On TV

Underground Britain: Chelsea Girl (BBC2)

ECCENTRIC scientist Hugh Sinclair was determined to prove that fish oil was good for you but, back in the 1940s, all fat was thought unhealthy.

He'd noticed that the Inuit, who existed mainly on a diet of seal blubber, had low rates of heart attack. Fish oils were protecting them, he concluded. When he published his theory in medical journal The Lancet, he was ridiculed and lost his post at Oxford.

Undeterred, he set up a research lab in his house, eating seal and fish for 100 days. A friend noted that the congealed black mess on his plate "looked nothing less than a turd". Certainly not a recipe you'd find in a Delia Smith cookbook.

His experiment involved cutting himself and seeing how long it took to stop bleeding, thus proving something about reducing the risk of heart attack by stopping blood clotting.

Another professor took dozens of fish oil capsules daily with no noticeable side effects, although "my wife noticed I smelt like a fish, which wasn't very pleasant".

The latest experiment, involving schoolchildren in the North-East, is more civilised. The six-month trial involves half the children taking a fish oil supplement and the other half taking a fishy-tasting placebo. No-one knew which child had which supplement. Psychologist Dr Madeleine Portwood wants to show fish oil can boost children's IQ.

The youngsters fed Omega 3 were found to pay more attention in class, and showed a striking difference in their reading and spelling. Some showed improvements in handwriting.

Others are sceptical about the benefits of fish oil. Whoever's right - and it would be nice to think that fish oil could make a difference - the subject provided Horizon with a compelling documentary. And I never thought I'd say that about fish oil.

The Underground Britain film Chelsea Girl was one of those documentaries that left you in a state of despair that its subject appeared unable to extricate herself from her dreadful situation.

Michelle Reynolds is a 25-year-old single mother who has lived a life of crime. Her involvement in credit card fraud finances her heroin and crack habit.

This begs the question whether film-maker Ben Anthony was doing her any favours exposing her life and crime to a wide public. But the cameras weren't a deterrent in keeping her clean of drugs or away from crime. She spent part of the year during which Anthony filmed her in prison for supplying drugs.

She came out drug-free and four stones heavier. As soon as she delayed a visit to her young son, being cared for by her mother, you knew that her fall from grace couldn't be far behind.

Despite being tagged, she did a runner. She rang Anthony asking for help. Her tried to persuade her, as her mother had done, to give herself up. She refused and walked off into the night.

Like the film-maker, we were left wondering what happened to her.

The King & I, Sunderland Empire

THERE is a slight suspicion that this magnificent Rodgers & Hammerstein musical is merely going through the motions after nine months on the road, or it could be just the overpowering influence of Broadway star Kevin Gray. Having sacrificed his locks for so long to become the billiard ball-headed King of Siam, one supposes he's entitled to his angrier-than-normal interpretation of the role. But his towering personality certainly fills every ornate elephant-sculptured atom of this popular show.

Elizabeth Renihan is a sketchier Anna Leonowens, the teacher recruited to educate Siam's 67 going on 80 royal children in western ways, as a result, but a very convincing singer. After a fluffy first half, the orchestra perked up to ensure that an eye-popping version of the Small House Of Uncle Thomas ballet scene brings home the plight of Princess Tuptim (the amazing opera-style voiced Yanle Zhong). Her death, after refusing to accept her fate as a kingly concubine, still resonates today.

Older audience members easily spot that court enforcer The Kralahome is played by Tony Osoba, most famous to millions as Fletcher's hardnut mate McLaren in Porridge.

The rotating choices of Anna's son Louis and royal heir Chulalongkorn brought us Thomas Siman and Omar Al Khina respectively. They, like many of the younger roles, erred on the cautious side. Something that will change, I suspect, when fresh-faced Sunderland youngsters are introduced next week.

* Runs until October 15. Box Office: 0870 6021130

Viv Hardwick