Holby City (BBC1) Secrets Of The Lost Fighter Pilots: Revealed (five)

'They're doing me for drunken driving," revealed Mark. "That's a bit of a downer," replied a colleague, a little unnecessarily you might think.

Mark ended up drunk, smashing a bottle, cutting his hand and needing stitches. "At least he's in the right place," observed the same unsympathetic colleague.

I'm not so sure. A visit to Holby City found the place in crisis, perhaps reflecting the state of the NHS today. Gunshot wounds, a transplant patient receiving a pig's kidney, one surgeon distraught that he let his wife kill herself, and another consultant having his suitcase of clothes ripped up by his jilted fiancee.

And, oh yes, Connie is pregnant and doesn't want father Sam involved (although you might think he's done enough already).

New surgeon Dan Dan the operating man - known as Bermuda Man due to his penchant for colourful casual shirts - is sparring with Jac over the operating table. We're going to need megasuction, he says. She says: "I imagine you would be good at that. Suction seems to be your thing, the way you sucked up to Camilla."

It seems Bermuda Man jilted Camilla, not at the altar, but outside the church and then went on honeymoon by himself. This results in the destruction of his wardrobe although a fashion expert, as well as disgruntled partner, might well take exception to his choice of shirts.

Meanwhile, Connie is confronted by Sam, who'd told his ex, Chrissie, that he's to be a father. Breaking the news at the funeral of her mother Tricia - the one killed by drunk driver husband Mark - hardly seems the best place to tell him, "You were a sperm donor, nothing more, nothing less."

Victims of a supermarket shotgun robbery and a mother with a tumour who appeared to have stolen two children also required attention. It's a wonder anybody gets treatment with all the personal traumas that staff experience.

Secrets Of The Lost Fighter Pilots: Revealed tackled the fate of British and American pilots shot down and still missing. Dogfights over Korea in 1950 left 31 unaccounted for. There are no crash sites and no evidence they're dead or alive. For relatives of those who went missing half a century ago, the uncertainty is terrible. Many refuse to believe the pilots died, clinging to the hope that they could still be alive.

Pilots shot down faced being questioned by the Russians and, as one pilot put it: "I didn't fear getting shot down as much as being captured".

Former Sabre pilot Colonel Bud Mahurin told how he tried to kill himself after being captured. He failed and, following 16 months of interrogation and brainwashing, he was released. His story gave hope to other families refusing to believe loved ones were dead.

Evidence identified several victims, enabling them to have funerals at last. The fate of others remains unknown, revealed a documentary highlighting a forgotten part of the Korean conflict, itself known as the Forgotten War.

Sleeping Beauty

Harrogate Theatre

'I adore children," Fairy Carabosse assured us, adding a little alarmingly, "especially with chips and tomato sauce." Considering the amount of noise the young audience was making, I don't think she'd have had a very peaceful meal. The packed house proved an exceptionally lively bunch - those pupils from Ripon Grammar School can certainly make a din - who cheered, booed, sang along and laughed at the corniest of jokes.

Harrogate's pantomime is nothing if not "truly traditional" as it says on the packet. As usual, Nicholas Pegg's script and Lennox Greaves' direction tick all the boxes required for a boisterous seasonal show.

The ease with which a new Dame (Nanny Clutterbuck, played by Full Monty actor Steve Huison) fits into the glittering proceedings shows this pantomime is a well-oiled old vehicle bursting with character and colour. No soap stars or pop stars failing to master the perils of pantomime but a small group of experienced performers giving their all.

The plot hardly matters with Sleeping Beauty. Princess Aurora pricks her finger and falls sleep. Hero Tom Clutterbuck must undertake a dangerous quest and give her a kiss to wake her.

This takes him through the swamp of despair, up the mountain of terror and into the spider queen's lair, although jokes about Jan Lemming (full marks for being topical), Carol Vorderman and Noel Edmonds are probably more harmful than any big arachnid

As usual, Tim Stedman's Silly Billy is a superb study in stupidity with Lindsay Ashworth's wonderfully wicked Fairy Carabosse putting up obstacles to a happy ending.

Until January 7. Tickets 01423-502116.

Steve Pratt

Morrissey,

Newcastle Arena

THE former Smiths frontman came on stage to the delight of the energised crowd and lapped up the adulation with characteristic campness before bursting into an explosive version of Panic.

It sounded a bit echo-ey in the cavernous venue and I wondered whether the singer is cut out for stadium gigs or whether he is better suited to more intimate venues. But the engineers appeared to solve the problem when he launched straight into his second, and more recent, song, First Of The Gang To Die.

He was dressed in a red shirt and black tie but dispensed with his top, causing mini riots as it landed in the crowd amid whoops of delight at the sight of his bare torso.

The set was filled with something for everyone with modern tracks, such as Irish Blood, English Heart, getting a similar response to Everyday Is Like Sunday.

The audience was filled with fans of all ages with many revisiting their youth when The Smiths were the biggest thing ever.

But it was all slightly marred by those chanting Morrissey to the tune of Here We Go throughout. It seemed to irk him and the set seemed to end abruptly as he flounced off stage in a bit of a diva strop. A wasted opportunity for a truly great gig. Shame.

Gavin Havery