GLEE + BBC4 DRAMAS

Glee (E4 Monday 9p.m.): I love this high-school-musical soap. It makes me laugh, sing and dance so I rate it highly. I thought it might be cheesy, but not so. It's the ultimate in the feel-good-factor thingymijigs but tackles challenging subjects such as disability, homosexuality, teenage pregancy etc etc, effortlessly and with compassion.

The music and dance numbers are spectacular and I have already bought the CD of Season One. Lou came home for a few days last week and I said: 'Let's listen to this,' whilst she was a captive audience in the car.

Not having seen the show and being very much her own woman, she turned her nose up. However, after the first four tracks, she said: 'Okay. I'd like to download this onto my computer.' (Please, Web Sheriff, cut me some slack here. I'll buy her a copy if you object - just let me know if you're annoyed but don't sue me.)

For those of you who are still sceptical, it's worth watching if only for the brilliant character of Sue Sylvester, the teacher who's in charge of the cheerleaders. She's a wonderful arch-villian - says what she thinks, which is often pretty extreme - and bullies the kids in a brutal but extremely funny way.

And as the Season progresses, we get to see each character develop more fully, including Sue, so there's a real depth to the show.

Brilliant. What more can I say. If you loved Mamma Mia, you'll love this. (And if you hated Mamma Mia, you'll hate this!) Each to their own.

BBC 4 Dramas: Over the last year, BBC 4 have produced a series of dramas of the highest calibre, focusing on the lives of famous women. The acting, pace and drama have been impressive in each one. This is how TV drama should be.

I haven't kept a list, so I might miss out a few, but from the top of my head, I can remember dramas about:-

Barbara Cartland

Margot Fonteyn

Enid Blyton

Gracie Fields

Mo Mowlem

Heather Brooke (On Expenses): she was the American woman who used the freedom of information act to release details of MP's expenses. Eventually, The Telegraph published the full lists so took all the glory, but it was her dogged groundwork that enabled that to happen. So, good on her. (Can't believe MP's are getting a pay increase of £1000 per annum during this terrible economic downturn, when so many people are losing their jobs/taking pay cuts because of their inability to regulate the investment bankers.)


By the way, I once saw Mo Mowlam sitting in the lobby of The House of Commons, a number of years ago. I was with a group of pupils from Henry Beaufort School, visiting Parliament on a school activity week.

There she was, sitting cross-legged on a comfy chair, looking relaxed, confident and extremely attractive. This was before the brain tumour and it's such a pity that we lost her - she was that rarest of people: a politician with integrity, guts, compassion and an ability to make a difference.

We were actually heading for the House of Lords, where we had been invited to watch a railway bill going through. Not what you'd call interesting. I'd actually read a copy of the report and the Peers who spoke just didn't seem to have a clue, making we wonder if they had even read their own copies at all.

The big surprise for me, though, was being very impressed with Cecil Parkinson. He didn't speak but was sitting on some steps at the peers' entrance, watching and listening intently.

I'd always thought of him as a slimy sleezeball (sorry, Cecil) but actually he had a remendous presense about him. A sense of authority and intelligence. What a shame that he disgraced himself, like so many men, John Terry being another example, who can't keep their flies unzipped. I suppose, that's men for you.

Now there's an opening for comment. Come on guys, give me hell over that last statement. Show me that I'm wrong.