One Life: Beating The Bullies (BBC1); Gifted (ITV1): THERE was a sting in the One Life documentary about a new idea to deal with school bullying - despite its success, the scheme is unlikely to continue because of a lack of Government money.

It would be a pity if this was allowed to happen as bullying has been "dramatically reduced" since mediators were introduced at Heatherbrook Primary School, on the outskirts of Leicester.

The difference with this effort is that these are pint-sized peacekeepers, youngsters trained to mediate between warring parties in the playground.

Four million children get bullied every year. The most common and hurtful bullying is name-calling. The film didn't always make easy viewing, especially when bullied youngsters described their experiences.

Jordan and Stephanie have been bullied because of the way they look. He's been called big ears, she's been called four-eyes. There was something chilling about listening as they talked about flirting with the idea of killing themselves because of the bullying. But the fact is that three-quarters of the children who take their own lives do so because of bullying.

Some viewers might also have felt uncomfortable as the camera showed children being bullied and interviewed them, in tears, afterwards.

Jordan and Stephanie were among pupils chosen to be trained as mediators, although the selection process itself led to tears before bedtime for several unlucky applicants.

They progressed from youngsters who didn't even know what mediation meant to being able to step in and calm down the parties when trouble flared up. Remarkably, the mediating team of Jordan and Stephanie was able to make the two sides shake hands and say sorry.

It would have taken more than a referee to sort out the problem at the heart of Kay Mellor's footballing drama Gifted. The action off the pitch was the cause of the trouble when star player Jamie Gilliam picked up a two female students in a nightclub.

The next morning one accused him of drugging her drink and raping her. A court case involving a black player facing an assault charge following racial abuse in a restaurant formed another part of the plot. All this made the story a little too close to comfort to recent real life events, although Mellor began writing Gifted two years ago to illustrate the dangers of celebrity.

If ITV's timing in screening the film was spot on, the script became less convincing the longer it went on. This was partly because Sharon, the single mother making the rape allegation (the excellent Christine Tremarco), became sidelined in favour of her much less interesting friend Maxine (Claire Goose).

Once the story became a did he, didn't he? thriller, Mellor was forced to put plot over character. The result was occasionally provocative but never wholly convincing.

Published: 30/10/2003