As an old boss of mine used to say, “I love it when a plan comes together.” By which he meant, when what should happen, actually happens. Last night Alexandra Burke, bookies favourite, my favourite, and easily the most talented of the three remaining acts, was crowned X Factor winner for 2008. There were tears. There were great performances. There was graciousness in defeat. All in all, definitely in my view the best X Factor final ever, and certainly one of the best winners ever.

FIrst round of three – the Christmas songs.

After a sobworthy visit back home culminating in a grand gig in the Guildhall Square in Derry, Eoghan opened the show with I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day – one of my all-time favourite Christmas numbers. His confidence remained undimmed and the song was well staged, but I thought his vocal was really weak. It was another example of the backing singers and the music overwhelming any noise the young lad made.

JLS enjoyed a rather complex home trip, as they come from two different places, but it was all smiles, cheers and tears from the family again, and then the boys took the stage to give us Last Christmas. A perfect song choice for them (in fact I thought Louis’ choices of songs for JLS throughout the night were right on the money) and they once again looked really sharp in their white suits. These guys scrub up really well, they always look the part, and the harmonies were great too.

Alexandra sang for the primary school kids, was overwhelmed by the hundreds of people waiting outside her home, and ecstatic to perform at a packed theatre. Her Christmas song was a brave choice – the standard carol Silent Night – requiring a perfectly controlled vocal and with nowhere to hide if you’re slightly off… she wasn’t even slightly off. A totally haunting vocal, fabulous hair-do, and looking every inch the star. After the first round, even if there had been any doubt before, the order of the results was already clear.

Guest artist duet round

Keeping it Irish, Eoghan sang Boyzone’s “Picture Of You” in this round and was joined by, well, Boyzone of course. Still feels strange to watch Keith Duffy on stage after his stint in Corrie, but the song was jolly enough although again I thought Eoghan’s vocal was overshadowed. He was clearly having the time of his life though. Interestingly the voting figures published by the X Factor producers reveal that Eoghan had a clear lead over all the other competitors for six out of the first seven weeks of the finals, so it’s no wonder everyone was saying he was a shoo-in to win it. His vote only began dropping off in the last three weeks.

Louis went back to his comfort zone for JLS with the duet choice of “Flying Without Wings” by Westlife. And sure enough the boys were on hand for the singalong. They must get sick of being wheeled out time after time, but they looked happy enough about it. If I can be said to have a favourite song of Westlife’s this would be it, and actually the harmonies between the two groups worked really well I thought. Once again, everyone looked like they were having fun – an element of this whole evening that remained constant and gave the whole thing both a festive feel, and a positive vibe that just made it even more enjoyable.

Alex reprised her fantastic performance of her hero Beyoncé’s classic “Listen” and although looking totally overwhelmed to be sharing the stage with her idol nevertheless managed to hold it together until the end of the song, whereupon she dissolved in floods of tears. The only way I can imagine how she felt is to think how I’d feel if Genesis invited me up to sing Carpet Crawlers with them, so I reckon she did incredibly well all things considered.

Favourites round

In traditional stylee, the contestants chose their favourite numbers from the whole of the rest of the series for this last round. This meant we had to endure Eoghan’s version of HSM’s “We’re All In This Together” again and for the third time in the evening we could hardly hear him. But it didn’t matter. He was happy. And it didn’t last very long.

JLS chose I’m Already There. Another confident performance from them, if a little quiet at the start. I must say again, three excellent song choices for (and by) them this evening, and you’ve gotta love Louis when he gets his hands on (yet another) talented boy band. His excited little jiggles in his chair, his near-tears pleading for votes. I mean, the guy can be a bit of a prat but his heart’s in the right place.

So closing this section Alex, who presumably had already sung her first favourite with Beyoncé, chose “You Are So Beautiful” for this bit. You can always tell when a singer really connects with the emotion of a song, and Alex certainly did with this. From the heart, it was, and lovely to hear. Another standing ovation, and standing she was – head and shoulders above the other contestants.

With Eoghan eliminated, JLS and Alex both gave us their versions of the winner’s single – Hallelujah. I thought they both sounded OK. I know there’s been a lot of gnashing of teeth by fans and predictions that this classic song would be “murdered” but such partisan bluster all came to nought. Both the acts did the song proud.

And by now, pretty much everyone must know that Alex was declared the winner. A worthy winner. Two years after Leona and the X Factor can once again say it’s found an artist with international potential. I do enjoy seeing people fulfil their potential and reaching out and grabbing hold of their dreams. When all is said and done and despite all the fixes and cynicism and profiteering, it’s that human factor that keeps drawing me back to this show. Roll on next year and the chance to do it all again.