IT is the age of the manufactured pop star - when the ability to mime to technically-enhanced recordings is the key to success.

Pop Idol, the television programme which has gripped the country, has been a refreshing antidote.

Whoever wins tonight's final - Gareth or Will - will deserve their glory because they will have proved beyond question that they have real talent.

Week after week, they have performed live in front of millions of viewers, meeting the challenge of singing different styles of music, from Abba pop songs to big band classics.

Naturally, we would have preferred Zoe Birkett - our gifted, down-to-earth local lass - to have still been in the frame. She did Darlington and the North-East proud and we have no doubt that she will continue to do so for years to come.

But in Gareth Gates and Will Young, we have young men who are a credit to their generation and both will be pop idols.

Although we have expressed reservations about the millions of pounds the programme has generated for the hangers-on in the record industry, it is impossible to dispute that its format has made for one of the most compelling television programmes in years.

And call us old-fashioned for mentioning it, but it has guaranteed that the winner will at least be able to sing.