Katie: My Beautiful Face, Channel 4, tonight, 9pm.

EIGHTEEN months ago, Katie Piper was a beautiful young woman with a burgeoning career as a model and TV presenter. Then she suffered a horrific attack, arranged by her boyfriend, when acid was thrown in her face, causing extensive third degree burns and blindness in one eye.

Now, her story is told in this intimate documentary, which follows Katie at home and in hospital as she receives treatment and tries to come to terms with her new face, and her new life.

Asked about the 18 months leading up to the attack in March last year, Katie says: “I was 24, living in north London, as a model and TV presenter. And I was going clubbing and enjoying being young and single.”

She met her then boyfriend, Danny Lynch, through Facebook and their main common interest was martial arts.

“We only dated for a few weeks, so it was quite early on. I saw a jealous streak, possessiveness, an anger problem, and little things about his life didn’t add up.

He told me he was working, doing certain things, and yet he didn’t really have a job.”

The situation spiralled out of control after she was raped at a London hotel and then death threats were made against her and her flatmates.

“He held me in the room, all night, attacking me and threatening me that if I told anybody he would kill me, and kill my flatmates. He knew where I lived, where I parked my car. I was terrified,”

she says.

Moments before the acid attack on March 31, last year, she says that Lynch persuaded her to leave her flat during a phone call.

“A guy started crossing the street towards me. And as he got closer to me, I thought ‘he’s not just crossing the street, he’s coming towards me’. He had made eye contact with me, and his arms were locked out in front of him, with a cup in his hands. I thought he was begging, so I said to Danny ‘hold on a second’. I put the phone to my ear and went to get money from my bag, and as I did, this guy threw the acid in my face.

“I just remember thinking, ‘how terrible, this guy’s just thrown coffee at me, how rude’. Then a few seconds after, the The Winter’s Tale Theatre Royal, Newcastle YES, Bard groupies, “The one with the bear” is back in town. This production is a rich feast for the eyes and food for the soul.

Greg Hicks is a masterful King Leontes, horrid but human. Leontes calls his heavily pregnant wife Hermione “bed-swerver” and in one very bad day kills her with his words (sort of) and boots out baby. Then his son dies.

The dusty, velvety court of Sicilia breaks in a scene change from the Gods into Bohemia, ruled by Polixenes, the man accused of “sluicing”

Hermione and the place to which baby Princess Perdita is abandoned, suddenly. Cue bear.

This is certainly a play of two halves. The dark human tragedy of Sicilia is transformed into a surreal, sunny, Bohemia, where humble shepherds adopt the socks with sandals look and pagan-looking paper creations cavort around showing off their comedy appendages.

The 16-year-old Perdita, with her borrowed frock and tatty tiara is queen of this folk festival. Or would be if her boyfriend Florizel’s father wasn’t so not into her being a commoner. Florizel (Tunji Kasim) was the weakest link for me and he did have an unfortunate habit of attaching himself to the paper so liberally strewn about his Scottish/Welsh/anything goes kingdom.

The RSC seems to have consigned blank verse rhythm to the fate of the doublet for this production and the result is a quick as lighting naturalism.

To quote shamelessly out of context, “this show is a fresh piece of excellent witchcraft”.

■ Until Saturday. Tickets 08448-112-121.

theatreroyal.co.uk Sarah Scott pain was just surging through my body.

I knew that I was in really serious trouble.

Losing my vision made me feel really vulnerable, because I had no idea where he’d run off to. I didn’t know if Danny was there. I remember thinking ‘I wish that noise would stop’, and then realising that it was me.”

In hospital, all the skin from her buttocks and back had to be removed to graft onto her face and Katie recalls that the acid attack, pain and drugs led to her hallucinating.

“I’d been in hospital for nearly two months. I’d started trying to catch a glimpse of my face in the back of spoons at meal times, but I couldn’t see properly.

So, a week before I was discharged I went to see the burns psychologist.

She says the first view of her face “did not even look female. “Then I got quite angry. I kept saying ‘It’s not working, I can’t see my face’. I remember thinking ‘I look like Freddy Kruger’.”

Katie says it’s down to her “amazing”

surgeon Mr Jawad that she feels like carrying on after 30 operations.

“He’s been a massive influence in my life, and I don’t think I’d be here without