One of the best moments of television every year is the acceptance speech from the woman named best actress at the Oscars ceremony.

For sheer, cringe-making but utterly compelling viewing, there is no other armchair experience quite like it. Guaranteed!

Two years ago, Gwyneth Paltrow established new levels of hysteria with her out of control, tearful extravaganza.

We thought it was a performance never to be bettered for its sheer awfulness. An absolute classic of its kind.

Last year's winner, Julia Roberts was magnificently different. Superbly confident, elegantly dressed in black, hair immaculately coiffed, she strode forward for her big moment with a huge smile and an attitude which screamed 'Of course you have given me the Oscar. I deserve it. I am the Queen.'

This year, it was Halle Berry's turn. And wow! Whatever we may have thought of Ms Paltrow's unforgettable histrionics, this new young star managed to push up the levels of lunacy to unimagined peaks.

The tears, the waving arms, the gabbled delivery - from the armchair, the squirm factor was exquisite, almost unbearable.

And yet, and yet ... in spite of the extraordinary breakdown of control, the exposure of her vulnerability, what came shining through was a passionate love for her family and an absolute, flaming conviction that her Oscar award was a moment of truth for what she described as "every nameless, faceless woman of colour that now has a chance, because this door, tonight, has been opened."

Given the intensely politically correct nature of the Hollywood establishment, there was instant audience response. Handkerchiefs came out all round the auditorium.

But by thanking the Academy for choosing her as "a vessel from which this blessing might flow" she managed to give the impression she felt the Academy - the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - had somehow decided this year, for the first time, a black performer should be the best actress.

Sadly, by doing that, she demeaned both her own splendid achievement and the Academy's six thousand voters.

The simple truth is that Halle Berry is both a beautiful woman and a fine actress. She won her Oscar not because black is this year's colour of choice but because she deserved to win.

By all accounts, her performance in Monster's Ball - which we have yet to see - is superb. And the awards to Denzel Washington and Sidney Poitier went to two of the most talented actors in the Hollywood firmament.

Whatever the massive hype from different studios during the election campaign, the Oscar voting process involving the six thousand academy members voting in their own homes, makes it one of the most tamper-proof, genuinely democratic elections in this cynical world of ours.

To suggest some cabal could get together and fix 2002 as the year of the black actress is beyond reality.

Still, I can't wait for next year's annual fix of middle-of-the-night, hot, sweaty embarrassment.