Malone’s first workplace choir for this series was drawn from all levels of P&O, from the bridge to the back office to the galley. The ostensible star was 22-year-old Mercedes, a big-eyed Sindy doll of a stewardess who had given up her classical singing ambitions when — backstory klaxon! — her nan died. The real star, though, was quartermaster Grant, who had the face of a Sweeney villain and a voice like a Crossrail tunnelling machine, which gave the choir’s variable attempts at Rock the Boat and La Mer a stirring, anchoring reverb. Malone is great because he is pernickety but not snippy, and as pleased as his trainees when they come together to make a sweet noise. If only he’d organise squabbling bakers into a decent choir I could use the phrase Bunfight at the OK Chorale.
