TV review

Ads That Changed The World (five)

ALEXANDER the Great liked nothing better, after a hard day's conquering, than to have a party and a few drinks. So was his boozing the cause of his death at the age of 32? Or were more sinister forces at work?

It's a bit late to assemble the suspects in the library and have Hercule Poirot exercise his leetle grey cells to reveal whodunit, but that didn't stop top Scotland Yard detective Commander John Grieve re-opening the case.

He tested existing accounts of the Macedonian king's demise using modern scientific methods, expert opinion and a computer-controlled dummy corpse. Various causes of death were considered - liver or kidney problems caused by heavy drinking, cerebral malaria, and poison (with Aristotle the prime suspect as supplier of the deadly potion).

For anyone who likes a good mystery, this was as baffling and exciting as anything you'll find in a Sherlock Holmes book.

Take the reports of dead birds around the time of Alexander's illness. That could have been an indication that he had West Nile Fever (no relation to Saturday Night Fever, I assume), an expert in tropical diseases stated. The same thing happened in New York more recently prior to an outbreak of the disease.

Grieve's conclusion was even stranger: Alexander was poisoned, but not intentionally. He was given an accidental overdose of a drug being used in his treatment. Inspector Morse would have been proud of him.

The title of Ads That Changed The World sounded like a big claim, but the programme - the first of three tracing the evolution of TV adverts - found some justification for it.

When Nick Kamen walked into a launderette and stripped to his underwear in a commercial on Boxing Day, 1985, the advertising industry was revolutionised. This was the first time a male body had been used to sell something (legally and in public, at least).

Kamen became a pin-up, Levi's jean sales soared 200 per cent over two years, and boxers became a fashion essential. The makers of such knickers can thank advertising watchdogs for that. Kamen only wore boxers because the authorities thought Y-fronts would be too revealing.

All very different to 1898, when the first ad, for Sunlight soap, appeared. Later we learnt that nine out of ten screen stars used Lux. "Try new Lux, I'm sure you'll love it," purred Jane Fonda, dabbing the frothy stuff over her cheeks.

If it didn't exist, the advertising industry invented it. The term BO was thought up to plug Lifebuoy toilet soap, although today nobody would dare use the word "toilet" in association with a product you put on your face.

The names kept coming - Captain Bird's Eye, Mr Kipling, Smash, Yorkie and Henry Cooper splashing it all over in his Brut ads.

They don't make them like that any more and, thanks to video and fast forward, we don't have to watch them.

La Traviata, Newcastle Theatre Royal

AS the curtain rises on Opera North's production of La Traviata, the audience is presented with a glimpse into the future. Parisian courtesan Violetta Valery is giving a party. As she walks into the room resplendent in a ball gown, we catch sight of a different Violetta behind a screen - a shadowy, pale figure, wearing a nightgown and coughing with the tuberculosis that will eventually kill her.

It's a clever device and her death hangs over the opera, making her brief happiness with her young lover, Alfredo Germont, even more poignant.

Violetta, based on Dumas' La Dame aux Camellias, is the original tart with a heart and has been played on stage and screen by luminaries such as Maria Callas, Greta Garbo and Sarah Bernhard, but Janis Kelly makes the role her own. Her Violetta is both fragile and fiery and superbly sung.

As Alfredo, Tom Randle is suitably handsome and impetuous but his voice never quite convinces of his passion.

In the second act, the opera really comes alive with the introduction of Alfredo's father, Giorgio Germont. He persuades Violetta to leave Alfredo as their relationship is damaging the family name.

Robert McFarland is superb as the misguided, implacable Germont and the duet between the pair is full of passion and feeling. When he exhorts Violetta to accept her fate and weep, there are plenty in the audience who weep with her.

The third act, when she is alone and dying in Paris, is truly heartbreaking and painful to watch.

Stylish sets, sensitive orchestral playing and a strong supporting cast do full justice to one of Verdi's most sublime scores.

Christen Pears

l Runs until Saturday, interspersed with productions of Manon and Rusalka. Box office: 0870 905 5060.

CONCORDE'S

LAST FLIGHT

- SEE TOMORROW'S NORTHERN ECHO