Learning about the real Heather; TV critic

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), April 26, 2008

Byline: LIZ LAMB

SHE'S been vilified by the media and branded a prostitute, fantasist and a gold digger.

But is the intense hatred towards Heather Mills justified?

Anyone who tuned into the documentary Heather Mills: What Really Happened might think so.

Reporter Jacques Peretti talked to those closest to Mills, including her father, to find out how she became the wife of a Beatle and Britain's public enemy number one.

Heather really doesn't help herself.

Trussed up in a suit fit for The Joker, she ranted outside London's High Court following her divorce settlement with Paul McCartney and conducted an equally cringeworthy performance on GMTV.

She claims to hate the media intrusion into her life, but then the next minute she is using the papers to slag off her ex-hubby.

The documentary showed Heather's Geordie friend Denise Hewitt tell how they would both have sex with rich Arab men for thousands of pounds.

It was a way out of the working class lifestyle of Tyneside, she claimed.

In a attempt to justify their shady pasts, Denise told the programme: "Girls in Newcastle go out and do it for free and they don't even remember it in the morning."

The programme also delved into the former model's claims that, as a child, she and a school friend had been held hostage and abused by a man they knew.

The documentary traced the other victim to a Tyneside council estate who told an all-together different story.

She claimed that though there was some truth in Heather's claims, they had been embellished and had also identified her as a victim, which had been very distressing.

The woman decided to sue and a bitter war of words ensued.

All she wanted was an apology, but Heather refused to say sorry and claimed the legal action was putting a huge strain on her.

Though the ghost-writer of her autobiography claimed it was never easy for Heather to live in the shadow of Linda McCartney, this programme showed Heather has brought about her own downfall.

It was her dad I felt sorry for.

Mark Mills, who still lives in Washington where Heather grew up, is immensely proud of his daughter and revealed on screen how he longed for her to call him.

Something tells me he will be waiting a long time.

While BBC One was showing Gavin and Stacey's James Corden and Ruth Jones collecting a Bafta, the pair were also appearing on BBC Three as the last episode in the second series was aired.

And what a corker it was.

Gavin and Stacey broke up and said their goodbyes, Nessa went into labour, Smithy missed the birth of his son, then Gavin and Stacey got back together again. The British public have really taken the sitcom to their hearts, mainly because it's so true to life.

We've all had unrequited loves and ups-and-downs in relationships, not to mention friends who we love, but who drive us crazy.

CAPTION(S):

DOCUMENTARY - Heather Mills; BUNDLE OF LAUGHS - Rob Brydon as Bryn and Melanie Walters as Gwyn in the hilarious last episode of Gavin and Stacey