TV review

Emmerdale (ITV1)

WHEN Loose Women began, it was an intelligent look at life in the news through a woman's eyes. A group of famous women got together and had a chat about what was making the headlines and a bit of a giggle over a cup of coffee - it was like being invited to a very public coffee morning.

But something has gone wrong with this latest series - Kaye Adams, as anchorwoman, has taken on the role of a strict headmistress, belittling and telling off her squabbling female charges at every opportunity.

Half the show is spent with the famous names bitching and name-calling at each other in an attempt to get a laugh from the audience, while any male guest is unceremoniously thrown to the lions and left to cope with as much baying innuendo and screaming as four female celebs can create.

And who are these women? Carol McGiffen used to be a sometime guest on the show - now she is on every day and, as far as I can work out, is of note simply because she was once Mrs Chris Evans. Kerry McFadden keeps bringing up her raunchy past (is a Page Three photo shoot that shocking these days?) and talking about her millionaire lifestyle, which must be a comfort to the housewife audience tuning in at home.

Sherrie Hewson made the news recently when her husband allegedly walked out after nearly 30 years of marriage - she has had the obligatory 'I'm single and coping' haircut and now spends each show playing the bitter woman who never liked men anyway - come on, whatever happened to girl power!

I can only assume that because the programme is on live every day (and repeated as a late night horror after midnight) Kaye and the others simply don't have time to watch back recordings and see how they come across. Every woman has looked back at a raucous girls night out with embarrassment and a rye smile - but having to watch the same hyper behaviour very day is just trying.

Much more enjoyable is Emmerdale, which is fast becoming the second most popular soap on television - an accolade it well deserves. No other soap has the ability to swing from the tragic to the comic and then to the totally ridiculous with such ease.

Last night Steph (the amazing Lorraine Chase, who has fitted into the Yorkshire countryside with ease) decided to stop her friend Shelly leaving the village with her dad by locking her in an understairs cupboard.

The comedy was brilliant - an absurd situation made to seem perfectly reasonable because of the work Chase has put in to make Steph the kind of woman who throws a childish tantrum to get her way. I can't wait until Lily Savage creator Paul O'Grady arrives in the show (as a camp Dingle - what else?) to add even more OTT humour to the soap which is a joy to watch.

Elsewhere, Charity Dingle has put her dangerous plan to bag another millionaire into play - the way she's going Tom will be heading down to H Samuel for something small and glittery before you can shout Chris Tait. And then there's Scott - a good looking lad with sadly no brain, who thought he could turn Zoe straight simply by giving her a cuddle and a stare from those gorgeous brown eyes.

The fact that the lesbian vet has a more varied love life than any of the straight residents of Emmerdale failed to alert him to the fact she would soon be running off with the next woman to walk into shot.

The Derby McQueen Affair, York Theatre Royal Studio

THERE'S a lot to be said for new plays - and not all of it good, as getting it right first time isn't easy. So York Theatre Royal's current season, commendably chock-a-block with fresh work, is riskier than sticking to the tried and tested. The Derby McQueen Affair is the first original play by actor-writer Nick Lane, whose Beauty And The Beast and Hunchback Of Notre Dame adaptations have provided some of the most entertaining moments in The Studio. Here, Tim Welton's slick production can't disguise the fact that this doesn't quite hold together as a play. What's there is both entertaining and thought-provoking - not a bad combination - as three impoverished ex-students collect money for a fictitious, dying girl whose face has been created through computer technology. This "charity begins at home" idea snowballs until Derby has become a national icon and her charity big business.

The real villain of the piece is not so much Tom (Zach Lee), who dreams up the con, as the unscrupulous journalist (James Lauren) who exploits the situation for himself. The idea that people give blindly to charity without bothering to check where it's going is believable enough, but Lane doesn't convince me they could have continued with the deception for as long as they do. The script has its fair share of funny lines (although some farcical business involving dropped trousers and a money-stuffed sock seem out of place) and the four players do as much as they can with the sketchy roles.

l Runs until July 10. Tickets (01904) 623568.

Steve Pratt

The Turn of the Screw, Darlington

Civic Theatre

HENRY James' creepy story about strange goings-on in a large country house makes for an absorbing evening's entertainment. Inexperienced young governess Miss Grey is left in charge of eight-year-old Flora and her older brother Miles, who has been dismissed from his boarding school. Their guardian leaves instructions that he is not to be disturbed on his business trip. With some trepidation, Miss Grey agrees, comforted by the presence of sensible, motherly housekeeper Mrs Grose, but things very quickly start to deteriorate. Are the spectres that appear to Miss Grey the ghosts of former employees, or just the product of her fevered imagination? With nerves stretched to breaking point, she comes to believe the children are in danger and resolves to protect them at all costs. Sarah Mowat as the highly-strung governess makes a good fist of a difficult task; the character is a tedious one who could do with a Valium or a strong drink. Katie Evans as the housekeeper holds the whole thing together with her calming presence, but it's the children, Jessica Louise Inglis and Nicholas Richardson, who steal the acting honours. They're a little on the large side for eight and ten, but their confident, natural performances belie the fact that neither has appeared in a professional production before.

l Runs until Saturday. Box Office (01325) 486555

Sue Heath