Music Maestro!

Last night’s telly – Maestro, BB2 9pm

“Oooh another one of those programmes where C-list celebrities take up a new sport/hobby, hoorah!” was not my initial reaction to BBC2’s Maestro. Yet, as much as I try to pretend I don’t watch such lowbrow fare as Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing on Ice or The Games, I do and I love it. Oh dear. I start off sceptical and aloof, but seem to find myself glued to the TV every Saturday, to see if someone’s sequins fall off their dress or if Gareth Gates gouges out his partner’s eye whilst attempting a triple axle.

This time with Maestro, there was no such initial scepticism. Maybe it was the line-up of celebs, who seemed to be genuinely interested in music, not just trying to revamp a wilting career. Or perhaps it’s because I found myself warming very quickly to the celebs and their orchestra.

There was the usual ‘hopeless-from-the-start’ character in the shape of Peter Snow, but here’s there’s no Strictly-style sympathy vote so the orchestra dropped him. Bradley Walsh played the clown, but was sympathetic and surprisingly musical. Plus he has one of the most infectious laughs I’ve ever heard, making most scenes with him in lots of fun. Goldie was the ‘rough diamond’, showing great flair and enthusiasm. Sue Perkins was her dry, witty self (boosted in my affections following Supersizers) who was only really floored when she had to take some praise. Katie Derham is the terribly nice Head Girl figure, who has been set up for a fall by being naturally good. Jane Asher shows early promise although has a frozen-on face. David Soul has an uber-fan for a mentor but seems to be doing well. And Alex James has been told to assert himself on the orchestra, so wears a cracking suit. I like him.

Alex James takes on the coke lords

Tonight’s telly – Monday 28 January

Former Blur bassist and self-confessed cocaine consumer Alex James travelled to Colombia in tonight’s Panorama to look at how the drug makes it from over there to Britain. He’d been invited by the Colombian president Alvaro Uribe who wanted a British celerity consumer to come over and experience how the drug was destroying his country.*

As a viewer I didn’t really need convincing that Colombia has been ravaged and torn apart by cocaine, nor that people who consume the drug should know that it has a bloody journey long before it gets anywhere near your nostrils.