THERE is nothing, as they say, like being there.
Scotland’s John Higgins and English qualifier Mark Selby are, as I type, contesting the final of the World Snooker Championship.
This sporting weekend always brings back memories of a dramatic previous final, which I was lucky enough to attend.
The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield is well-named.
Millions know and love it through the BBC’s excellent annual TV coverage.
The arrival of digital TV has vastly increased the amount of table time which can be screened.

THE beard is now grey, as well as black. But the music is more poignant and powerful than ever.
Yusuf Islam is the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens.
A year ago, BBC1 screened an outstanding Imagine documentary about the superstar who vanished from the stage.
You can read about it in the MEN feature here.
At the end of his final performance in 1979, he told the audience: “We’ve only got one life and we’ve got to do the best with it.
“You’ve got to find the right path and when you do, you know it. So I pray that you find the right path. Inshallah. Goodbye.”
Last Sunday, the same channel broadcast Yusuf’s return to the stage at London’s Porchester Hall.
It saw classic songs like Father and Son and Peace Train alongside tracks from his “comeback” album An Other Cup.

THE first episode in the new series of Hustle was filmed last December on location in Los Angeles.
But while it looks impossibly glam and stylish on screen, don’t get too envious of the cast.
Back in October I met up with them as they were filming episode two in far less exotic surroundings.
The location was a farm by the Grand Union Canal in Rickmansworth, Herts – in the pouring autumn rain.
A short drive down a muddy track from the local pumping station, the stars of the BBC1 drama were filming a scene in and around the farm’s stables.
Robert Glenister, who plays Ash Morgan, was sporting a green padded jacket and gold tie.
Jaime Murray (Stacie) sheltered from the rain in a black padded coat and dark blue wellies.
And Marc Warren (Danny) went for black wellies and a quick break on top of the double-decker catering bus.

SHE’S played dozens of TV roles in her career.
But for viewers of a certain age, Paula Wilcox will always be remembered for two characters.
The Manchester-born actress first made her mark as Beryl Battersby, alongside Richard Beckinsale, in Granada’s The Lovers.
Hard to believe that series began all of 37 years ago.
In 1974 she moved on to the role of Chrissy Plummer in Man About The House and became a major star.
But acting, like most other professions, is a long game.

GET the kettle on – “milk and two sugars” – for a TV travel treat this Sunday.
No, it’s not that nice Michael Palin. He’s still working on his new television epic.
Due to be broadcast this autumn, it has the working title: New Europe With Michael Palin.
So step forward Victoria Wood and three-part BBC1 series Victoria’s Empire.
You can read more about it in today’s MEN TV feature here.
And there’s more…
The Bury-raised writer, actress and comedy star impressed in 2004 with two-part Victoria Wood’s Big Fat Documentary.
But Victoria’s Empire is, dare I say it, worthy of St Michael himself.

NOW, nobody’s saying the Chatsworth estate is the Garden of Eden.
But it’s been a good home to Frank Gallagher and his kids.
This week they moved to a new TV base in Wythenshawe, although the estate will look exactly the same on screen.
Shameless creator Paul Abbott (pictured with Frank) spoke to me and other journalists at the grand opening of the exterior set and studio.
And, among other things, he likened Manchester’s Gallagher clan to the royal family.
“The Gallagher family is identical to so many families that are outside that working class sub-culture – sub-working class,” he explained.
“I keep looking at the British royal family and going, ‘We’re not far off that lot.’

THE rain flowed almost as freely as Paul Abbott’s quotes at the launch of the new Shameless complex in Manchester yesterday.
He spoke about the planned American re-make of the Channel 4 series, which may feature Cheers star Woody Harrelson as Frank Gallagher.
Paul also revealed how he had turned down requests from the likes of John Simm, Matt Lucas and Bill Nighy for guest roles in the original UK version.
There was a full report plus pics on Pgs 1 and 3 of today’s MEN. You can read the online version here, along with a gallery of images here and a video report here.
(I’m man in brown jacket carrying small black brolly, fortunately with my back to the TV camera)

THE parked burgundy Mark 2 Jaguar attracted quite a crowd outside the Royal Albert Hall in London last night.
It was used in all 33 episodes of Inspector Morse, which starred Manchester-born and raised John Thaw.
Inside the concert hall, a sold out audience of 5,000 remembered Morse – and the remarkable actor who played him.
It’s just over 20 years since the first episode of Inspector Morse was screened.
The anniversary will be celebrated in a special weekend of programmes on ITV3 on April 28 & 29.
More about that in next week’s MEN.
The weekend will reach its climax with Morse At The Royal Albert Hall, recorded last night.
The music of Morse was brought to us by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the Crouch End Festival Chorus.

THE announcement that Jonathan Kerrigan has quit Heartbeat came as no surprise.
He’s never made any secret of the fact that he usually likes to stay no longer than three series, and has done the same for the role of Pc Rob Walker.
The real news is the departure of Mark Jordon, who has played Pc Phil Bellamy (pictured) from the very start of the ITV1 drama in 1992.
He’s been part of the fixtures and fittings of the Sunday night favourite.
Series 16, which began last October, was – as usual – broken into two halves, with the second section back on screen next month.
By the time that finishes, Heartbeat will have completed 324 episodes.
Mark has been in almost all of them, with viewers hooked over the years by the on-off romance between Phil and Aidensfield Arms barmaid Gina Ward.

AND talking of the 1980s…
I had a call yesterday from the people at Unique Television, the company founded by Noel Edmonds.
They were behind It Started With Swap Shop, the nostalgia-fest screened on BBC2 last Christmas.
Now Unique is producing That’s What I Call Television, a series of three shows for ITV1 looking back at iconic TV programmes and ads from 1979 to 1989.
The series, to be recorded in May and June, will be presented by Fern Britton with guest co-hosts – former Coronation Street star Bradley Walsh is the first.
One of the items to be featured will be the Saturday teatime wrestling from World Of Sport.
The call brought back memories of a story I wrote for the MEN back in the 1980s, involving a trip to a draughty town hall somewhere near London.
I’ll try and dig out the cutting at some stage but it featured an interview with the legend who was Kent Walton.