On TV

'There is a legend of a man who forged a nation," began the narrator and the heart sank at the prospect of another of those dramatised historical documentaries featuring experts pontificating, computer graphics and cut-price dramatic reconstructions.

The First Emperor had all of those but this was superior stuff and had a really interesting story to tell about a great warrior and ruthless tyrant.

Some of the drama was a bit dodgy, playing more like soap than history, but the programme kept the attention for its lengthy running time.

The story of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor of China, is full of sex, violence, treachery and actors speaking fractured English. How much better if they'd subtitled Chinese dialogue.

Who could resist a tale about the man who built the Great Wall of China. Not all by himself, of course, but using a million people at the peak of production, a quarter of whom died in the process.

He was responsible for the Terracotta Army, uncovered in 1974, and, it appears, a massive tomb containing a bronze model of his empire, complete with streams and oceans filled with liquid mercury.

This man was driven mad by fear of assassination and his doctors prescribed sex with multiple partners to increase longevity. A treatment not usually available on the NHS.

Unfortunately, they also had him take "something more chemical" - mercury, which attacked his nervous system, caused brain damage and made him paranoid. He'd have been better off smoking.

His life reads like a soap - what with his mother having two secret children by a eunuch (at least, everyone thought he was short of the necessary equipment) and the prime minister as another lover. Scandals involving our own dear royal family and politicians pale in comparison.

Qin Shi Huangdi was 13 when he became king of the state of Chin and united seven warring states to create China. He used his army to beat them into submission, being ruthless in his obsession to create the greatest nation on earth. After one battle, he had all 10,000 prisoners executed.

He was totally dependent on his soldiers, now frozen in time as the Terracotta Army. Each figure measures nearly two metres tall, making an army of giants by the standards of the time.

The figures resulted from the Emperor's paranoia. Pits around his burial mound have produced figures of musicians, dancers, acrobats and animals, along with a half-scale model of the imperial chariot.

Qin Shi Huangdi wanted to take all the trappings of power and protection with him to the other world where he feared those he'd offended would have it in for him.

New techniques were used to test the ground around the tomb, which has remained sealed for over 2,000 years. From that information, a 3D model of the entire underground complex has been created.

No-one is likely to see inside yet. There are no plans to excavate the tomb in the foreseeable future as experts work out how to preserve what might be inside. This documentary provided a good taste of what we might see.

The Cribs, Northumbria University

Few can deny that the North is the home of the indie scene at the moment - the Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys and next big thing, Milburn, all hail from this part of the country. It is also the home of The Cribs, one of the hardest working and most exciting bands in music today.

Their albums don't do justice to their music because, in a studio, it is impossible to capture the awesome sound that The Cribs produce on stage. Their live shows are 50 minutes of electrifying rock 'n' roll, where each song is a three minute gem. Songs like Hey Scenesters! and Mirror Kissers are potential classics that wouldn't look out of place next to songs by The Jam or The Clash.

Sadly, whoever designed the lighting show must never have been in a crowd at a gig before. There was an excessive use of strobe lighting and even the normal lights were at times too bright to be able to see the stage. But this minor quibble cannot detract from what was a great night.

Keir Waugh

Kungsbacka Piano Trio, The Sage, Gateshead

A smaller than usual audience at Hall Two of the Sage Gateshead was treated to an intimate evening with the Kungsbacka Piano Trio.

The programme started with the second part of Beethoven's Opus One - a work considered revolutionary by his contemporaries. Time may have given it a well-worn familiarity, but the trio gave the work a fresh treatment.

Next up was the US composer Ives' Piano Trio Op 1, which still sounds contemporary, 100 years after it was composed. While other composers of the time were still influenced by the Romantic era, Ives took his inspiration from his direct surroundings.

The second half of the evening was devoted to Rachmaninov's Trio elegiaque, written as a requiem for the untimely death of his friend and mentor Tchaikovsky. Rachmaninov had enormous hands, which has made the performing of his works daunting to some. Crawford-Phillips' attacks were fearless as he laid bare the nascent composing skills of Rachmaninov. An exhilarating evening.

Gavin Engelbrecht