Monarchy (C4)

Jennie Bond's Royals (five)

HISTORY comes in many shapes and sizes. David Starkey, whose Monarchy series began earlier this week, favours a sober approach. Mind you, taking royalty seriously becomes less possible with each fresh revelation about their private lives, but Starkey does his best.

He has the advantage, at the moment, of dealing with the early days of the monarchy over 1,500 years ago in the "chaos and violence of the dark ages," when the tabloid press weren't around.

Compared to his previous efforts, this was a bit dull, despite Starkey materialising mysteriously from the steam of Roman baths and in the middle of fields where battles were fought. Perhaps things will perk up once he gets on more familiar territory.

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond was much more fun as her series considered The War Of The Wales as Charles and Diane played out their marriage and its break-up in the full glare of the press and public.

The James Bond-style credits indicated that hers would be a more popular, almost tabloid approach to the subject. She'd assembled a table-full of royal reporters and photographers to mull over their exclusives and recent developments in the soap opera known as the House of Windsor.

There were also comments from former employees of the royal household - Diana's private secretary and media advisor - to lend an air of authenticity to the proceedings.

Bond didn't have anything particularly fresh to offer. We'd already heard about the Princess' gift of stockings that Bond had admired but this "Diana invited me round to see her at Kensington Palace" style of reporting made it easier to connect with the story than Starkey's historical fact sheet.

Bond's conclusion was that Charles and Diana manipulated the media quite unashamedly to their own ends. Both gave TV interviews when their marriage was in trouble that were perhaps ill-advised, with both the heir to the throne and his wife admitting publicly to affairs.

Things didn't always go according to plan, like the time Diana's clandestine meeting with a Daily Mail reporter was captured on camera by rival The Sun. And was Charles well-advised to complain about the media at the same time he'd invited a documentary film crew to follow him around for a year?.

You have to admit they were very good at the way they used the press. On the day that Charles confessed to an affair on TV, Diana upstaged him and made the front pages by turning up at a public event in the most glamorous, off-the-shoulder dress imaginable. This ensured the press got the photographs they needed to go with accounts of Charles' confession the next morning.

Bond mulled over with former ITN royal reporter Nicholas Owen the time someone fired a starting pistol and leapt on stage during Charles' tour of Australian, in 1994. Bond was more concerned about her appearance on the tape than the potential danger to the prince. "I look a wreck," she exclaimed on viewing the footage.

Pinafore Swing, York Theatre Royal

FORMER artistic director John Doyle returns to the Theatre Royal with one of the actor-musician shows with which he's had hits at the Watermill Theatre since leaving York. This one takes Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta HMS Pinafore and turns the piece into a 1940s swing musical, but with only limited success. It's all a bit dull and bland.

This is a tale of romance on the high seas on the good ship P4 as sailors, wrens and a singing trio in the Andrews Sisters mould find love, intrigue and relatives they didn't know existed. The problem is that Pinafore Swing doesn't swing as much as you dearly wish it would. The setting - which would work better in the round - seems marooned in the wide open spaces of the Theatre Royal stage, with the performers crammed onto a small acting area. They remain distant, just not connecting with the audience as much as they should. There's little sense of fun as American sailor Jack and posh Captain Joe vie for the affections of wren Jenny.

The G&S score is artfully given the swing treatment, with the eight-strong cast singing, acting and playing instruments. The performers work well enough as an ensemble but individually are little more than adequate. Only Kieran Buckeridge as Joe, who describes himself as a Noel sort of Coward, stands out from the crowd.

* Until Saturday. Tickets (01904) 623568.

Steve Pratt

Iain Banks in conversation with Chaz Brenchley, Durham Gala Theatre

POPULAR Scottish author Iain Banks wore his science fiction hat for this event, appearing in conversation with local author Chaz Brenchley, winner of the Northern Writer of the Year award (2000).

Iain read from his new novel, The Algebraist, showing that this book is just as mind-bending as his earlier sci-fi novels. Asked if it was a continuation of the Culture series, Iain answered: "It's an anti-culture novel, set in a barbaric, AI phobic society." But he promised that the book after next is "99 per cent likely to be a culture one".

Chaz inquired about Iain's confidence in writing about alien civilisations. "I had a lot of fun coming up with the structure of the galaxy, but only used a quarter if it," he replied. "So I had blasphemous thoughts that it could become a trilogy." When Chaz goaded Iain for his idleness, Iain spoke about a recent non-fiction project, writing about Scottish whisky. "I had the literary equivalent of an affair, seduced by a rival publisher. There was drink involved."

The audience then had the opportunity to question the duo. When asked the reason for Feersum Endjinn's phonetic spelling, Iain replied: "I needed something to make the wee nutter more endearing."

Rachel Bignell

* Durham Literature Festival runs until Saturday. For information, ring 0191-301 8245 or visit www.literaturefestival.co.uk