Dream job

TERM continues at Jamie Oliver’s school, where getting students to be quiet and listen occupies far too much of their teachers’ attention.

In tonight’s instalment, science teacher Professor Robert Winston takes his hands-on approach to the extreme.

He’s giving his class a lesson about fertility and his practical approach involves asking two of the boys to provide a sperm sample. Hopefully, they won’t be called out to the front of the class to do it.

But show some enthusiasm and you could get a job. Jamie thinks Jenny stands out in his home economics class and offers her a placement at one of his restaurants.

Other pupils take to the stage of the Globe Theatre, in London, with drama teacher Simon Callow. They show real promise, but a word of warning if they’re thinking of a career as thespians – acting is a precarious profession with 80 per cent or more actors out of work at any time.

Oliver’s experiment to convince 20 young people, with just a handful of qualifications between them, to give school a second chance is proving entertaining, if not particularly educational for them.

IN these austere times, words of wisdom on how to save a few pennies are always welcome. Scrimpers: Waste Not, Want Not is a money-saving masterclass fronted by the FT’s financial columnist Mrs Moneypenny and Merryn Somerset Webb, editor-in-chief of Moneyweek.

Mrs Moneypenny? No, not the one who was always eyeing up James Bond, this is the woman who has more tricks up her sleeve than Paul Daniels.

Each week, she’ll spend time with a different family, delving into its finances.

Her aim is to help them stop their moneywasting ways and give them easy-to-follow advice on how they can improve their finances and stick to a budget Meanwhile, financial expert Merryn Somerset Webb is the High Street Hijacker, a human calculator who will drop fi- Neville Staple The Duchess, York THE Specials’ biggest hit, Ghost Town, may have captured the political mood of the early-Eighties, but it seemed no less apt being played this weekend, set as it was to the backdrop of further rioting in London.

Thirty years on from the release of Ghost Town, The Specials’ frontman Neville Staple seems not to have missed a beat. He is lithe and energetic, and he dances and postures and urges the crowd on. But they need no encouragement as he plays one ska or reggae great after another – Monkey Man, Pressure Drop, The Lunatics Are Taking Over The Asylum, some of his own, some covers, Staple and his band deliver them all with the same skill and authenticity.

The audience is fairly sparse given the status of the performer, but the lack of numbers does nothing to kill the atmosphere, which Staple keeps bouyant with his boundless energy and a set of classics which just cannot fail.

This crowd of about 100 looks a bit like the cast of This is England; the passage of time doing nothing to crease those crisp Ben Sherman shirts or scuff the burnish from the brogues.

And like his adoring crowd, the original rudeboy shows no signs yet of hanging up his trilby.

Jim Entwistle Tonight’sTV By Steve Pratt email: steve.pratt@nne.co.uk nancial “truth bombs”. She’ll be challenging the general public with questions about their personal finance: How much is in their bank account? How much do they spend on lattes and takeaways every week?

The programme also promises entertaining and practical tips from Britain’s thriftiest people. These scrimpers will embrace the wartime spirit and show us their clever and sometimes funny ways of saving money.

KIRSTIE ALLSOPP and Phil Spencer go hand in hand with property expertise as easily as night follows day, so you’d be forgiven for questioning what the heck they’re doing fronting Vacation, Vacation, Vacation, a seemingly holiday edition of acclaimed show Location, Location, Location.

It turns out the pair know a thing or two about helping people getting the best out of their holidays as well. Their new series is bursting with destination information, activities for all budgets and the lowdown on what’s worth spending hard-earned cash on and what’s not. In the first episode, they’re packing our bags and heading off to Ibiza to find out if Kirstie can find a decent budget break for a family.

Meanwhile, Phil’s taking a look at the luxuries of the super rich as he checks out a private suite at one of the island’s most exclusive hotels.

OKAY, so we’ve heard it all before; the former Atomic Kitten promises that her demons have been put well and truly behind her and just to prove it all to us, she’s launching another reality series. But the cynic in us may soon be eating his words, as this time Kerry really does seem to have turned her life around and is putting motherhood first.

However, in Kerry Katona – The Next Chapter she soon learns that scars of old cannot be removed just like that – and so travels north to see her tattooist in the hope of getting a new design inked on her back to cover up reference to her estranged husband Mark.

On a happier note, Kerry’s attending the TV Choice awards ceremony and putting in more training in preparation for filming her new fitness DVD.