Last Choir Standing: Third Heat

In the third and final studio heat five more choirs compete for the last two places in the finals. The show opened with their 168 voices singing a rousing chorus of 'With A Little Help From My Friends'.

First to sing were ACM Gospel Choir from Guildford's Academy of Contemporary Music singing 'I wanna be the only one'. Russell praised them for a fantastic opening performance while Suzy found them irresistible, though a bit solo-focussed'. Sharon felt the passion.

Next came a vision in pink, Cheshire's A Handbag of Harmonies, with 'Build me up, Buttercup'. With the best will in the world this could only be described as bland. Suzy warned them that they must stay on the right side of cheesiness, and said that the arrangement was very simplistic. Harsh but true. Sharon wanted more depth, and Russell thought they were lots of fun and obviously having a great time.

Third choir to sing was City of Bath Male Voice Choir, singing a rather odd-sounding 'Unchained Melody' which didn't quite lend itself to choral interpretation. Russell thought it was not their best performance so far, Sharon loved the full, rich sound but thought the arrangement very simple, while Suzy found her mind wandering but did still appreciate the dynamics of loud and soft.

Fourth to sing were Hear Me Now!, a group of fourteen performing arts students from London, with their version of Duffy's 'Mercy'. Russell thought that the girls gave a very sexy performance (he didn't comment on the men!) and Sharon loved their confidence. Suzy warned them that this was a choir competition and it should not become too focussed on Maggie their MD.

The final choir to sing was Belfast's Open Arts Community Choir, who sang 'Something inside so strong'. Suzy praised Bev their MD as one of the most talented in the competition. However their tuning was a bit unstable, and both the other judges agreed.

For their second performance ACM Gospel Choir sang 'One Love' and all of the judges loved it and had particular praise for the soloist.

A Handbag of Harmonies sang 'Downtown', another 1960s number, which Suzy said was not really her bag.

City of Bath Male Voice Choir sang 'Bring Him Home' from 'Les Miserables' which might perhaps have been better had Grenville not chosen one of his own sons as the soloist because the poor lad wasn't really up to it.

Hear Me Now! sang 'California Dreaming' which got rather mixed reviews from the judges.

Open Arts Community Choir gave the final performance of the evening, an Abba medley. Suzy thought it was a very clever arrangement, with the tenor part taken by women while the only four men in the choir sang bass.

This was perhaps the most disappointing of the three heats because three of today's choirs did not live up to the promise they had shown in the earlier rounds. One choir had gone as far as they could go and it was no surprise when it was announced that the ladies from Cheshire had been handbagged. Equally, based on performance on the night, it was no surprise that ACM Gospel Choir gained the penultimate place in the finals, leaving the remaining three choirs to fight for the last remaining place.

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