Tom’s still in good voice

IDO like a bit of Tom Jones. If I liked a lot of Tom Jones, I could have two-and-aquarter hours of him tonight. Which, as I should probably explain before this all starts to sound a bit weird, is the amount of airtime the BBC is devoting this evening to Tom-themed telly.

The main event is TOM JONES AT 80

an hour-long birthday celebration.

As with BradleyWalsh’s 60th birthday bash on ITV the other night, it’s actually jumping the gun just a smidgen,Tom’s birthday being on Sunday.

But Fridays are when BBC Four traditionally likes to heavy up on its music stuff.

Besides which, it’s showing the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Romeo and Juliet this Sunday night, and that goes on for flipping ages (I’ve yet to hear back about my application for the theatre critic job, by the way).

An hour, of course, isn’t nearly enough to do justice to the great man’s career, which dates back 60 years (Tom Jones’s I mean, not Shakespeare’s).

But at least it gives us ample time to enjoy some brilliant archive footage – revisiting some proper Tom Jones classics such as The Green Green Grass Of Home, Delilah and It’s Not Unusual – as well as having ourselves a bit of a chuckle (affectionately, mind) at the raunchy on-stage wriggling and writhing of his heyday, a good many decades before the hip replacement.

Making up the remainder of the theme night, which is sort of what it is, are a couple of repeats

– namely, TOM JONES’S 1950s THE DECADETHAT MADE ME

(BBC Four, 10pm), in which he returns to his roots to reflect on his formative years, and TOM JONES: A LITTLE LATER (BBC Four,

11pm), replaying some of the best stuff he’s done on Jools Holland’s show over the years.

I could do without revisiting his and Cerys Matthews cover of Baby It’s Cold Outside (it feels just a wee bit creepy), but other than that it’s a great reminder of how well his voice has held out down the years.

There are one or two veteran stars who’ve sadly started to sound as if it’s all a bit of a strain now, but Tom’s voice remains so powerful, it’s almost uncanny. (Unless, of course, he’s just miming to a Rob Brydon impression of him. If that’s the case, I do hope Rob doesn’t accidentally lapse into his Ronnie Corbett.That would be most unfortunate.)

Other highlights tonight include the return of CELEBRITY GOGGLEBOX (Channel 4, 9pm).

Those joining the line-up for this series include Harry Redknapp and wife Sandra.

If Harry can find a show to watch that hasn’t got Harry Redknapp on it, I’ll be particularly impressed.