TV review

The World's Most Powerful Celebrity (BBC2)

ONE of these days, a family will go abroad to start a new life and everything will go according to plan. Until then, TV programme makers have ready-made dramas begging to have a camera pointed at them during the tears and tantrums.

Steve, Zena and her children, Wesley, 18, and Abby, 15, packed their bags and emigrated to Australia for A New Life Down Under. Four days after arriving, Wes caught a plane back home to rejoin his fiance in Essex. Not the best of starts, and Zena never recovered from her son's departure.

While joiner Steve settled into his job and Abby made new friends at school, where learning to surf was on the curriculum, Zena moped around after failing to find work as a hairdresser. Space, freedom and year-round sunshine did nothing to allay her depression and growing unhappiness.

Ten weeks after arriving, Zena announced her intention of going home to England. This being a TV documentary, she told the camera about her decision before telling Steve.

Then she changed her mind and decided to stay - but not for long. Four months after arriving, the family returned home. They can have another go at emigrating as long as they do it within five years. Somehow, that doesn't seem very likely.

What they need is the steely determination shown by Madonna, whose drive, focus and passion helped make her one of the most famous and successful performers in the world.

Financial expert Alvin Hall set out in The World's Most Powerful... Celebrity to assess whether she or talk show host Oprah Winfrey was the world's most powerful celebrity.

He spoke to key players in their rise to power and how they used it in his investigation. This was okay as far as it went, with observations from school friends, managers, journalists and so on - but not, of course, the two women themselves.

Hall was selective in the evidence he offered. Why, for instance, no mention of Madonna's struggle to find success as a movie star? Or Oprah's book club success story, whereby a mere mention of a novel on her show ensures a sales boom?

He didn't regard the size of their bank balances as the sole measure of who was most powerful. For the record, Madonna is reputedly worth in excess of $300m, and Oprah over $1bn.

Hall was more concerned with Madonna's ability to surround herself with the right people for the right job, and how mentioning a brand of real ale in a TV interview caused sales to soar. And with Oprah turning a tacky tabloid story to her own advantage, and becoming so successful despite no apparent burning desire to be so.

The winner was Madonna because, Hall said, she was still a risk-taker. Unlike this series, which is a safe way of filling 40 minutes with superficial analysis and old clips.

The Happy Prince, Gulbenkian Studio Theatre, Newcastle

NORTHERN Stage Ensemble's Christmas show for the under-sixes is heaven sent from a short story by Oscar Wilde.

Two angels (Tony Neilson and Sophie Trott) land on Earth in "a special place" - and it really is something special in Imogen Cloet's designs, all pop-up and pull-out buildings, colourfully-garbed characters and beautiful blue seating for the audience.

The mission of these heavenly bodies is to find something special. Telling the story of the swallow and the happy prince is the result. Not that the royal statue is looking very pleased with life when first seen. He's crying his eyes out. This is one unhappy prince - sad because everyone in the city is unhappy.

A swallow en route to a warm winter in Egypt is waylaid and asked to cheer him up by spreading a little happiness. This is achieved by distributing the prince's riches - the ruby in his sword hilt, his eyes of sapphire and gold in his coat - among the sick and poor commoners. Annie Wood's adaptation and Adel Al-Salloum's direction don't linger too long on the message about being nice to others in the 50-minute show. That's about the right length to retain the concentration of the young audience, who are asked to help out and sing along without undue pressure being exerted to make them participate.

Neilson and Trott double up nicely as angels and then the royal and the bird, although the lack of any strong narrative makes it easy for an adult's mind to wander. But, once again, Northern Stage's under-sixes production delivers the ideal first stage treat for youngsters.

Steve Pratt

l Runs until January 10. Tickets 0191-230 5151

Northern Sinfonia, Newcastle City Hall.

NORTHERN Sinfonia demonstrated its versatility when it took on some lesser known works at its latest concert at Newcastle City Hall. The programme formed part of an ambitious project to explore piano concertos by some of England's distinctive but neglected 20th century composers.

Accomplished British pianist Peter Donohue delighted the audience with a rendition of Belfast-born Howard Ferguson's attractive piano concerto from 1951. The sinfonia provided perfect accompaniment as the strings tackled dramatic contrasts with aplomb.The highlight of the evening was the performance of a piano and string concerto from Catalan-born Roberto Gerhard, who drew his inspiration from Spanish folk music, Schoenberg, Bartok and Bach.

An expansive work laden with tensions, the second movement conjured up a magic world of ice, with shards of splintered crystal reflecting a glittering kaleidoscope of light.

Donohue, who enthusiastically egged the sinfonia on, handled stunning roulades with effortless mastery. The programme also included suites from Manuel de Falla's sprightly ballet The Three Cornered Hat and two works from Stravinsky. Stravinsky's Rag Time for 11 instruments featured a rare appearance of the zither-like cimbalon. A fascinating performance forming yet another landmark for the sinfonia.

Gavin Engelbrecht