TELEVISION BRIEFING / Bite-sized opera

With all the speculation about Janet Street-Porter's chances of becoming the next Controller of BBC1, there has been particular interest in THE VAMPYR - A SOAP OPERA (9pm BBC2), which she produced. Charles Hart, librettist of Aspects of Love and Phantom of the Opera, has set Heinrich Marschner's 19th-century German opera in contemporary London. The vampire, played by the charismatic Omar Ebrahim, is a cut-throat yuppie commanded by the Devil to suck the blood of three women in three days. Nigel Finch's serial, showing on five consecutive evenings, tries to 'bring opera to the masses', but it still seems slightly incongruous to hear vampire and victim singing 'Will you hate me in the morning?' as they rip off their clothes and prepare for a bondage session.