Yes, it was compelling viewing. Like most of the other 15 million people watching the Michael Jackson interview, I was mesmerised by the surreal lifestyle being exposed.

I was almost afraid to blink, let alone leave my chair, lest I miss a single moment. Our first comprehensive insight into the private world of this usually reclusive entertainer was astonishing.

The combination of his vast wealth, his lack of a normal childhood and his bizarre adulthood in Neverland have produced an individual almost beyond our comprehension.

Yet in spite of the tabloid feeding frenzy, with writers trying to outdo each other in their attempts to portray a dangerous, out-of-control child molester after Jackson's revelations about his "sleep-in parties" with young children, I draw the opposite conclusion.

I do not believe there is any evil in the man, any sexual depravity. It is more likely he is a totally asexual creature.

I do not believe he would deliberately harm any child - in spite of the infamous Berlin incident when he dangled his baby daughter over the hotel balcony to show her to the crowd below.

But what is absolutely certain is his violent, brutish father and his simpering, inadequate mother made one hell of a mess of a magically talented child. I quote one of our most popular 20th Century poets, Philip Larkin:

"They f*** you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had. And add some extra, just for you."

Jackson's obsession with Peter Pan, his determination at the age of 44 never to grow up and live forever in a perfect childhood world of his own creation may seem utterly oddball to normal people like you and me. Normal?

Apart from his unreal upbringing, his Croesus-like wealth, his need to isolate himself from his omnipresent, frenzied fans - so much in evidence in the film - and the determination to ensure his children do not suffer the traumatised childhood he endured, have all combined to create this fantasy figure.

In the weird world he inhabits, how can he possibly know what is real, what is normal?

In his unworldly innocence, he believes it is normal to have other children "sleep over" with him. He believes it is best for his own children to be hidden from the public gaze with masks, to be privately educated and always guarded. Who is to tell him anything different? Certainly not the cringing sycophants he is surrounded by.

None of these things makes him evil or depraved.

Even the extravagance of his spending sprees seems normal to him. From childhood he has always had wealth beyond his needs.

And if he denies, however ludicrously, he has had plastic surgery and skin treatment, so what? Showbusiness is littered with "beautiful" people saying the same.

Are we all so world-weary we cannot acknowledge innocence any more?