Shipman (ITV: The Secret Life Of The Office (BBC1)

IT'S a pity that the factual drama Shipman, about the man known as Doctor Death, will be judged on its timing rather than its quality.

Relatives have complained that this film about the mass murderer comes too soon, just two years after Harold Shipman was jailed for life for the murder of 15 elderly patients - and before a report rumoured to conclude that he killed many, maybe hundreds, more.

While you can't help but have sympathy with them, equally you could probably find some valid reason for not turning any piece of history into a TV drama. The timing may not be the best but this Michael Eaton-scripted film goes some way towards addressing the undoubted public interest in the case. I see no harm if the subject is tackled with as sensitive and responsible approach as this one.

Time restraints mean there are still questions left tantalisingly unanswered, not least Shipman's motivation and his wife's attitude to his crimes. She remains on the sidelines as we follow the meticulous police investigation led by James Hazeldine's Detective Inspector Stan Egerton. Former Likely Lad James Bolam, hidden behind a bushy beard, is inspired casting as Shipman, who maintains that "I'm a good GP, a caring GP".

That care extended to administering fatal injections and filling out death certificates illegally. He appeared to be a pillar of society. A firm of undertakers became suspicious by the high number of patients who died on him. But it was forging a will that enabled the police to get a hold on him, although, as one of them observes, they have a suspect but don't know how many bodies he's responsible for.

Egerton may ask his priest, "Can a man be born evil?" but not even Eaton, who also wrote the docu-drama Shoot To Kill, can answer that. Only Shipman knows the total truth and he's not telling.

The Secret Life Of The Office strayed into Back To The Floor territory as founder Clive Jacobs joined his call centre staff on the floor to sort out the crisis at his Holiday Autos company. The backlog of calls was piling up and deals weren't being finalised.

Jacobs's methods of dealing with staff relations involved bringing in a hotshot from sales over the head of the call centre boss, "forgetting" to tell either her or the man he'd brought in to run the company. The result was much head-shaking and muttering - and the departure of one of the main players. It was all as frightening in its own way as Dr Shipman's exploits.

Failing to shine

Heaven Can Wait, Theatre Royal, Newcastle

IF you're the kind of rock 'n' roll romantic that likes to think that somewhere up there Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens are still happily bopping away together - then this musical is definitely not for you.

Although we are promised a rock 'n' roll paradise, instead we enter a rock 'n' roll purgatory where the three stars are emotionally tortured by a dead woman, Stella, who murdered her husband and then committed suicide.

The majority of this production is rather depressing, peppered with a number of upbeat, sing-a-long tracks which, although a relief, seem to appear from nowhere and jar with the darker aspects of the production.

Buddy, Ritchie and The Big Bopper are whisked away seconds before their plane crashes on that fateful night in 1959 and enter a bright 1950s-style diner where they face their past and future. Buddy is forced to resolve issues with his mother, has his instruments confiscated and ends up sobbing and hugging his guitar when he learns of his wife's miscarriage. Ritchie must come to terms with his ego, his philandering and his mixed race background. And the Big Bopper must confront his racism and the fact that he let his wife down by going on the tour.

The musical performances are good, particularly Buddy Holly (Andy Nichol), Stella (Jan Graveson) and Ritchie (Damien Edwards) who got the audience singing and foot-tapping along with their enthusiastic renditions of some great 1950s hits.

So often productions are criticised for not having a plot and just being an excuse for sound-alikes to belt out a few good classics. But in this case being short on songs and longer on plot was not an improvement.

Excellent singing and guitar playing - unfortunately there's just not enough of it.

Michelle Hedger

l Heaven Can Wait runs until Saturday. Box Office: (0870) 905506