Mistresses to Murderland

SHE went from playing Inspector Lynley’s sidekick to a cake-baking wronged wife in Mistresses. Now Sharon Small is playing a child psychologist in ITV1’s Murderland.

The three-part thriller is about the life – and death – of one woman and how her murder obsesses those she leaves behind, including the daughter who found her corpse and the detective (played by Robbie Coltrane).

Small’s psychologist, Dr Laura Maitland, is brought in to protect the child during the course of the investigation and make sure her rights are taken care of.

“She comes in right at the beginning when the murder has been committed and obviously Carrie is extremely traumatised at this point,” says the actress.

“She immediately comes into conflict with Robbie’s character because he’s not very respectful of her job, and he’s more interested in finding the killer than thinking about Carrie’s fragile state of mind.

“Maitland is there constantly on at Hain like a hawk, always stepping in to make sure he doesn’t keep pushing Carrie and, of course, he does.”

For research, Small went to a friend trained in psychology. “She helped me immensely because it’s all about not alienating the person you are questioning,” she says.

“It’s very easy to isolate someone with words alone. So, the research I did with her helped with the IN any talent show, there’s always one – a contestant who annoys the hell out of the judges, but somehow manages to get enough public votes to stay in week after week.

The difference with this series of X Factor is that there are two. The terrible (in all senses of the word) twins John & Edward, a duo so bad they’re good.

They were the final act on Saturday’s show. Clearly not a case of saving the best for last.

“That was some performance,”

said Dannii Minogue, after surviving the experience of the Irish twins performing She Bangs.

What she must have been thinking was why on earth do the public keep voting for a pair who can’t sing, can’t dance and have ridiculous hair?

Mentor Louis Walsh, whose backing of the pair could see him prosecuted for crimes against music, threw everything into the production of She Bangs.

Dancers, bright lights, flashing lights, smoke, lots of running around, gyrating women. I think I may even have glimpsed a kitchen sink dancing in the background.

Anything, in fact, to take the spotlight away from what John & Edward are doing.

Cheryl Cole – who managed to get through this week without crying – confessed that the pair are fast becoming her guilty pleasure. “Every week I can’t wait to see what you are going to come out with,” she told them. A bar of chocolate would be a much healthier guilty pleasure than these two, I’d suggest.

Judge Simon Cowell, who has given up criticising the pair, probably because he can’t find enough bad words to say about them, admitted they were “putting on a show”.

He also said, and for once few would disagree, that “everything’s been horrible and you’re still in the competition”.

John & Edward’s gimmick is that they’re bad. Young Lloyd did a back flip in a bid to detract from his dreadful performance. Nothing could be more inappropriate than someone doing a back flip in the middle of a swinging big band song. “Like eating a sandwich while you’re swimming,” said Cowell.

Cowell ignored the rules by choosing – at the last minute – a U2 song for Jamie Archer.

Walsh protested that this wasn’t a big band number and that only Cowell could get away with something like that.

Rachel, twice in the sing-off previously, changed her hairstyle in a bid to get votes, Miss Frank finally showed what they can do, and nice Joe from South Shields was well, nice, even when trying to be sexy.

STRICTLY Come Dancing continues to be stuck in the dancing doldrums.

Where’s the excitement?

Where’s Arlene? Where’s someone to write some decent jokes for Brucie?

After Zoe Lucker went from near the top of the leader board to the dance-off after the public vote last week, it was athlete Jade Johnson’s turn to find herself humiliatingly and, unfairly, in the bottom two.

The good news was that she was up against Jo Wood who, despite being dragged around the dance floor in a samba by partner Brendan Cole, still failed to put her best foot forward.

Nothing can be done to persuade the public at home to vote for the best dancers, but the X Factor’s producers should do something to stop the audience shouting and hollering and screaming incessantly.

Showing your appreciation is one thing, but is too much when it drowns out the judges’ comments.

If they made as much noise during John & Edward’s performance and successfully drowned out their singing, I wouldn’t complain.

Last dance: Jo Wood and Brendan Cole Last song: Miss Frank Tonight’sTV By Steve Pratt email: steve.pratt@nne.co.uk language and we tweaked quite a few of the ways I questioned Carrie.

“Also, the fact it was set during the early Nineties meant that the way psychiatrists practiced was far more clinical and a lot less touchy feely. At times, Maitland comes across almost cold and callous as she deals with Carrie. I think I learnt how to question and be neutral and not to add fire to the flames.

“It was never my intention to come on really warm and fluffy in any way, but I tried to make her very neutral with a degree of care about her.” As Murderland touches on dark subject matter, there were fairly intense scenes being filmed. The atmosphere off-camera, she says, was more light-hearted with Coltrane raising everyone’s spirits by cracking jokes all the time.

“He’s a very funny man and he was making all sorts of jokes right up to the point where the director shouted ‘action’,”

she recalls.

“There were times when we’d be filming a terribly serious scene and the cameras would start recording and I’d still be laughing thanks to Robbie.”

IN 2007, Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson was quoted as saying that black people were less intelligent than other races and was quite rightly condemned across the world.

He offered an apology, but some suggested there is evidence suggesting ethnic origin does exert an influence on one’s ability to score highly in IQ tests.

Race and Intelligence: Science’s Last Taboo has Rageh Omaar setting out to find out the truth behind claims. He meets scientists who believe the research supports the view that races can be differentiated as well as those who vehemently oppose this school of thinking.

WE have the Americans to thank for The Apprentice, although Alan Sugar has successfully made the show its own. With that absent from our screens, The Apprentice USA will help plug the gap for those who can’t get enough of would-be entrepreneurs falling flat on their smug faces.

On the other side of the Atlantic, tycoon Donald Trump is the multi-millionaire businessmen who sets the tasks and dangles the prospect of a job as an apprentice with the Trump Organisation for the lucky winner.

Whereas Sir Alan Sugar’s grumpy demeanour could make a grown man cry, Mr Trump is coolness personified (as long as you don’t look at the dead squirrel perching on his head), but is still as ruthless as they come.

Tonight marks the start of series four of the US version of the business-based reality show and the hopefuls have a lot of work to do if they’re to stand out from the rest of the pack. Their first task sees them split into male and female teams as they create a new fitness class.