The Afternoon Play (BBC1)

WRITERS often bemoan the death of the single play, replaced by soaps and series in the TV schedules. So we should welcome the second batch of The Afternoon Play, five single plays being stripped across the schedules in - and the title's a bit of a giveaway - the afternoons.

The catch is that the first two, The Trouble With George and The Hitch, may have been stuffed with familiar TV faces but, at 60 minutes, were stretched to breaking point. Shorter would have been so much sweeter. Both also seemed overkeen to put another song on the soundtrack rather than bother to write any dialogue.

The Hitch began with a confession from a vicar, who revealed he wasn't a real priest as he'd never been ordained. The organist played "I am what I am" as he was led away by police.

The repercussions for two married couples was learning they weren't legally married. Couples Emma and John and Nicola and Steve decided to wed again in a month's time. A lot can happen in four weeks, like divorce, except they weren't married in the first place.

Worries included not just trying to squeeze into the original wedding dress but seeing that ten years ago they looked like Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher and now resembled Yoda and Jabba the Hutt.

The women moved in together temporarily, and so do the men, as part of a trial separation in the run-up to their weddings. Doubts begin to creep in after a decade of marriage involving tedium, being taken for granted and dissatisfaction. It all sounds a bit like watching a lot of telly.

Samantha Janus, Jason Merrells, Nicola Stephenson and Neil Stuke gave it their all, but couldn't make it anything special.

The Trouble With George was similarly disappointing. Wife Rose (Lisa Faulkner) and neighbour Donna (Siobhan Redmond) decided they'd be better off, financially and emotionally, if they disposed of Rose's boring ex-army husband. As Rose put it: "I thought marriage would be fun. Men do everything to make a sale but their after-sales service sucks".

Unhappily, they fell into the category of inept killers. The old hairdryer in the bath trick failed, so did the poisoned pie. "It was a lot easier on the telly," said Rose. "We are just unlucky," added Donna.

It took hitting him over the head with his beloved crossword challenge winner's trophy to get rid of George. Even that didn't make them happy. Cramming the body into a wheelie bin and burying him in the woods failed to cheer up Rose. "You know, I thought this would be more fun," she declared.

There was a twist in the tale but that came too late to make me wish it was a half-hour not an hour play. Again it was a case of the actors (Faulkner, Reece Dinsdale as George, and especially Redmond) who made it worthwhile.

7 DAYS

BORO DATE FOR DIVA OF DANCE

- tomorrow's Northern Ech