TV review

England Expects (BBC1)

THERE'S no doubt which of last night's big new dramas will have pulled in most viewers. A David Jason vehicle versus a two-hour piece about racism - no contest for most people, I suspect, giving The Second Quest an undoubted ratings win.

It didn't really deserve it. The only reason for this sequel to the story of three young men trying to lose their sexual innocence in a bygone age was to exploit the success of the original. Dramatically and comically, it was all said in the first Quest.

This replayed the same tale in a different setting, the Isle of Man in 1960. Cue period cars, Sixties fashions and a Heartbeat-style soundtrack of old pop songs.

Jason the actor, together with Hywel Bennett and Roy Hudd, were hardly over-extended playing the older versions of friends Dave, Charlie and Ronno as they recalled their bikes-and-birds trip and romantic entanglements with contestants in the Miss Isle of Man beauty contest.

Jason's main task was directing, with the result ending up like a Carry On film with chaps trying to get their leg over and ending up caught with their trousers down.

It was light, undemanding fun where it didn't matter if you dropped off (okay, I admit it, I had a snooze) because you could wake up and not have missed anything important.

England Expects demanded rather more of the viewer. Steven Mackintosh played security guard Ray Knight, whose drug-abusing teenage daughter dragged him back into the world of racism and far right politics.

Coming at a time when immigration and asylum seekers are rarely out of the headlines, Frank Deasy's drama was timely enough. It was a slow-burning piece that inevitably climaxed in violence as Knight took a crossbow to those he figured were responsible for his daughter's downfall.

He felt aggrieved that his family couldn't get rehoused, while people he judged as outsiders did. His bigotry spanned a wide range of colour and religion. It would be good to feel that all viewers found Knight's attitudes towards a multi-cultural society abhorrent, but I suspect some will have sympathised with his views.

The piece didn't attempt to preach or convert, examining racism through one man. No easy answers were offered.

Mackintosh, as always, was excellent as the angry Knight, while Keith Barron was cast against type as the scheming leader of "The Party" with whom Knight hooked up to rid the community of who they classed as undesirables.

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, The Studio, York Theatre Royal

THERE was debate afterwards whether children or adults enjoyed this show more. The verdict was that, probably, the older audience members appreciated it the most.

One of the great things about Nicholas Lane's adaptation of Beauty And The Beast, seen in the Studio last year, was its ability to amuse and entertain all ages.

He tries the same trick with Victor Hugo's hunchback bellringer, although the more adult nature of the story makes it more difficult.

Having a cast of just two - Lane again, joined by the equally versatile Emily Fairman - and a small set doesn't cramp his style. The quick-changing pair play many roles, and there's a third character in the novel form of a talking hump that Quasimodo wants to see the back of.

Visual and verbal humour abounds, with jokes about farting, ear wax sandwiches, a duel with plastic chickens, and Julie the wonder goat. It all ends happily, for the audience as well as the characters, with Quasi's rap version of Get Off My Back.

Victor Hugo may well be spinning in his grave but in reality, should be pleased that Lane has applied his madcap imagination to the classic and produced another show to please all ages.

* Runs until April 24. Tickets (01904) 623568.

Steve Pratt

Electricity, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds

INSIDE this production there's a good play waiting to escape. Unfortunately, it's still locked inside at the moment.

Murray Gold's piece centres around three decorators who've overstayed their welcome working on creating a "quiet room" in Katherine's flat. A job that should have taken weeks has lasted months.

She finally loses her cool, with matters coming to an electrifying finale with the arrival of her priggish boyfriend Michael.

Gold can't quite decide if he's writing a drama with occasional laughs or an almost-farcical comedy with dramatic moments. Director Ian Brown's production is similarly uncertain of which route to take, and ends up in no man's land.

It might work better if, in a very wordy play, we could feel some emotional attachment to the characters. Only Bizzy, the youngster of the bunch, elicits any kind of sympathy at all. The others just prattle on and on instead of getting on with the job in hand.

Christopher Eccleston never seems entirely comfortable as Jakey, perhaps because of the accent he's required to adopt. Sophie Ward is suitably uptight in Katherine's big speech, while Andrew Scarborough wanders dangerously close to caricature as her exasperated boyfriend.

l Runs until April 24. Tickets 0113-213 7700.

Steve Pratt