MEDIA LIST
Doh err Missus, it’s the Video Column. Parsons presents his pick oi the recent crop at vids on otter.
I THE NAKED SUN (15) 81 mins. Subtlety, sophistication - who needs 'em? Not the whacko chapplesthat made Airplane anyway. Working to the same iast-and-dumb iormula they have Nielsen as a disaster-prone LA cop trying to protect our own Mrs Windsor and llnd the men who shot his colleague. liotly tipped to be the most-rented video over the iortnlght alter its release on 28 Jan. (ClC Rental)
I RAN (15) 155 mins. Kurosawa brings his bleak, despairing vision oi mankind torn apart by disunity. personal vengeances and lamily ieuds straight into your living room - all iorihe price oi a good night out. An impressive blend oi King Lear and Japanese history with a liberal helping ol gore. (CBS/Fox £11.99)
I DO THE RIGHT THING (18) 115 mins. Dna sweltering, sweaty day in New Yawk’s Bed-Stuy' district. tension mounts between the Italian- Amerlcan Sal. his two sons and the local black community. As the situation deteriorates and violence threatens. Sal's black delivery boy Mookle (Lee) tries to do the rightthlng. The multl-taiented Spike Lee played such a major role in the production oithis powerful exploration ot racism (he wrote directed and starred in it) thatyou hall expect him to appear on yourdoorstep trying to rent you the thing. Released on 2 Feb, the video that is, not Spike. (CIC, Rental)
TOP TEN VIDEOS
(Rented in Central Scotland iorJanuary)
1. Nightmare on Elm Street W
2. My Stepmother is an Alien.
3. Deep Star Six. 4.CocoonlL
5. Twins.
6. Betrayed.
7. Red Scorpion.
a. Who Framed Roger Rabbu.
9. Beaches.
10. Rain Man.
Courtesy ol Azad Video UK.
LISTINGS
FRIDAY 26
I Clean Slate (BBC2) 5—5.30pm. In Derry. just like everywhere else, the speaking of Gaelic has declined drastically in the last century. But efforts are underway to revive the language. beginning in pre-school playgroups. Also in the programme, Fife-born factory worker Chick Eldridge. who left Scotland eventually to become choreographer-in- residence with London Contemporary Dance.
I Soviet Spring: Aighantsi (C4) 8—9pm. Another showing of the highly-praised First Tuesday documentary on veterans of the Afghan war, made before the Soviet Army withdrew, but providing a revealing account of the officers‘ and men‘s views. IArena (BBC2) 9.30-10.30pm. Why did Gorbachev last year describe the Russian people as ‘a nation of Oblomovs‘? Director Paul Lee enlightens us by casting George Wendt (Norm from Cheers) as the lazy central character of Vladimir
* Goncharov‘s Oblomov and transplanting
him to the 20th century.
I Plenty (BBC1)9.30—1 1 .30pm. The Beeb's Meryl Streep season continues with David Harc‘s allegorical drama. in which Streep‘s decline is seen to mirror that of 1950s Britain. Charles Dance is her long-suffering lover.
I Cabaret (BBC2) 11.50pm—l .55am. The perennial pre-War Nazi decadence fave. following the plotline ofChristopher lsherwood's [Am a Camera rather than the stage musical which is its namesake. Directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse. whose autobiographical 1979 effort All ThatJazz failed to fire the public imagination in anything like the same way.
SATURDAY 27
I Grandstand (BBCl) 12.15—5.05pm. Coverage of the XIVth Commonwealth Games in Auckland. plus the usual. Commonwealth coverage resumes at 11.40pm. going all the way up to 6.30am on Sunday. and continues throughout the week.
I Scottish Eye (C4) 6.30—7pm. All transatlantic flights in Britain pass through airspace controlled by Prestwick airport. but inadequacies have been found in the present air traffic control centres. as Scottish Eye reveals.
I Haggard (Scottish) 6.40-7. 10pm. First in a new comedy series. in which Squire Haggard and his dissolute son rove across England in search of an heiress they can attach themselves to.
I A Wake ior Sam (BBC2) 7.25—8.50pm. As a tribute to the late Samuel Beckett. who died in December. the Beeb is screening a season of his plays, beginning on Wednesday. Tonight. however. a miscellany of the great man‘s prose and radio plays, originally concocted for his 80th birthday in 1986. Krapp's Last Tape and Eh Joe are broadcast on Wednesday. though times hadn‘t been confirmed at time ofwriting.
I Soviet Spring: A Vision ol Freedom (C4) 8—9pm. Stalin viciously destroyed the Catholic Church in Western Ukraine. and it has been illegal for four decades, but the feeling amongst the faithful is still strong, and many sightings of the Virgin Mary have been reported in recent years.
I Saturday Night Clive (BBC2) 8.50—9.35pm. Enjoying another burst of public warmth after Around the World in 80 Days, Monty Python‘s 20th anniversary and current repeats of Ripping Yarns. Michael Palin joins James to comment on the world‘s broadcasting.
I 4-Pley (C4) 9—10.20pm. A married man receives streams of letters and phone calls from an admirer — a woman suffering from de Cleremoult‘s Syndrome. which makes her love him absolutely and obsessively.
Eventually. after much grief. he starts to envy her blind love.
I Aspel and Company (Scottish) 10.20-11.05pm. A new series of interviews.
I Soviet Spring: The Long Way Nome (C4) 10.20-11.55pm. The life and music of Boris Grebenshikov, the first Soviet rock musician to be allowed to travel in the West without supervision. The film was made by Michael Apted. who directed not only Sting‘s Bring on the Night, but Coal Miner's Daughter. the biopic ofLorctta Lynn.
IThe Film Club (BBC2) 10.25pm-1.25am. Perhaps inspired by The Cook, the
Thief. . . , or perhaps not. critic David Robinson introduces two witty European films on the role of food in society: Dragon ’3 Food from West Germany and Long Live the Lady from Italy.
SUNDAY 28
I God’s Reps (Scottish) 12.30—12.55pm. Separate schooling — the advantages and disadvantages for the Catholic church.
I indoor Football (Scottish) 2.30—3.30pm. Rangers play Dundee in this first match at the SECC. There’s more in Scotsportat 5pm, and 11.35pm and then at 10.35pm on Monday.
I Return Journey (BBC1)4. 15—5.05pm. Kiri Te Kanawa returns to her Maori home of Ngati Maniopoto in a BBC Scotland co-production.
I The Fourth Dimension (C4) 6—6.30pm. A new popular science magazine programme sets up its tent in a different place each week and takes a Green approach to issues. Caron Keating slips away from Blue Peter to co-host. and both Jeremy Hardic and Tony Allen contribute.
I Rescue (Scottish) 6—6.30pm. The men of 202 Squadron have their work cut out for them in the North Sea, when a man falls 20 feet on board an oil rig support ship in a Force 10 gale which also causes problems for a fishing fleet.
I The Natural World (BBC2) 7. 15—8.()5pm. An exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands, 100 miles north-west ofBritish Columbia. through the eyes ofthe Haida people who live there.
I The Talk Show with Clive James (BBC2) 9.30-10. 15pm. In what could be an eventful discussion, CJ gets round the table with Maya Angelou. Anthony Burgess and. for some reason. John Sessions.
I Superbowl XXIV (C4) 9.35pm-2am approx. The San Francisco 49ers face the Denver Broncos in New Orleans. Tense stuff. Make sure you get the cases of Bud in on Saturday, mind.
I Drowning in the Shallow End (BBC2) 10.15—11.4Spm. Paul McGann‘s writer's block is made doubly agonising by the
career success of his wife and friends.
Then, when he is asked to write a script of an American mini-series. his problems
seem at an end. . . for a while. The music,
incidentally. is composed by Hal Lindes. formerly of Dire Straits.
I Everyman (BBCl) 1030-] 1pm. Up until
now, Muslim schools have been denied
state funding. but Education Secretary
John MacGregor may be about to change
that. The programme asks whether it
could mark the start ofscholastic apartheid.
I The South Bank Show(Scottish)
1035—] 1.35pm. The subject tonight is Christopher Hogwood. leading conductor of ‘authentic‘ music. who has begun recording all of Haydn's symphonies.
MONDAY 29
I Horizon (BBC2) 8. 10—9pm. The first of two programmes detailing the journeyof the Voyager probe. launched in 1977 and now three billion miles away. follows Voyager from launch pad to Jupiter and Saturn.
I Soviet Spring: Nello, Do You HearUs? (C4) 9—10pm. Distinguished Soviet documentary-maker Yuris Podnieks continues his startling documentaries. focusing tonight on Afghan veterans and some of the splintering schools ofthought among the young in the post-consensus Gorbachev years.
I Winter Kills (BB(‘2)9-10.25pm. Richard Condon. author of The Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor wrote the book on which this taut political thriller is based. Jeff Bridges is the younger brother of an assassinated US president. and he comes a cropper with his father when he decides to solve the case. All-star cast includes Elizabeth Taylor. John Huston and Anthony Perkins.
I Panorama (BBCI)9.3()—1(). 10pm. Ina programme called ‘Bunking ()ff‘. we get some idea of the scale of truancy in Britain. though the Government has never published figures for fearof revealing just how unpopular some lessons are. Varying schemes being pursued by local authorities to alleviate the problem are looked into. and the NUT claim that truancy is being used asa weapon to destabilise state education.
I Flying Schoolboys and the Wild Sow ((74) 11.05pm—12. 15am. Writer and director Albert Hunt interviewed membersof RAF bomber crews who made raids over Germany in the War to build a portrait of the kind of men who made these raids.
TUESDAY 30
I Win, Lose or Draw (Scottish) 3—3.25pm. Oddly enough. professional (‘ockney Danny Baker hosts a charades-like game produced by Scottish Television.
I Survival (Scottish) 7.30—8pm. The fall and rise of Britain's polecat population this century.
I Taking Liberties (BBC2) 8—8.3()pm. An investigation into the sentencing of mentally ill people who are sent to prison for violent crimes.
I Ordinary People (C4) 8—9pm. This short series begins with the fundamentalsof feminism (why be a feminist and what does being a feminist actually mean). and shifts from there to the subjects ofthe Law, Education. Work and Money. the Arts and Politics and Power overthe following five programmes. With an agreeable balance of historical and contemporary opinions. the series should provide some valuable insights.
I A Lack of Vision (C4) ‘)—-pm. Relaunching the weekly health documentaries slot. this programme looks at eye diseases, the abolition of free eye tests in 1989 (and the subsequent drop in people seeking tests) and includes an interview with blind games designer Brian Sibley, who devised a game based on American football by listening to C4 coverage ofthe game.
I The Late Show(BBC2)11.15—11.55pm. Now that the Communist Utopia has collapsed. the programme asks. what other visions of the future are on offer? Various projects are discussed by scientists. writers and artists with their eyes fixed on an ideal society.
W
I Scottish Question Time (Scottish) 2.30—3.35pm. 3.40—4pm. Live from the
58 The List 26 January — 8 February 1990