Real tragedy behind the little girl with the big voice; tvpreview.

THERE is a chilling moment midway through The Real Lena Zavaroni that I still can’t get out of my mind.

It was a piece of footage from a TV special which showed the Scots’ child star performing the song Going Nowhere.

Lena belted out the sad lyrics in a powerful voice which drew comparisons with Judy Garland or Liza Minnelli.

But there was nothing behind her vacant expression - she was clearly a poor tortured soul.

That image was far more shocking than any of the pictures which showed just how the eating disorder anorexia nervosa had ravaged her slender frame.

When Lena died in 1999 - at the age of 35 - showbusiness was robbed of a real talent.

“I think she could have gone on to be another Barbra Streisand,” is how theatrical agent Dorothy Solomons recalled her former client.

This compelling documentary to be shown on Channel Four on Wednesday at 10pm, looks back at the tragic life of the “little girl with the big voice”.

It celebrates the great achievements of the Scots lass who was brought up on Rothesay. But inevitably, the profile focuses on the awful circumstances which led to her untimely death.

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