TV review

BANKER Matthew Brumwell was wondering if a change of job was such a good idea as he held a bag by a toilet outlet pipe to collect the mucky stuff that was blocking the loo.

PR executive Jane Green was having similar thoughts as she scraped the side of a brand new van belonging to the plumbing company giving her a month's trial.

These were the BBC's posh plumbers in an hour-long documentary that looked as though someone had embarked on a reality series about an outfit called Pimlico Plumbers found they didn't have enough interesting footage for a six-parter and decided to lump it all together in a one-off programme.

The excuse for showing posh people - perhaps more accurately described as non-manual workers - getting their hands dirty was the statistic that there's a national shortage of 32,000 plumbers and that a qualified one can earn between £50,000 and £90,000 a year.

The documentary gave little indication that you had to know what you were doing.

Jane had given up her job and was studying plumbing one day a week at college. She was fed up with working in an office and said plumbing offered "a real market to tap into".

When the story began, public school educated Matthew was doing an evening course in plumbing because his heart wasn't in his job as a city banker. He was keeping his new interest a secret from everyone except family and close friends.

Both were let loose on the public while still training. Jane got a month's trial with Pimlico Plumbers, founded 25 years ago and employing 120 people. Matthew had just a day to prove himself.

Jane was not only posh but a woman, so she had a double barrier to overcome. Tony, whose mate she became (in a purely professional way), was sceptical but came to respect her.

She said she had no idea what to expect, which was a silly way to approach a new job. Driving the firm's van seemed to be the most difficult aspect. Detecting leaks in pipes and pulling down soggy ceilings offered no such difficulty.

The real characters in Posh Plumbers weren't the novices but the more experienced workers. Charlie Mullins, who runs Pimlico Plumbers, was a stickler for smartness who tut-tutted when Jane went on a job with her shirt hanging out. He presented himself to customers in made-to-measure suits from his personal tailor.

Then there was Claudette Brown, head of plumbing at Lambeth College, who was clearly apprehensive about classes full of brokers and bankers. She knows what these city types are like and laid down a few ground rules. "No swearing, no eating, no burping and I won't have that f word for passing wind from the exterior," she said.

A Tribute To Eva Cassidy By Sheila Gott, Gala Theatre, Durham

FAME after death isn't particularly unusual for artists, but the tragedy and triumph of US singer Eva Cassidy is something special. Thanks to Terry Wogan's army of radio fans, Cassidy shot to fame in the late 1990s, long after her death in 1996 from cancer. Her album Songbird and the much-played track Somewhere Over The Rainbow touched the hearts of millions and an avalanche of sales followed.

Seeing so few of Cassidy's fans turn out for an excellent night's entertainment from Sheila Gott and her band is real cause for concern about the Gala's future. If Durham can't support high level performers, particularly when cancer-sufferer Gott dedicated part of the fee to the Macmillan Nurses Cancer Relief Fund, then there is a real danger the city will lose this gem of a venue. Gott, a renowned singing tutor who counts Robbie Williams ("such a shy boy") as a pupil, cultured her own formidable voice to the style of Cassidy for an outstanding stage show. She concentrated mainly on Cassidy's jazz-style numbers, with Fever really touching a chord with the audience. Bill Withers' nerve-tingling Ain't No Sunshine, from Cassidy's Time After Time album, was another winner. Throughout, Gott teased fellow band members and the audience, giving marks out of ten for participation.

A pity there were so few to eventually earn nine-and-a-half out of ten.

Viv Hardwick

Footloose, Darlington Civic Theatre

WHEN my daughters were in their teens, Footloose was one of their favourite films, forever playing on the VCR. The main attraction was the music, closely followed by the plot involving a group of youngsters getting one over on the stuffy town council and overturning a long-standing ban on dancing.

I know the songs inside out, and this production has all the joyful energy that captivated my kids all those years ago.

Chris Jarvis, as new kid on the block Ren McCormack, impresses with both his singing and dancing - this boy really can move! Rachael Wooding plays minister's daughter Ariel with just the right amount of cheeky sensuality - as one of the boys remarks, "she's been kissed a lot" but she isn't the scarlet woman her father fears her to be.

Richard Taylor Woods is charismatic as bad boy Chuck Cranston, the lad Ariel is seeing before Ren comes on the scene. Chuck's too tough to dance, though, so he doesn't stand a chance in this show.

There are some funny lines: "I wish I could find a man who takes his toothpick out when he kisses you," yearns one of the small-town girls. A nice comic touch was the burger bar waitress teetering nervously about on her trendy rollerskates.

On a sweltering evening, the young cast gave it all they had, and they had plenty. The audience were on their feet by the end of the evening, and everyone left the theatre with a big smile on their face.

Sue Heath

* Runs until Saturday. Booking Office (01325) 486555