On TV

Rome (BBC2)

NEVER make promises you can't keep. I worried that Jamie Oliver was biting off more than he could chew when making a salad for locals during his Italian culinary tour.

He was so convinced they'd like it that he said: "If they don't like that I'll cut me own b*****s off - and here's the knife".

If he was in Rome, he'd be singing with the castrati. It's rare that you can link a drama series and a cooking programme being shown on the same night, but the link between the sex-and-sandals saga Rome and Jamie's Great Escape was obvious - testicles.

Oliver escaped with his intact, the goat in the third episode of Rome wasn't so lucky. They ended up on the plate of young Octavian. "Eat them while they are warm," ordered his mother Atia, like Ant and Dec conducting an I'm A Celebrity bushtucker challenge.

Rome is, according to ratings figures, losing viewers as fast as Tony Blair is losing supporters. But the high levels of nudity, sex and hilarious dialogue (in Rome, not the House of Commons) ensure much to enjoy as long as you don't take it as seriously as actors determined to give RSC performances deliver Crossroads dialogue.

These Romans aren't very nice to each other. "A raddled old sandal" says Atia of another female. Ensuring her son climbs the social ladder is one of her prime aims. "Don't sit there like a prawn, say something witty," she tells him at a feast. Poor lad, it's difficult to speak when you're chewing on a goat's testicle (especially if the goat is still attached).

Atia's daughter Octavia is busy chewing over the idea that mummy killed her husband. A spot of swearing on Jupiter's stone ensued as she promised: "If she did kill him, by the Furies, I'll open her throat with my teeth". Presumably all the knives are being used to castrate goats.

Back in Italy, Jamie's Great Escape reached Puglia and the dreaded Turkey Twizzlers re-appeared. This isn't another name for turkey testicles but the item on the school dinner menu that so alarmed chef Jamie in his previous series.

He showed the twizzlers to dinner ladies at an Italian primary school. They threw them in the bin in disgust. Fried food isn't allowed in school, and the local McDonalds closed down after three months because kids weren't interested.

They are served healthy pasta dishes and fruit every day. Ingredients cost 90p per child, which compares poorly with this country's 37p. Jamie had a message for the Prime Minister - twice as much as the £280m promised for spending on school dinners might be needed.

Jamie challenged schoolchildren to recognise vegetables. When he did it in this country they didn't know their parsnips from their elbows. In the Italian school, children of three or four could identify an aubergine. Perhaps he should have made it harder and showed them a few goats' testicles.

The Proclaimers, The Sage Gateshead

THE opening bars of Letter From America started up very early in the set and I was reminded of times when I heard this sort of tune at school discos. It is 18 years since the nation was taken by the passionate twins from Fife who sing in their own accents rather than the Americanised style that is so popular.

Craig and Charlie Reid have grown up a lot since and there's a new sense of maturity in their music. Rather than looking like a couple of blond Buddy Hollys, they were more like folk-rock legends, and their revitalised version of their debut hit sounded fantastic within the great acoustics of Hall One. Their strong, harmonious voices blended well and their backing band is top notch, sounding impressive amid the swirly purple haze light show.

After a few lesser-known tracks they brought the audience to its feet with the opening bars of I'm On My Way. The stalls rose in an enthusiastic Mexican wave to get up and boogie and clap their hands.

I must confess that I only wanted to hear three songs and once they had done I'm Gonna Be (500 miles) I was happy. But they went on and demonstrated a wide range of their new material, which sounded good and well put together although, to be honest, they didn't sound like the hits we know and love. A few clever covers of other harmony artists would have been an idea.

Gavin Havery