By KEVIN O'SULLIVAN EXCITING news! Viewers are to be given the chance to vote on how ITV's pathetic new drama Rock Rivals ends. But I've got a better idea. How about a vote on WHEN it ends? So that we can put it out of its misery right now. Hard to believe.

By Jon Wise SIMON Cowell said he is pleased he's out of the country while Rock Rivals is on - and it's not hard to see why. It's glossy, trashy, mindnumbing TV (from which Cowell was quick to distance himself). Watching it is as taxing on the brain as a Valium-induced catnap.

There's usually more drama than you can shake a stick at in an average edition of The X Factor, Any Dream Will Do, The One and Only and any other talent show you care to mention. Clearly some bright spark realised this and has decided to capitalise on their success by producing Rock Rivals.

By RICHARD KAY EX-EASTENDERS star Michelle Collins has revealed how she fell in love with Ireland while filming Rock Rivals, the hotly-anticipated TV drama based on the X Factor. She said: The only downside was being away from my daughter but I travelled home most weekends to see her.

By Roz Laws IT'S a TV singing competition with three judges. One is a record producer with a huge ego, one is an Irishman, and the third is a straight talking woman.