Your Life In Their Vans (BBC1) - AS moving house is acknowledged as one of the most stressful things you can do, it's strange that anyone would add to the bad time by having a TV film crew around to capture every crisis.

The narrator maintained a relentlessly jovial air, as when the removal vans thundered into a small village - "the villagers gather in hostile groups, trying to remember where they put the ducking stool". This tone was inappropriate for the elderly couple who had difficulty walking, let alone moving to New Zealand. A postscript showed them and their furniture safely arrived in their new home.

Donna and her daughters' move went less smoothly, as Dave and Diane Lloyd arrived with their possessions in Kwik Move vans before she was ready to vacate the premises. Kwik Move was neither quick nor moving. Worse still, in their eyes, Donna was using "a transit crewed by amateurs" to transport her goods to her new house. "These people think they can do it themselves and make life a misery for us," moaned the crew.

Mr Lloyd became the bearer of bad news by having to tell Donna, on the Kwik Move men's instructions, that she'd be charged £150 for every hour they stood around.No wonder she promptly burst into tears. What a contrast to Barbara and Herb who, locked out of their new home, left the removal men to investigate a restaurant they'd read about in The Good Food Guide.

No matter how much you clear out before moving, you always unpack to find things for which you have no use. This certainly applied to Richard and Victoria, whose "few odds and ends" were packed in 400 boxes, containing everything from his-and-hers butcher's bicycles to a disco ball.

Removal man Mike offered to take some off their hands for charity. A colleague was less complimentary about a piece of art belonging to another couple. "Load of crap", he declared uncharitably.

Double Act, Watershed Productions,

Newcastle Theatre Royal

ADULTS unfamiliar with Jacqueline ilson's books for an almost exclusively young female market will squirm a little at the stereotyped portrayal of grown-ups. Widower (John McCraw from Blaydon) behaves thoughtlessly by sweeping his twin daughters off to a remote Northumberland village book shop without any discussion and leaving behind a beloved but unpleasant gran (Bonny Ambrose) - dumped in sheltered accommodation like Peter Kay's John Smith's ad. The distraught girls, who seem to have an indeterminate age between six and ten, then rebel against the rapid introduction of stepmother Rose (Laura Sheppard), the village school's woolly-headed teacher.

The clever adaptation by director Vicky Ireland, who comes from Scarborough, scores highly because twins Ruby (Helen Rutter) and Garnet (Catherine Kinsella) and other child parts appeal immediately to a young audience. The pair are unrelated and actually 23 and 22 but use acting ability and costume to convince us otherwise. Wilson's great strength is her children, who must always cope with adversity.

The hardest-working actor is Stockton's Ben Redfern, who switches between the school bully, The Blob, and gran's 90-year-old boyfriend with ease, throwing in some tap dancing for good measure. Ireland and sound designer Steven Markwick show their grasp of the junior market by including songs from Avril Lavigne, the Sugababes, Pink and the Foo Fighters. Wilson's book-filled home has inspired a set made from a giant sheet of paper and piles of big, colourful books. The result is a chock-a-bloc week of young people, many making their first foray into a theatre, so plenty more of this at the double.

Viv Hardwick

* Double Act runs until Saturday. Evenings at 7pm until Friday.

Friday Matinee2.30pm. Saturday at 11am and 2pm. Box Office: 0870 905 5060. The production returns to the region for the week of October 8-11 for a run at the Forum Theatre, Billingham (01642) 552663.

Published: 17/07/2003