A Brush With Fame (ITV1)

A Place In The Sun: Home Or Away (C4)

Come Dine With Me (C4)

STRIPPING in the daytime is all the rage, although it has nothing to do with wallpaper, comics or dusting in the nude. This is the practice of TV schedulers showing the same programme at the same time every day, meaning viewers can switch on and know exactly what they're going to get. Asked what's on TV, you can reply: "The same old rubbish", a comment that's never seemed more appropriate. A Brush With Fame is, as you might guess from the title, a competition for artists. This is X Factor with paintbrushes with regional heats for would-be professional artists leading to the grand final. Here is a programme which can accurately be described as being as interesting as watching paint dry. Carol Smillie by name and smiley by nature has the briefest of chats with contestants, although they were a serious lot muttering about having "to paint who you are as a real person". And I thought it was just a matter of sploshing a bit of colour on a canvas.

ITV weathergirl Sian Lloyd was the model for the edition I watched, although some very odd representations of her were produced. "You'll probably find this is a room of very peculiar necks," she was warned. Judges Christian Furr and David Lee did their best to emulate Simon Cowell and be nasty. "Has she got a mortar board on or is she impersonating a cake stand?" inquired Lee of one portrait. Commenting on the huge diversity of talent, he declared: "One or two people have been found out. There are a couple who are really good and a couple struggling - and a lot in the middle are piddling around".

I doubt that anyone ever accused Van Gogh of piddling around - or bachelor Paul of not taking cooking seriously. He's one of the amateur chefs who cook meals for each other and then get marked on their efforts in Come Dine With Me.

Self-made businessman Paul, the only male among the five contestants, intended serving smoked trout pate for starters and went fishing for the ingredients. Several hours later he was still trying to catch a trout, ending up buying one that had been caught earlier from the fisheries. A fellow contestant proved a bit of an old trout by giving him just one point for his efforts after describing his barbecued bananas as "orgasmic".

A Place In The Sun: Home Or Away is part of C4's extensive property portfolio but lacking the charismatic presence of a Kirsty or a Phil as lesser-known experts attempt to find people somewhere to live in this country and abroad.

Harrogate publican Jean wanted a house in Newcastle and a holiday home in Croatia, where she was taken to Rijeka Bay in a country that's apparently the place to holiday. "Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Tony Blair - you name them, they've been here," we learnt. But not together, I assume.

Disney on Ice: Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey, Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle

FELD Entertainment's latest production isn't so much a children's show as a feast for the senses. With fantastic costumes, colourful sets and magical special effects, the stage is bright, busy and energetic. Add some foot-tapping tunes and amazing skating and you have the recipe for a wonderful show. Mickey and Minnie escort us on a whirlwind tour of Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians, The Little Mermaid and Lilo and Stitch. The shorter segments ensure little minds stay busy and eyes remain wide with excitement when bedtime has been and gone.

Memorable moments include Peter Pan flying off to Neverland, Captain Hook's lifesize 35-foot long pirate ship and the slapstick moment when Captain Hook tumbles backwards into a crocodile's mouth. A very sexy Cruella de Vil (Sabrina Crotenko) adds some va va vroom to the story of the 101 Dalmatians with a fantastic solo, while Pongo and Purdy give a dazzling duo performance. Even the 99 pups don't put a paw wrong. As Mickey and Minnie venture to the ocean bed to visit The Little Mermaid, the stage is awash with seahorses, starfish, lobsters and mermaids, before it is transformed into Hawaii for the adventures of Lilo and Stitch. Do the child in you a favour and catch this performance while the mice on ice are still in Toon.

* Runs until Sunday. Box office 0870 7078000

Christine Fieldhouse

Bronte, York Theatre Royal

SHARED Experience writer-director Polly Teale attempts to answer a fascinating question in her new play about the Brontes. How did three sisters who lived in isolation on the Yorkshire moors and who had virtually no experience of real life outside Haworth parsonage come to write such passionate, emotional books?

What fed their imaginations were the exploits of their brother Branwell, a man with alcohol and drug addictions who lost his job after an affair. He provided his sisters with plenty of ingredients for novels such as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Teale's trick is to have characters from their books intrude on the action as the sisters go about their daily business, determined to write despite the limitations of the day on what women were and weren't allowed to do. Their escape from such restrictions was to put their thoughts on paper. This bold approach could have seemed contrived or even corny, but Teale's staging on Angela Davies' sparsely atmospheric setting is so clean and crisp the whole thing works exceptionally well. Fenella Woolgar's Charlotte, Diane Beck's Emily and Catherine Cusack's Anne offer contrasting portraits of intelligent women determined to break the mould.

They draw inspiration as Matthew Thomas's Branwell descends into madness, and as their fictional characters Cathy and the madwoman appear in the parsonage to illustrate their mindset.

l Runs until Saturday. Box office (01904) 623568.

Steve Pratt