EVEN the name of the Trafalgar Square TV celebration caused a little, difficulty in my house. "Why is it V45 when it was 60 years ago?" said my wife, missing the relevance to 1945.

As it was, the title of A Party To Remember (BBC1, Sunday) certainly lived up to its promise. I was asked to rack my brain to recall who the series of young starlets were as they warbled old wartime songs with varying degrees of success.

Katie Melua, who battered a few lumps off the White Cliffs Of Dover, has emerged as a recent jazz-blues singer thanks to T Wogan esq. But names like Hayley Westenra ("isn't she Australian?") and Lucie Silvas (Brit with hit album Breathe In) were as testing as Shane Richie's rendition of As Time Goes By.

Hosts Eamonn Holmes and the splendidly dressed Natasha Kaplinsky opened confidently with the list of guests like Will Young (scream, scream) and Cliff Richard (elderly scream, scream).

"Before you write anything else, I want to go on record as not being a fan of Cliff Richard, who is exceedingly ancient," said my wife after a reassuring finger count to make sure she really wasn't old enough to remember VE Day.

Eamonn did well until the BBC made the mistake of letting him loose on the wartime veterans in the square. He was lost from the start, having mistaken a Mr Broomhead for a Broomfield and then dashing away from a woman who might have revealed a bit too much information about night-time celebrations. "I can't stand these embarrassing live interviews," thundered my war correspondent before declaring that ex-M People singer Heather Small was also on the unknown list.

In spite of several declarations that this will be the last time for such celebrations, one suspects that the importance of 65th and 70th anniversaries might tempt out the celebrity troops once more.

Fortunately, there was a programme to remember when New Tricks (BBC1, Monday) returned with North-Easterners Alun Armstrong and James Bolam plus the always entertaining Dennis Waterman. Old cops re-investigating old cases also allows old favourites like Keith Barron to put in an appearance as an ex-detective who failed to find the killer of a well-known barrister. Jenny Agutter turned up as the barrister's well-spoken wife, and Anita Dobson played a former whip-handling dominatrix, so no change there then. The most amusing moment was ex-Minder Waterman and Armstrong indulging in a "handbag-style" fight as they attempted to discover each other's pay details.

I earlier made the mistake of telling the war correspondent that Flog It! (BBC2, all week) was returning for a new early evening series with effusive host Paul Martin. Thanks to Paul and his pals, the public now know a Lalique from a Tiffany and a piece of Clarice Cliff from Moorcroft. The 6pm national and regional news has played second fiddle to the sound of auctioneers in action.

This was in total contrast to the delights of Kath & Kim (BBC2, Thursday) which is a sitcom with an audience oftwo million in Australia. The sight of a mother and daughter going from nought to hysterical in seconds suddenly made the VE Day concert seem sensational.

Published: 14/05/2005