Fearing the worst

How bad can Pop Star to Opera Star (starts tonight on ITV1) possibly be? The answer is almost certainly so bad that it will have me cringing behind the sofa with my fingers stuffed in my ears. It's potentially interesting to witness how people with one sort of singing ability tackle another sort of singing altogether but the trouble is, they're in the hands of Katherine Jenkins, a woman who has never sung in an opera in her life and whose voice has a uniquely syrupy cloying quality that could curdle milk at fifty paces. Let's hope that Rolando Villazon can redress the balance somewhat. He's had huge vocal problems, and a delicate operation on his throat from which he has yet to recover fully, but he is a genuine opera star, if that term means anything at all.