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TV PREVIEWS

My Life in Verse: Cerys Matthews, Friday 9pm, BBC Two

Only those whose radios were broken in 1998 will have forgotten Cerys Matthews belting out Catatonia's naggingly catchy signature song 'Road Rage'. And even they will surely remember her appearance on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2007, and all that embarrassing flirting with EastEnders' Marc Bannerman.

The latest in the My Life in Verse series (so far, we've had Sheila Hancock and Peep Show's Robert Webb) sees Cerys exchanging the likes of Gemma Atkinson and Christopher Biggins for Dylan Thomas and WB Yeats, in a programme which looks at some of her favourite poets – with nary a bug, bikini or former soap star in sight.

The journey begins with Dylan Thomas – both he and Cerys grew up in suburban Swansea and left to pursue their artistic callings – and although it's only fairly recently she's come to identify with him, she reads 'And death shall have no dominion' with a real wonder. "To me it sounds like the great Welsh sermons I heard in chapel as a child," she says quietly, a sentence which on Cerys's lips, almost sounds like a poem in itself.

Taking its lead from the Who Do You Think You Are? style of documentary, there's a lot of ponderous gazing into the distance, making the odd lighter moment welcome: during a discussion about a strict and complex meter of poetry unique to Wales, the presenter's old literature tutor springs a surprise: a published modern poem written in the old style called 'Cerys Catatonia'. "That's mental," says Cerys, poetically.

We move on to the Celtic influence on English poet Ted Hughes, Yeats' musical lyricism – it turns out Cerys has been playing one of his poems for years without realising it was written by him – and then we're off to Scotland for a Burns night. It's a remarkably gentle and heartfelt programme, with Cerys's thoughtfulness and enthusiasm shining through. Just as it did in I'm A Celebrity…

by Will Parkhouse, Wednesday 10 June 2009

Picture: BBC

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