For crying out Aloud...just how much PR does a girl need?

Talking of Cheryl Cole (again, sorry), what is it about the girl that turns the normally straight-talking Piers Morgan into a glorified spin doctor? His long-awaited ssshh-it’s on Life Stories interview with the singer ticked a lot of boxes, reducing her to tears time and again when pressing her on her brush with death from Malaria, the hapless Gamu, and her break-up with footballer ex, Ashley.

But it took a hit with the constant cutaways (mum, manager, bandmates, best pal etc telling us how special she was) and the payoff was as embarrassing as any of the performances from wannabe singers she has to reject in the X Factor heats.

She may have had the crowd in her hand every time she dabbed her cheeks and sobbed without revealing an awful lot (a credit to whoever is schooling her in media). But to close the show in front of some eight million viewers by asking how she felt after this on-air therapy session and get the cheeky smile answer: “I'm back” (cue the applause and music) was just the worst example of editing.

Unless it was to drum up sympathy ahead of yet another anodyne X Factor performance the following day.

In that case, I retract the above. Job done.