TV review

YOU knew from the start that it was going to end badly. The very idea that a former exotic dancer could successfully turn himself into an estate agent renting out exclusive lofts to the better-off in London seemed risky.

The latest episode of the fly-on-the-wall documentary series about estate agents Greene & Co followed 25-year-old Johnny Benjamin's time in the company's specialised branch, which deals with old industrial buildings and warehouses that have been transformed into "an urban living experience" - lofts and apartments, in plain English - in London's fashionable East End.

This is a world where agents talk about their pipeline (deals on the go), solid buyers, and rents of £1,100 a week. For all that, the estate agents themselves earn a low basic salary with their main income derived from commission.

Former stripper Johnny had been out of work for four months, had mounting debts and been forced to return to live with his parents. He walked into Greene & Co off the street and asked for a job. They gave him one, although warning bells should have sounded when management talked of moulding him into the company shape.

Other negotiators passed through the scene, notably ex-ballet dancer Toby, who hadn't done a deal for two months, and Casper, who saw a sale involving solicitor friends go badly.

But the main focus was on Johnny. He did well - until the stress got to him. He was left running the office on his own, juggling management duties and dealing with potential clients.

Bosses gave him an advance to help pay off his debts. They offered to rent him a flat in a property they owned, although when he - and we - saw it, you felt they must be joking. Far from being the posh loft of which Johnny dreamed, it was a derelict building that even squatters would have turned down. So much for his benevolent employers.

Johnny treated himself to a night out in a lap dancing establishment. "Old habits die hard," he observed as a dancer straddled him, thrusting her naked breasts in his face. I hate to think what his exclusive clients said on seeing his method of relaxation.

Two months into the job and the stress manifested itself in bad time-keeping and poor office management. Doing record renting figures counted for nothing when his attitude to clients became unacceptable. A row with the office secretary led to an even fiercer one with his superior.

As a result, Johnny left amid comments from bosses that he hadn't transformed in the way they wanted. As he returned to the office to clear his desk, the programme makers had not only a very dramatic story but also one whose participants allowed them to film much of the conflict.

As for Johnny, he's now working for another estate agents and has, hopefully, put his own house in order.

The Importance of Being Earnest, Darlington Civic Theatre

DESPITE viewing conditions more akin to In The Heat Of The Night, a large perspiring opening night audience enjoyed this gentle comedy dig in the ribs from the pen of Oscar Wilde. It is, of course, Wilde's women we admire most. Over-bearing, adorable and irritating by turns, the top drawer example is Darlington's own Wendy Craig, who delivers the bunkum-burdened Lady Bracknell with serene authority. Hattie Ladbury as the Hon Gwendolen Fairfax and Olivia Darnley as Cecily Cardew enjoy the apparel of apparently worldly-wise women who will only marry a man called Earnest. Experienced Josephine Tewson adds her trademark jittery underling as the unfortunate Miss Prism, haunted by the knowledge she deposited a baby in a handbag at Victoria Station instead of a three-volume manuscript. Fate is against that child, who becomes John Worthing (Andrew Havill), marrying Gwendolen, Lady Bracknell's daughter, until he provides a parent not linked to a larger London railway station. Friend Algernon (Adam James) has the far easier task of falling in love with Worthing's ward Cecily. It seems a little unfair that today's female onlookers should hiss so audibly through their teeth over the slightest comedy compliment paid to these two hapless heroes, but such is the low esteem placed on male constancy these days. Wilde's overall language may be miles wide of the mark after over 100 years but the appeal of his witty absurdities lingers on.

Viv Hardwick

* The Importance Of Being Earnest runs until Saturday. Box Office: (01325) 486555