The Real Winona Ryder (C4); Desert Darlings (C4) "SHE came, she stole, she left" was how a witness summed up two-time Oscar nominee Winona Ryder's shoplifting spree in Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills in December 2001.

Her trial provided endless photo and media opportunities, including the fact that on the jury was the former head of Sony Pictures for whom she'd made three films.

This was more than a simple case of celebrity shoplifting. Controlled substances, including eight different forms of painkiller, as well as 5,000 dollars-worth of frocks and accessories, were found on her at the time of her arrest.

The Real Winona Ryder provided a field day for anyone who loves to see people who've supposedly got everything fall to earth with a bump. Comedian Greg Proops said what many of us were thinking: "I love when celebrities get in situations like this."

This being Hollywood, much was done to cover her tracks before the trial. Charges relating to the drugs were dropped. She was convicted of two counts of grand theft and vandalism, and sentenced to 480 hours community service.

Many questions were left unanswered. Why did she have drugs given to cancer patients and those who've undergone heart surgery? What about the six aliases she used to obtain prescription drugs around the Los Angeles area? And how did this fit in with having Timothy Leary, spritual mentor of the Sixties counter culture, as a godfather?

Winona was a hippy kid raised in a TV-less community, but who inherited her father's love of literature and her mother's love of movies. When the family returned to civilisation, she didn't fit in. She was plagued with insomnia. Her waif-like look caused her to be beaten up by local youths mistaking her for an effeminate boy.

Films such as Beetlejuice and Heathers made her one of the most sought-after young actresses in Hollywood, and there were romances with the likes of Johnny Depp. But rumours of her uneven temperament spread. For some she had the makings of a celebrity junkie.

It was suggested shoplifting was a way of drawing attention to her misery - "not just a cry for Gucci, but a cry for help" as one wag put it. After cutting her finger snippping off labels from dresses with a pair of scissors, she asked store staff for a plaster. Hardly the action of a crafty thief.

Perhaps, instead of community service, Ryder should have been forced to join the journey across the Namibian desert in Africa in the reality series Desert Darlings. Spending a month with this band of ill-prepared travellers would put her worries into perspective.

This three-parter comes from an old hand in fly-on-the-wall documentaries, Peter Watson. Every effort has been made to ensure conflict and agony on the trek as the participants, who replied to an internet ad, include a female lawyer with a bad back, a lesbian couple, a married couple from Norton in Cleveland, and Liz who can sulk for England.

Their leader is Ken Hames, an SAS major who, like the rest of us, wonders how they're going to cope. "A spark of purpose is what's required. We have not got commitment," he says.

That certainly applies to lawyer Marie, whose husband has to carry her heavy backpack. Hames won't let her play that sick card too often. "I'm not sure how Marie is going to survive the next few weeks because, as the pressure increases, I wonder whether she's going to use her bad back as an excuse," he says.

The trip, I suspect, is going to be more fun for viewers than Marie.

Published: 23/04/2003