Sebastian_Crawford

Nearly ten years after seeing it in the West End on Boxing Day my mother and I sat down to watch our bargain basement copy of "Evita" Two hours or so later all we could say to each other was "Sniffle, wow!".

If you have the power to switch it into b&w you'll be transformed - the attention to detail is amazing.

After the inexplicably lauded "Chicago", "Evita" takes us back to the first half of the 20th Century where hopes were rising in the southern hemisphere that they would overtake war torn Europe and rise as the dominant power.

Madonna is understated and sublime as Eva Peron. She acts with her eyes. I abhor Madonna's acting but there is something about her as Evita which is so touching, so powerful one cannot helped but be hypnotised.

Evita ROCKS. You are watching a very serious movie where every word, more or less, is sung. The MTV generation can handle that - can you?

Roger and the Rottentrolls was a televisual boon in the mid nineties. I used to love coming in from classes and catching their latest antics in the chaotic labyrinth that was the "Treacle Mines".

Think of an even more demented "Fraggle Rock" and you'll be along the right lines. Random plots which frequently seemed to make sense at the beginning but would then reach a conclusion not even Agatha Christie would have seen coming, witty scripts which veered from the sublime to the ridiculous to the even more sublimely ridiculous and appealed to my nephew, then three, and the adults in the room making sure afore mentioned nephew didn't fall into the VCR.

The puppetry was also top notch. Occasionally I'd forget they weren't real and feel a little sad. Definitely recommend buying the DVD.

Unintentionally hysterical paranormal rubbish and occasional psychodrama from wee Ms. Porter. A show so full of biographical errors, random locations, "orbs" and the like that it makes you wish you could hide on set and jump out screaming at a crucial moment and see Gail Porter become the unofficial spokeswoman for Tena Lady for the rest of her natural.

Best way to watch this show is with a bottle of wine already sunk, the lights off and poltergeist activity of your own on the landing outside your bedroom - you may then be a little scared (or levitating surrounded by Fisher Price toys, depending on your mood).

I wish I could think of something genuinely positive. There have been moments when I've wanted to hug Gail and do v. bad things to her male co-host in one of the rooms at the Roosevelt Hotel but they generally pass. I did actually really appreciate the way Chris could be channelled by a v. p'd off Joan Crawford and yet his hair remained perfect the whole time. Hmmm, maybe it was her.

Anyway, if you find yourself a bit tipsy of a Tuesday evening do watch this show.