DO you think the Beeb has got shares in the latest production of The Sound of Music?

Not content with taking up endless Saturday nights to find a new Maria, last night we got another hour on how said Maria (Connie, the one who was always going to win it from the first audition) got ready for her opening night.

Haven't the viewing public suffered enough? How many times can a sane person be subjected to the opening trills of The Hills Are Alive? before being reduced to a gibbering wreck?

I'd love to see the reaction of the other theatres in the West End to the continued promotion of The Sound of Music on a channel which supposedly spurns the evils of advertising.

To be fair, Connie proved that she was a worthy choice as the wayward nun and, perhaps predictably, got a standing ovation come opening night.

More interesting was the behind-the-scenes turmoil which surrounded the show.

Naively, we the audience always think that things are so slick and so polished.

But behind the scenes it appears as though theatreland is doing a passable impression of a duck swimming on a pond.

On the surface all may be serene, but behind the scenes it's absolute chaos.

This was particularly true when Captain von Trapp left' the production less than a fortnight before the curtain rose on opening night.

But in the great showbiz tradition, it was all right on the night.