Child's play (From The Northern Echo)

Child's play

10:45am Thursday 19th November 2009

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Children In Need Rocks The Royal Albert Hall (BBC1, 8pm); Building the Super Tower: Megastructures (Five, 8pm); Wonderland: Can We Get Married? (BBC2, 9.50pm)

A FEW months back, Gary Barlow persuaded a bunch of his showbiz mates to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief.

By the time they reached the top, bystanders could have been forgiven for assuming that the rag-tag bunch of wheezing pop stars and presenters had just fallen out of a passing air ambulance. They looked ever-so-slightly knackered.

This time, Barlow’s doing his bit for charity in a way that won’t exhaust him or his pals quite so much, but which promises a superb night of entertainment.

For Children in Need 2009, Gary Barlow and Take That have invited an all-star lineup of rock and pop’s finest, who in total have amassed more than 50 UK number one hits, to take part in Children in Need Rocks the Royal Albert Hall.

The star-studded bill includes Paul Mc- Cartney, Lily Allen, Dizzee Rascal, Shirley Bassey, Leona Lewis, Paolo Nutini, Mika, Snow Patrol, Cheryl Cole, Katherine Jenkins and Muse.

And Take That will be performing with a special guest appearance by an old chum of theirs, Robbie Williams.

“It’s fantastic to be able to kick off BBC Children in Need 2009 in such a special way,” says Barlow.

“I’ve always wanted to do something like this and I can promise a night to remember, a night that will, I hope, play a small part in changing the lives of disadvantaged children across the UK.”

BBC Radio 1’s Chris Moyles hosts the event with the likes of Peter Kay, Fearne Cotton, James Corden and the legend that is Terry Wogan lurking around.

“When I started thinking about putting this all together, I wrote down a few names on a piece of paper of who I would love to be able to get in a perfect world. I figured if we got just a handful of them it would be a big success,” Barlow says.

THE Megastructures documentary series continues with Building The Super Tower – the World Trade Centre in Bahrain, the first skyscraper to be powered by wind turbines.

The location, Al-Manamah, experiences high winds for about 60 per cent of the year, due to its location on the Persian gulf, where areas of low pressure lead to strong winds. On a visit in 2003, keen sailor and designer Shaun Killa said he felt he should be sailing.

Killa designed the building with the intention of utilising the sea breeze, but some engineers said the wind turbines would not work.

Danish engineers Lars Torrild Thorbek and Ole Sangill had ideas of their own and set out to prove otherwise.

EMMA BISHOP and Ben Marshall are in their late 20s and have been together for six years, but because they both have Down’s syndrome their decision to get married is far from straightforward.

They’re residents of a supported-living community in Devon, where they have an active social life and part-time jobs.

They live in a small house with their friend, Cy Clench, who also has Down’s syndrome, and realise that if they get married it would mean a completely different way of living.

Wonderland: Can We Get Married? follows the couple from the high spirits of their nights out dancing, to their home life at the end of their working days.

The pair must try to work out whether married life would be the romantic dream they have always imagined or an enormous stress that they would be better off not having to deal with.

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