i I

. 0 Northern Ireland Election , SpeclaI(BBC1)3.55—5.35pm David Dimbleby, Robin Day and Peter Snow provide views and comment on the results ofthe 15 Q by-elections held yesterday in Northern Ireland. 0 Right to Reply(Channel 4) 7.30-8pm New STV supremo Gus MacDonald continues to act as the IBA‘s ,‘ fairminded ombudsman ofthe E airwaves. Voice your own criticisms : at the STV Video Box in Glasgow. i open seven days a week. 7am 6pm. E o Dynasty llzThe Colbys(BBC 1) 8.10—9pm Stringent BBC economies threaten the entire fabric of broadcasting in Scotland. yet the same organisation seems content to shell out big money to acquire yet another opulent foreign soap for our delectation. American tv execs are in a lather because soaps are slipping in the ratings and the trend is moving back to Cosby-inspired sit-coms. The lavish Colbys may well prove a casualty of audience whim. Meanwhile, thrill to Charlton I Heston‘s toupee, marvel at Barbara 5 Stanwyck‘s longevity and gasp at our I own Stephanie Beacham‘s shrewish I Sable.

SATURDAY 25

i a Saturday Superstore(BBC 1)

9am-12.15pm.

3 Annie Lennox makes a

comparatively rare TV appearance

: to help celebrate the 100th edition of

i, the programme. Also on board are Sarah Brightman and Andrew Lloyd Webber, no doubt touting ‘The

Phantom of the Opera’, which

j should be given a wide berth if the

3 single is anything to go by (even if

i Spielberg wants to film it).

i 0 Robert Burns, Love and

g leerty(STV) 8—9pm. Music, songs

i and poems are combined in a Burns

Day tribute to our national scribe.

Expect the worst.

0 Saturday Live(ChanneI 4)

I 8.30-10pm

Promising 90 minutes of ‘alternative

entertainment‘ Channel 4 unleashes

an 11 week season of live shows

which will feature the comedy of Rik

Mayall, Robbie Coltrane, Lenny

Henry et al. Tonight the season

begins with Tracey Ullman as host,

music provided by Squeeze, Feargal

Sharkey and Inxs. Among those

hoping to provoke hysteria are

Cliffhanger, the Oblivion Boys,

min Wells. Ben Elton and the

40 The List 24 Jan - 6 Feb

«MED

n V e l

TELEVISION

Dangerous Boys. alias Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. With a dozen scriptwriters to its credit and 90 minutes to fill. Saturday Live should provide some inspired moments.

SUNDAY 26

o Matinee from the Mei(Channel 4) 2.30—5.15pm

The New York Metropolitan Opera Company in a production of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.

0 American Football(ChanncI 4) 935—2. 15am (approx)

The Chicago Bears take on the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl XX. beamed live from New Orleans for the pleasure of an ever expanding army ofarmchair fans.

0 Screen Two( BBC 2) 10.10—11.55pm

An impressive cast has been assembled for this adaptation of Molly Keane‘s comic novel "Time After Time' about the Anglo-Irish gentry in decline. John Gielgud is Jasper Swift who lives with his three sisters in their decaying country house. Once upon a time their lives were forever altered by the actions of a Viennese cousin. the glamorous Lydia (Googie Withers). When Lydia unexpectedly re-enters their lives. the tranquility ofold age is stretched to breaking point. Also

The award-winning American comedy series Cheers returns tor a lourth series on January 31.

At the conclusion ol the last series Sam and Diane’s love-hate relationship reached a clill-hanging pinnacle when she absconded to Italy to marry her psychiatrist, Dr Frasier Crane. Racing againsttime, Sam rushed to Europe but did he prevent

theirunion?

The new series begins shortly

CHEERS!

IA .LIST

starring Brenda Bruce. Freddie

Jones. Trevor Howard and Ursula

' Howells.

0 London Standard Film Awards( BBC 1)

Perhaps the most worthless gongs of the lot; a couple ofcelebs and a couple ofcritics down some plonk and pick their favourite British film work of the past twelve months. Then they present a bunch ofawards at the Savoy Hotel. No one is honoured by the paying public or their respected peers. just this eccentric group of individuals. Pointless self-indulgence.

MONDAY 27

o Panorama(BB(‘1)<).3o—1().1()pm Documentary on Hisayoshi Maruyama. probably the best drugs courier in the world. Before his arrest in Amsterdam. he had smuggled millions of pounds worth of heroin into America. Holland and Britain for one of Pakistan‘s biggest traffickingorganisations. His disclosures in a prison cell led the Panorama team to the ‘Karachi connection'. an organisation responsible for buying from growers in Pakistan and distributing the drug across the Western world. Journeying to Pakistan. the team confronted the man believed to control the organistaion and were quickly dealt with by his bodyguards. Their film was seized. but a sound recording was salvaged.

TUESDAY 28

o No Limits( BBC 2) 6—6.5(lpm Peregrinating presenters 'I'ony Baker and Jenny Powell boldly venture north of the border to sample the delights of Glasgow.

e to his Boston bar claiming to have lailed in his mission and lorever renouncing an interest in his lormer barmaid. However, Frasier returns to Cheers admitting that the marriage never took place andthat, altera wild lling, Diane too has returned to Boston and entered a convent - the Sisters ol Divine Severity. Sam, naturally, promises not to visit her....

FRIDAY 31

; SATURDAY 1

3 comedy starring Michael J. Fox. soon to film Born in the USA.

5 WEDNESDAY 5

I, o Forth Comment(R Forth) 6pm. 1 Malcolm Rifkind.the new Secretary * 9 if j ofState for Scotland. isinterviewed

by Trevor Daviesinthis programme

'3 0 Robert Burns Special (R Forth) 8pm. 3 0 Mark Goodier (R Clyde) 8pm.

O 3 Women(Channel 4)9—l 1.20pm. Television premiere of Robert Altman‘s hypnotic I977 drama. See cinema listings.

WEDNESDAY 29

o The March at fimezThe American CenturflChannel 4) 8—8.30pm Historic episode. designed to co-incide with the first anniversary of the dropping ofthe Atom bomb. The film describes the history ofThe Manhattan Project and shows scientists led by Oppenheimer re-enacting the countdown to the explosion at Alamogordo in New Mexico.

0 Dead Head(BBC 2) 9.25—10. 15pm ‘The War Room‘. Episode Three of Howard Brenton's Kafkaesque comedy-thriller starring Denis Lawson as small-time crook Eddie Cass. bewildered hero in a sea of misfortune.

THURSDAY 30

o PotBlack(BBC2) 10.10—10.35pm Having secured his first world i ranking title in the Mercantile Credit Classic. LondonerJimmy White ' tackles Welshman Terry Griffiths for a place in the quarter finals of the last ever Pot Black tournament.

0 Three Painters(BBC 2) 9.35—1I).15pm

Lawrence Gowing concludes his series ofprfiles by examining the life and work of Henri Matisse. ofwhom he says. ‘he sought colour which would stir the sensual heart of man.‘ 0 Cheers(Channel 4) l(}—l().3()pm. See panel.

0 Family Ties(Channel 4) 6—6.3(lpm More smart aleck generation gap

" 5 0 Dead Head(BBC2)9.25—1().15pm ‘The Patriot‘.Concluding episode.

which starts a new political series.

Continuing his new seriesof contemporary music.

0 Starlit Corridors ( R3) 8. 15pm. Alan Bold‘s compilation ofspace and travel as featured in the poems of Kingsley Amis. John Updike. Louis MacNeice. R.D. Laing. Auden and others. Poetry without Burns. despite the proximity to 25 Jan.