On TV

Driving Mum And Dad Mad (ITV1)

WITH the Caroline Quentin series Life Begins emerging as one of last year's biggest ratings winners, ITV1 wasn't going to let it go away.

Time will tell whether audience figures remain high but, on the evidence of the second series opener, writer Mike Bullen has plenty of potential in extending the story without seeming overstretched.

We're now over the initial trauma of Maggie's life falling to pieces after her husband betrayed her, leaving her with two children and a home to run.

As well as a fretting husband - with no girlfriend and soon no job - forever turning up on the doorstep, she also has assorted family and friends with their own catalogue of problems. There's an awful lot going on, so much so that some characters get left out in the cold with nothing to do.

Quentin continues to face each fresh crisis with a smile and quip. When she arrives late to work announcing, "A death in family", she's talking about her clapped-out car not a flesh-and-blood relative.

She has two children approaching the age where they became difficult. She has a mother for whom the word "interfering" was made and a father losing his mind through illness, with Frank Finlay providing a poignant interlude as he vividly described to schoolchildren how he killed a man in the Korean War. "I can't remember a shopping list and can't forget the things I want to," he said.

Bullen is able to insert dramatic, affecting scenes in the middle of a series that rejoices in funny lines, ironic lines and comic scenes such as travel agency boss Jeff's attempts to improve his management skills.

Much fun was had at the arrival of a new woman at the travel agency where Maggie works. Whenever she picked up a call for Maggie from one of the family, she'd shout out as she transferred it, "Maggie, line two, personal call".

Half-a-dozen other mini-stories were established, ready to be developed and criss-cross over Maggie's own life problems in coming weeks.

Her life is positively calm compared to that of parents with out-of-control children in the scary Driving Mum And Dad Mad. Before clinical psychologist Professor Matt Sanders got down to the business of retraining the exhausted mums and dads, we were subjected to footage of their hellish home life. It was not a pretty sight with tantrums, screaming, shouting, punching, kicking and swearing. And that was only the children, who make the wayward teenagers in Brat Camp look like little angels.

To the outsider, it's obvious the youngsters have realised that if they scream and shout, they'll get their own way and probably a reward as well. Their parents are too blinkered to see that until the Prof points it out.

He reckons that in five sessions he can retrain parents. From what we've seen so far, he's got his work cut out.

Lord of the Flies, Durham Gala

SIR William Golding's masterpiece, Lord of the Flies, was brought to life in Durham's Gala Theatre in a magnificent portrayal of the struggle between good and evil. The performance was attended by a packed audience, mainly GCSE pupils, who are studying the book as part of their curriculum.

The scene was set with a singing choir followed by an air crash in a dazzling display of lights and action. From then the audience was taken along by the transformation of innocent schoolboys into murderous savages under the leadership of Jack, played by a forceful Alan Park.

One of the strongest characters was Piggy, played perfectly by Jesse Inman, with his whimpering voice and convincing weaknesses. He played his part so well it was hard not to feel sorry for him.

One of the most gripping scenes was the pig hunt, which ended in the animal's graphic beheading. The hunters took realistic blood from the pig's gory carcass and smeared it all over themselves.

The set consisted of parts of a crashed aircraft which doubled for a cliff, home, mountain, forest and beach, while there was a very clever use of passages from the book. This is a highly recommended production, both for those studying the book and for people looking for a night of entertainment.

Until Saturday. Box office: 0191-332 4041

Ian Engelbrecht, 15

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Middlesbrough Town Hall

THE mighty Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra filled the cavernous Middlesbrough Town Hall to the rafters with powerhouse performances from a varied programme. True to their roots, they opened with a work from their country's greatest living composer.

A ten-minute score for strings, Wojciech Kilar's Orawa opened with a lone violin lament, building up into to a bubbling mass of energy. Next up was pianist Ewa Poblocka, who gave commanding rendition of Chopin's Piano Concerto No 2. Supported sympathetically by the orchestra, her entry was sure-footed and her playing of the lyrical second movement executed with a featherlight delicacy. With flawless flourishes, she raced through to a thrilling and dramatic close.

Henryk Gorecki's Three Pieces in the Old Style was short and sweet, setting the scene for the highlight of the evening - Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Conductor Antoni Wit set the house ablaze, extracting the full dynamic range of the work. The slow movement, with its haunting march, was lovingly shaped, while the conclusion was simply electrifying. Wit was a man possessed as he drove the orchestra relentlessly through its harmonic twists and turns with razor-sharp precision, taking it to a heady and explosive crescendo. He rewarded an ecstatic audience with two encores; a feisty take on Brahms' 5th Hungarian Dance and a zippy polka from Witold Lutoslawski's Small Suite.

It was one of those evenings that left you with a sensation of walking on air.

Gavin Engelbrech