TV review

AS the setting for a comeback by a soap icon, a ladies' toilet could hardly be classed as glamorous. But the camera panned up the unmistakable figure standing in the doorway of a cubicle.

She spoke to the other, equally familiar, woman by the mirror. "Big hair, short shirt and fella trouble," said the blonde with hair piled high on her head and ample figure spilling out of her dress.

The object of her remark was Liz MacDonald, the wearer of the shortest skirts in Weatherfield and now behind the bar of a Blackpool pub. Husband Jim, you may recall, was imprisoned, although justice would have been better served by jailing Liz for indecent exposure.

But what of the speaker? "Bet!" exclaimed Liz.

"The one and only," replied Bet Lynch/Gilroy.

After the debacle of her last return to the soap - when she departed through illness after only a few weeks - this latest visit has been more low key. She's not even being allowed to tread the hallowed cobbles of the Street as the soap has packed its bags and gone to Blackpool for the Newton and Ridley Licensees' Reunion.

Thank goodness Bet hasn't changed. She's as bold and brassy as ever, like a larger-than-life seaside postcard character. That's why she fits in so well in Blackpool.

"Just look at you pair," said Fred Elliott, on meeting Bet and Liz.

"Easy tiger," purred Bet, glancing down at her breasts and mistaking the objects of his attention.

There were times you thought you were watching a French farce. "Are those real?" asked Cecil Newton, also surveying Bet's treasure chest.

"I've never been asked that before," she replied cheekily. He was, of course, referring to her diamond necklace.

Liz has problems, mainly the fact that husband Jim has escaped from an open prison (although that sounds a contradiction in terms) and has arrived in Blackpool to find out if she has a new boyfriend.

Jim has been on a diet. Either that, or prison food isn't up to much. He probably just squeezed through the bars to escape.

Liz wonders if she should have stayed in Coronation Street, which is mentioned from time to time to remind viewers this isn't a holiday item on Wish You Were Here and Judith Chalmers, Bet's twin sister, isn't going to appear suddenly.

"I need a man in my bed. Does that make me cheap?" asked Liz. Before the nation could shout "Yes", Bet gave her opinion: "If it does, I'm in the bargain bucket with you."

We left Bet and Cecil planning their wedding after he assured his bride-to-be that there's "enough life in you to power all the trams in Blackpool".

His scheming son is not so convinced. Calling Bet "a cheap tart" and "a nasty, evil parasite", does not bode well for a family Christmas.

Takacs Quartet: Music in the Round, All Saints, Newcastle

THE award-winning Takacs Quartet was in customary top form when it performed at the latest Music in the Round event at All Saints, in Newcastle. Its engaging spontaneity captivated the audience from the outset, with an expressive reading of Haydn's dramatic Quartet in C. This was followed by a fluently articulated rendition of Mozart's Quartet in B flat or Prussian.

The evening ended with the C sharp minor Quartet, Opus 131, hailed as one of Beethoven's most revolutionary and searching compositions. Comprising a sequence of seven linked movements, it was written towards the end of Beethoven's career. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, violinist Edward Dusinberre declared it "one of the most beautiful pieces of music he wrote and our favourite to perform". And it showed. It was an interpretation of searing intensity, with richly expansive string playing veering between heavenly bliss and aching sadness.

In the brief penultimate adagio, the strings drew the lightest of touches out of its ethereal lines. The concluding allegro positively pulsated, as the quartet romped home in foot stomping style. Yes, indeed, there was foot stomping - Dusinberre almost pounded out the beat on the floor at one stage. His exuberance was not out of place. The quartet won three long ovations. There was no need for an encore - that would only have detracted from an exquisite reading.

A memorable evening.

Gavin Engelbrecht

l The next Music in the Round event features I Fagiolini on Friday, December 19. Box office: 0870 7034555.