Paradise Heights (BBC1)

Beasts On The Streets (BBC1)

PARADISE Heights may improve. Goodness knows, there's plenty of room for improvement. This a case of good cast, rotten series.

It's one of those strange creatures, a comedy-drama, that tries hard - desperately hard - to be quirky and ends up falling flat on its face. You sense that writer Ashley Pharoah was making an effort to do something completely different to the feelgood series, like Where The Heart Is, with which he's made his mark.

Neil Morrissey, Charles Dale and Ralf Little are the Eustace (useless, more like) brothers running the family's struggling retail warehouse business. Pam Ferris is their mother and David Troughton is the local Mr Big to whom they owe money.

Not only was it difficult to follow what was going on, but I didn't actually care. At one point Mr Big threatened to shoot a kangaroo, the sole occupant of the Eustace's pathetic zoo. David Attenborough would have something to say about that, as he did about Beasts On The Streets - those creatures encroaching on our urban jungle.

My heart sank when the Florida alligator catcher appeared. Hardly a week or a wildlife programme goes by without an appearance by him. Others in this walk on the wild side were less familiar, although the feeling that here was a compilation of clips from other shows never left.

In Japan, crows have discovered that tarmac is an ideal surface for cracking nuts. They drop them on pedestrian crossings, cars drive over the nuts and open them, then the birds swoop down for their dinner as the lights turn red.

Hawks hunt squirrels in New York's Central Park, moose stroll through the streets in Anchorage, and monkeys run through the streets in gangs in India. We should be concerned about the rise of super-rats in our cities, who are growing fat as our rubbish becomes their fast food.

Most alarming was the sight of a massive elephant seal attacking a car in New Zealand. They'd never believe that if you put it on your insurance claim form.

Praise be for show

Carnival Messiah, Quarry Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse

WELL, that was different," said the woman in the row in front as we filed out of the theatre after Geraldine Connor's Caribbean festival-style piece of theatre.

Who am I to disagree? Those who saw the original production a few years ago still talk enthusiastically about this heady mix of song, dance and spectacle which re-invents Handel's oratorio using a 100-strong cast.

Visually, you'll see nothing as colourful and spectacular outside a street carnival. The 700 costumes include amazing 20ft high winged outfits for several characters.

The atmosphere is very much carnival style. So, inevitably, the dramatic focus is not always as concentrated as you might like in a normal theatre piece. It's also very, very loud which leads to some distortion of the lyrics.

For all the cast-of-thousands approach, the most effective moment is one of the simplest - the Hallelujah Chorus played by a steel band.

It's usual in these cases to say that sheer enthusiasm carries the day, papering over the production's deficiencies. Here, that's true with the sheer joie de vivre of the show spreading infectiously into the audience.

Steve Pratt

* Until July 27. Tickets 0113-213 770