TELEVISION LISTINGS

TELEVISION

A selection at television highlights, listed by day, in chronological order. Television Listings compiled by Tom Lappin.

I Second Thoughts (Scottish) 8—8.30pm. Bill and Faith plan a night of passion in this dodgy divorcee sitcom.

I Short Stories: Weighing It Up (Channel 4) 8.30-9pm. A weekly Weight Watchers class in Potter‘s Bar is Mecca fortwo generations of women obsessed with the ultimate state of being thin. This quirky documentary looks at their hopes and aspirations.

I A Perfect Hero (Scottish) 9-10pm. Nigel Havers stars in this promising new series set in World War Two. He plays a pilot. Hugh Fleming. who seemingly has everything: brains. money. charm and loads ofgirlfriends. Unfortunately it is September 1940. and Fleming just happens to be in the RAF.

I Cheers (Channel 4) 9—9.30pm. Norm is grateful when Rebecca helps find his wife Vera a job. but not so happy when it impinges on his drinking.

IThe Sharp End (BBC1)9.30—10.2()pm. Celia has to repossess a car. but sidekick Carmichael manages to botch things up again.

I The Real McCoy (BBC2) 9—9.30pm. Curtis and Ishmael head the black comics in the sketch and music show.

I Roseanne (Channel 4) l()—1().3t)pm. With a wedding in the offing. Dan is still giving his father the cold shoulder. IVolunteers(BBC1) 10.20pm—12am. Tom Hanks and John Candy star in this Nicholas Meyer comedy as a couple of geeks joining the Peace Corps. and setting offto Thailand and a mixture ofgucrrillas. CIA agents. opium warlords and the kitchen sink thrown in. An idiot caper movie with a few funny moments. I10x10 (BBC2) 10.20—10.30pm. The short film series looks at the work ofthe Salvation Army volunteers dedicated to relieving the misery of families living below the breadline in Glasgow‘s Easterhouse.

l IAhsolutely(Channel4)10.30—11.05pm. i Return of the anarchic comedy series with l Morwenna Banks. Jack Docherty. Moray '. Hunter. Gordon Kennedy. Peter Baikie

j and John Sparkcs. See preview.

, I Friday At The Dome (Channel 4)

l 11.05pm—12.20am. Live music. features

I and interviews. with The Farm and Elvis

! Costello. plus American boundary

i jumpers Living Colour.

“The List 17—30 May 1991

l

SATURDAY 18 'l

I Cup Final Sportscene (BBC1)2—5. 15pm. Dundee United v Motherwell at Hampden. with the usual build-up and ballyhoo. lfthe thing's not decided after 90 minutes. look out for extra-time and penalties.

IA Passage To India (BBC2) 3.35—6. 15pm. Another in the David Lean season. This adaptation of EM. Forster‘s classic won many a good taste plaudit on release. but plods along slowly in the middle section. Oscar-winner Peggy Ashcroft plays Mrs Moore arrivingin India to visit her son. the City Magistrate of Chandrapore. bringing his fiancee with her. Things get complicated when the two women are invited to visit the Marabar caves. It‘s a lushly-produced epic with sumptuous crowd scenes and fine performances. but more than a little arid in places.

I Sound Stuit: Echoes 0i America (Channel

' 4) 7-8pm. That underrated instrument the

banjo gets its own programme in this documentary tracing its importance in the : early immigrant communities across America. I Dancemakers: Heaven Ahlaze In His Breast (BBC2) 7.50—9. 10pm. The first in a new five-part series exploring the diversity 3 of contemporary dance and choreography é looks at the latest work ofchoreographer ' Ian Spink and composer Judith Weir. I lhirtysomething (Channel 4) 9—9.55pm. Melissa is offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to photograph a famous author. This episode has been rescheduled 3 from May 11. L I Casualty(BBC1 ) 9.3(l—10.20pm. The : gritty hospital drama series returns for a blood-soaked repeat run. kicking offwith ! some aggro at a football match. I Aparajito-The Unvanquished (Channel ' 4) 955—] 1 .55pm. Continuing the Satyajit ' Ray season thisisa further story inthe l Apu trilogy takingthe same characters l

fron Pather Panchali and concentrating on the relationship between the mother and her growing son Apu.

I The Comic Strip Presents: South Atlantic , Raiders Part II (BBC2) 9. til-9.45pm. The ; madcap Falklands farce continues with j our heroes breaking out of Dartmoor and ' stealingaplane to flyto the South Atlantic. 1 I The Wolvis Family: A Course 0t Therapy In :

; Six Sessions (BBC2) 9.35—10.()5pm. i

Halfway through the family counselling sitcom. Dr Wilcockson decides to try 5 ‘cushion therapy". i

I Cat's Eye(BBC1)11.20pm—12.5(lam.

One ofthose ‘portmanteau' films with

: more than one story. so if you don't like

one. make a cup oftea and wait until the

- next comes along. Three Stephen King

stories are the inspiration here.with ' A performers including Drew ‘ET' i

' Barrymore.and the very wonderfulJamcs ? I Woods.

SUNDAY 19

I Samson And Delilah (Channel 4) l 2—4.25pm. Cecil B. DeMille‘s spectacular i epic about the hero who found hisstrength i deserting him after a dodgy haircut. A cast of millions. including Victor Mature and i Hedy Lamarr in the title roles (he plays ' Samson. she plays. . . you get the drift).

I Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (BBC1)3.45—5.30pm. A duo of a rather I different kind. Newman and Redford have never been better than in George Roy Hill's romantic. comic and violent buddy movie about a couple ofwisecracking outlaws. ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On

Your Head'. old Sacha croons.

I Dallas (BBCI ) 3—3.45pm. JR isstill languishing in the mental hospital. and . gets a nasty scare when the doctorsuggests : a course ofdrugs. I The Pursuit Of Power (Channel 4) 4.25—4.55pm. Adam Raphael introducesa new series devoted to profiling the

personal motivations of successful politicians. Neil Kinnock is the first subject. Sec panel.

I Kahaddi (Channel 4) 6—6.30pm. More of the frankly odd Indian sport. this time involving the top team who call themselves Services. This programe is sponsored by Tilda rice. I kid you not. VI?“

‘~U

I Fragile Earth: Fishing In Troubled Waters (Channel 4) 7—8pm. Said waters beingthe River Mersey. where Scouse anglers are catching eels packed with mercury due to the fact that British companies have been blithely dumping toxic chemicals into the Irish Sea.

I Hard News (Channel 4) 8.—8.30pm. David Jessel presents another in the newspaper watchdog series.

I Relative Values: The Colour 0i Money (BBC2)8.15—9.50pm. The first in a new six-part documentary series exploring the different factors that give works ofart their value. The first programme follows the auction ofa major Picasso painting.

I Blue Remembered Hills (Channel 4) 8.30—9.55pm. A repeat from the BBC archives of Dennis Potter‘s depiction of Childhood‘s lack of innocence. See panel. I Tonight At 8.30: Ways And Means(BBC1)

8.35—9.05pm. Joan Collins and John Standing play a couple ofupper-class spongers down on their luck after a sorry night at the casino.

I Jeeves And Wooster (Scottish) 9.05—1005pm. Gosh. golly. and similar expletives. Bertie actually seems rather taken with the idea of marriage. Jeeves will have to put his foot down.

I The Beguiled(BBC2)9.5(l—11.35pm. Clint Eastwood stars in the recently-deceased Don Siegel‘s atmospheric Western. playing a Union soldier taking shelter in a Confederate girls school while his wounds mend. His arrival brings jealousies and hatred to the surface. It‘s an unusual and compelling film. with Eastwood turning in one ofhis more thoughtful performances.

I Film 0n Four: Smack And Thistle (Channel4)10.05—11.50pm.Tundelkoli‘s inverted Bonnie and Clyde tale stars Charlie Caine as a streetwise ex-convict becoming involved with a millionaire's junkie daughter. He finds himself becoming embroiled in a drugs ring that stretches from the East End to the House of Commons. It's a gripping thriller with sharply-defined characters. and a nice romantic sub-plot.

MONDAY 20

I Horizon: Camellord - A BitterAtertaste (BBC2) 8. 10—9pm. In 1988the 20.000 inhabitants ofCamelford in Cornwall were exposed to massive doses of aluminium compounds in their water as a result of an accidental spillage. Three years on Horizon asks whether the incident was treated seriously enough.

I Birds Of A Feather(BBC1)8.30—9pm. Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson star in a repeated run ofthe sparky Cockney sitcom. this time in a dilemma asto whether or not to shop a villain.

I Watching The Detectives (Channel 4) 9—10pm. Peter Clark is this week‘s dick. so to speak. on the trail of stolen boatsin London and on the Costa Del Crime.

f 8.30—9pm. Distinctly Adrian

I Citizens Band (BBC2) 9-10.30pm. Silence ()f The Lambs director Jonathan Demme made this tawdry 1977 comedy about a small-town boy who runs an emergency rescue service using his CB rig. There's a lot of no-hoper friends and relatives giving him grief. and a few comic moments. but mostly this is soft-centred cash-in on the short-lived CB craze. looking sadly dated 14 years on.

I ENG (Channel 4) 10—1 1pm. More pacy action from the Canadian television news station on the track ofsome hot stories. this week unearthing a story about biological warfare.

I Scottish Women (Scottish)

1050—1 1 . 10pm. Sheena McDonald introduces the show that canvasses the views of 100 Scottish women on a variety ofsubjects. This week it‘s families.

I Je Vous Salue Marie (Channel 4) 11.55pm—1.55am. Condemned by the Pope as being blasphemous. this is Jean-Lue Godard‘s version of the Nativity with his Mary working at her father‘s petrol station before succumbing to the Immaculate Conception. Godardesque. ic mind-blowineg tedious but arty.

TUESDAY 21

I Listening Eye (Channel 4) 5.30—6pm. Presenters Clark Denmark and Rachel! Bastikar continue the series for the deaf and hearing-impaired.

I Eikon (Scottish) 6.30-7pm. Shereen Nanjiani. Craig Swan and Don Lindsay present the show that tackles religious. social and moral issues. '

I Teenage Health Freak (Channel 4)

Mole-relaated sitcom series focusing on the hypochondria of 15-year-old Peter Payne (Alex Langdon) who extracts laughs by being a complete pain in the bum.

I Challiiace (BBC2) 8.30—9pm. More antics at David Lloyd George School when Roy Bates. the Head of Science. finally goes completely off histrollcy.

I Twin Peaks (BBC2) 9—9.5(lpm. Josie is dead (and apparently transformed into a doorknob) and Sheriff Truman has to try to pull himselftogether. Meanwhile David Lynch (playing the deaf FBI chief) fallsin love with Shelly Johnson.

I Chancer (Scottish) 9—10pm. Piers is still pursuing his legal battle for custody of baby Joseph.

I Rear Window: Tahar Ben Jelioun: Moorish Fantasies On The Leit Bank (Channel 4) 9—9.45pm. An interview with the Moroccan novelist whose themes include racism in France. the sexual isolation of immigrants and the intolerance ofMuslim society.

I All Good Things (BBC1)9.30-10.20pm. The second episode of the Warren Clarke and Brenda Blcthyn comedy drama has Shirley preventing a suicide. but failingto impress husband Phil.

I The Secret World 0t Sex (BBC2) 9.50—10.20pm. Steve Humphrics’ series continues with interviews with people who had suffered from acts of sexual violence, including Ruth Neale. committed to a mental hospital after being raped at the age of 18.