THERE'S nothing like the sound of a choir of young voices in perfect harmony.

The trouble is, the motley crew assembled for BBC2's highly entertaining doumentary series is currently nothing like a choir.

Sometimes you can see a brief excerpt from a programme and just know that it's going to work.

The Choir, which began last night, has got all the essential ingredients to make it a success.

The premise is a simple one - vastly experienced and increasingly frustrated choir master tries to turn apathetic teenagers into a world-beating choir. It's one which has worked before, notably with Gene Simmons and his Rock School.

Although Gareth Malone is no wild man of rock, he actually looks as though he should be at Hogwarts with Harry Potter, like Gene Simmons you feel that he geninely cares for the kids and wants to help them succeed.

Last night we saw the auditions for the choir which would have struck a chord with anyone who underwent a similar experience while at school.

Unless you are an X-Factor wannabe, in which case you can't sing but aren't afraid of making a fool of yourself, there can't be many worse things that having to sing in public.

Our nervous schoolchildren squeaked, croaked and mumbled their way through. But, ever the optimist, Gareth believes that underneath the embarrassment there is some real talent.

Whether he manages to make everything gel in time for the World Choir Games in China - and before half the choir's voices break - remains to be seen.

But I think we all hope he does.