester took us through the types of lightning - direct hits, side flashes and ground strikes. One startling piece of footage showed footballers falling to the ground simultaneously as lightning electrified the pitch.

Experiments brought surprising results. Metal doesn't attract lightning. Being wet may offer some protection, so can wearing rubber soles. How fit you are and your general health can affect how seriously you're hurt if struck.

Experts agree to disagree on some matters. Some believe that the cross and chain Campbell Gillespie was wearing when struck may have saved his life. Others think it was the reason he was hit in the first place.

Being indoors doesn't mean you're safe. Switchboard operator David Smith was working at a Florida emergency call centre when struck by lightning, although wearing a head set may have resulted in less current flowing through him. All the same, it melted his fillings, popped the crowns from his teeth and left him deaf in one ear. "It felt like a sledgehammer in my head; it felt like my head exploded," he recalled.

Highland Fling, Theatre Royal, Newcastle

I MUST declare an interest from the outset. Having seen previous shows by Matthew Bourne, the director and choreographer of Highland Fling, and loved them, I was always likely to enjoy this one. Happily, my expectations were met.

The thing about Bourne is you always know you're watching one of his productions. Full of humour and high camp, they're about as far removed from traditional ballet as you can get.

In this show, revived from the 1994 original, we meet a group of boisterous Glaswegians on the eve of a wedding. It's the Trainspotting era (the ballet was influenced by the hit film) and the stags and hens are drinking and taking drugs at the less-than-glamorous Highland Fling social club. Onto the scene creeps a sylph, who captivates the groom and leads him to jump to his death at the end of the first act. If all this sounds a bit depressing, it actually isn't. Such are the many light touches - the groom waking up in a bra and knickers and, in true laddish style, head-butting someone, to name two examples - that the ballet never descends into bleakness.

Having said that, the second act is more sombre, with the whole cast bar the groom transformed as sylphs. The ending - when he finally gets the object of his desire, only to bring about her death - is dramatic and thought-provoking.

* Runs until Saturday. Box office 0870 9055060.

Sarah Foster

The Sleeping Beauty On Ice, The Imperial Ice Stars, Sunderland Empire

THE iceman, and woman, cometh and create a spectacle that should see the company renamed to mint imperial. Tchaikovsky's music creates a scene-setting and slower-paced first half but producer/artistic director Tony Mercer and choreographer Tatiana Tarasova ensure a dramatic opening with the antics of evil fairy Carabosse, an awesome athletic display by Maria Borovikova. Incredibly, through the dry ice, skaters spin, vault and leap on this rink created above the heads of the stall seats.

News that German world champion Mandy Woetzel conquers her vertigo for each performance to play Princess Aurora is more stuff of legends. Lifted, thrown and spun by the strongly-performing Vadim Yarkov, she races perilously close to the orchestra pit below - as do so many of her co-stars - without the slightest apparent care. The second half is an explosion of colour, costume and circus skill stunt to classical precision. A packed audience, with so many girls dressed as fairy tale heroines, really saw something from Russia with love. The comedy element comes from Anton Klykov as courtier Catalabutte, who incurs the wrath of Carabosse by forgetting to invite her to Aurora's christening. Like a slimline Ricky Gervais, Klykov cavorts constantly and then adds a back somersault just when you think his repertoire is exhausted. Nice ice baby.

* Runs until Saturday. Box Office: 0870 602 1130

Viv Hardwic