LISTINGS TELEVISION
TELEVISION monie-
A selection ot television highlights, listed by day, in chronological order. Television Listings compiled by Tom Lappin.
FRIDAY 22 E
I Children In Need (BBC1)7pm—2am. Terry Wogan and Sue Cook trundle out again for the annual badgering session. There are plenty of extremely good reasons to give money to Children in Need. but the opportunity to watch assorted Radio 1 DJs making even bigger idiots of themselves than usual is not one of them. Hazel Irvine and Paul Coia will be holding the fort at the Scottish end.
I Oulzhovil (Channel 4) 8.30-9pm. A new
look sports quiz hosted by Will Buckley. Contestants are drawn from the sportsdesks of national newspapers which should offer plenty ofopportunities for embarrassment. The first game features The Daily Mail v The I)ail_ v Express.
I Dream On (Channel 4) 10—10.35pm. Continuing the three~parter with hero
Martin unwillingly playing a bit part in the ;
film biography of his ex-wife‘s new love. David Bowie stars as the eccentric English film director.
IThe Word (Channel 4) 11.15pm—12.15am.Tcrry Christian and the seriously daft co-presenters offer more vacuous gossip. live music and interviews. I The Mystery Train (BBC2) 11.45pm—2am. Richard O‘Brien introduces another bunch of tacky horror selections including the 1958 horror The Brain Eaters, starring Leonard ‘Already Typecast‘ Nimoy as a sinister alien.
I Bing My Bell (Channel 4) 12. 15—1am. Laurie Pike‘s live phone~in show with five guests fielding the calls.
SATURDAY 23
I The Man In The White Suit (Channel 4) 8—9.35pm. Alexander Mackendrick‘s second film stars Alec Guinness asthe hapless textile researcher and inventor of a fibre that never wears out or needs cleaning. Needless to say this isn't popular with either management or workforce. The satirical points don‘t get in the way of the classic Ealing comedy treatment.
IShort Circuit (BBCI)8.05—9.40pm. Ally T
Sheedy and Steve Guttenberg star in John Badham‘s pacey 1986 movie. It‘s the old ‘homicidal robot on the loose‘ schtick again. Inventor Guttenberg is sent to capture the malevolent machine before it can do too much damage. Too late. as it has already met up with animal-loving Ally Sheedy. Daft. undemanding fare.
I Moving Pictures (BBC2) 9—9.50pm. Return of the serious film programme, presented by writer and cinephile Howard Schuman. The series opens with a profile of the controversial director Roman Polanski. and interviews with Hanif Kureishi. Anthony Minghella. Stephen Poliakoffand Frank Clarke.
I Next Stop Iiollyvvood: Getting Ready For LateT(Channel 4) 9.35-10.05pm. A striking film looking at the fearsthat children pick up from their parents. Young Sonny experiences the death ofhis mother and his father‘s fears for survival in the McCarthy era with the threat of nuclear war.
I Polanski Double Bill: Pirates and Rosemary's Bahy(BBC2)9.50pm-1 .55am. Two contrasting movies from the former Mr Sharon Tate. Pirates is a strange rollicking 17th century adventure with the strangely cast Walter Matthau as Captain Red. Rosemary ’5 Baby is a humdrum tale of witchcraft in modern New York starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes as a young couple moving in next door to devil-worshipping folk.
SUNDAY 24
I The Travel Show Guides (BBC2) 6—6.30pm. The west coast of Ireland is the destination for tonight‘s show, looking at the beautiful scenery around Galway, and enjoying the welcoming Irish hospitality. I The Natural World: Vietnam - The Country Not The War(BBC2) 7.15—8.05pm. A new series of the nature programme opens with the first ever report ofthe state ofwildlife and natural places of Vietnam. which took an ecological battering during the war. but has been gradually recovering since the war ended in 1975.
I Whicker Way Out West (Channel4) 8—8.30pm. Classics from 1973 as Whicker attends the wedding of the year. No. not Anne and Mark. but a tackilycxpensive do in a Las Vegas casino.
I Superscots (BBCI ) 8—8.30pm. Jackie Bird presents the final ofthe quiz series which has proved less than a smash hit with all those Jane Franchi fans out there. I London's Burning (Scottish) 8.45—9.45pm. The Blue Watch team in more fire-fighting adventures at the London station.
IAshenden (BBC1)9. 10—10.()5pm. The second episode of the 303 adventure serial. Alan Bennett turns up as an apparently innocuous Englishman living out the war in Switzerland. and in reality playing a deadly game.
I Behels With A Cause: lWant To Live (Channel4) 10pm-12.20am. Oscar-winning Susan Hayward stars in the true story of Barbara Graham, a small-time criminal convicted of a murder she did not commit and sentenced to die in the San Quentin gas chamber.
I Everyman: Do Men Hate Women? (880) 10.05-1 1.45pm. ‘All you need for misogyny is a pair of testicles, a woman and a set of irrational beliefs,‘ claimsJim Wilson. who should know. as he battered his wife for eight years. A police detective, Carol Bristow. investigates the subject of misogyny and uncovers its social, sexual and religious roots.
I High Tide (BBC2) 10.10—11.50pm. A quirky Australian drama following the tribulations of Lilli (Judy Davis) a singer providing backing vocals for a pompous Elvis impersonator, who kicks her offthe tour for being a ‘bad influence‘. Odd. downbeat. well-observed social comedy/drama.
I The South Banlt Shotv (Scottish) 10.35—11.35pm. A profile ofJose Carreras, the famous tenor who made an amazing recovery from leukaemia.
MONDAY 25
I Dance Energy (BBC2) 6.45—7. 15pm. The male Amanda De Cadenet, Normski, gets you back on the floor.
I Desmond's (Channel 4) 8.30—9pm. Family reunions in the barber‘s shop as a customer turns out to be Porkpie‘s long-lost daughter Denise.
I City Lights (BBCl) 8.30—9pm. Willie (Gerard Kelly) ruffles a few feathers at the local church.
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I Cutting Edge: Casualties (Channel 4) 9L10pm. Thirty-six hours in the life ofthe casualty department at Ilackney‘s Homerton hospital. The film accurately conveys the realities of living in an inner-city neighbourhood. where drugs, alcoholism and violence are commonplace.
I Play Dead (Channel 4) 10—1 1pm. Danny Cannon's drama features Lee Whitlock and David Doyle as two young men whose friendship is threatened by their involvement with night-club gangster David Duffy. resulting in one ofthem being pressurised to become a police grass.
I KYTV (BBC2) 10—10.35pm. A rather tardy repeat showing of the comedy series that took the piss out of satellite TV's shoddy production values. Angus Deayton. Geoffrey Perkins. Helen Atkinson-Wood, Michael Fenton-Stevens and Philip Pope are the cast.
I Moment 0t Tmth: Alan Spence (BBCI) 10.10-10.40pm. The writer and Sri Chinmoy follower talks to Edi Stark about his upbringing and strong sense of religious awareness.
I Scottish Women (Scottish) 10.45—11.15pm. Sheena McDonald hosts the debate, this time talking about Scottish traditions in the week of St Andrew‘s day. I Because We Must (Channel 4) 12.30-1.30am. A TV version of Michael Clark‘s 1987 Christmas stage show featuring the usual eclectic sets, and music ranging from Chopin to a children‘s band.
I Scottish International (Scottish) 6.30—7pm. In the last programme ofthe series. Margo MacDonald looks at the problems facing would-be immigrants from Eastern Europe.
TUESDAY 26 i
l
I The Blaclt Bag: Brooklyn RIP (Channel 4) 8—8.30pm. A visit to Crown Heights in Brooklyn, the frontline of crack houses and random violence. where racial conflict has recently flared betwcn the local black and Hasidic Jew communities.
I Without Walls: For Love 0r Money (Channel 4) 9—10pm. Live from the Tate gallery where this year‘s winner of the prestigious Turner Prize will be announced, and a cheque for £20,000 handed out.
I She Knows Too Much (BBCI) 9.30—11pm. A moderately unbelievable comedy-thriller starring Meredith Baxter-Birney and Robert Ulrich as a beautiful convict and the detective who has released her to use as bait to catch her ex-lover. Over-complex and short on laughs.
I The Class Factor: We Are The Masters Nov: (BBC2) 9.50—10.30pm. The first programme in a series investigating the effect of class on British political life since the end of the war. The series opens with a reminder of the classless society promised by Clement Attlee in 1945. and the similar pledges made by John Major last year. See preview.
I Empty Nest (Channel4)
11.45pm—12. 15am. Richard Mulligan stars as the widowed paediatrician. tonight falling out with his nurse Laverne, played by the ludicrously-named Park Overall.
WEDNESDAY 27
I Reportage (BBC2) 6.50—7.40pm. A new series of the ‘yoof‘ news series looks at the subject of teenage crime, comparing statistics in Britain with the USA, where teen gang members are interviewed. The new series promises to cut out all the gimmicks and concentrate on presenting hard news.
I Travelog (Channel 4) 8.30—9pm. John Walters sets out to prove that Brussels isn‘t at all boring, but is in fact the ideal venue for a short break.
I Clarissa (BBC2) 9.25—11.55pm. Epic 18th century bodice-ripping stuff in a three-part adaptation ofSamuel Richardson‘s classic novel. Clarissa (Saskia Wickham) is a tragic heiress, pressurised by her parents to marry the despised Roger. Her only escape, it seems, is to run off with the attractive libertine Lovelace. played by Sean Bean. See preview.
I DEA: The Birthday Party (BBCI) 9.30—10.20pm. The documentary series continues with the film crew following a DEA team in Bolivia where cocaine production makes up one-third ofthe country‘s gross national product. We watch as DEA agents are foiled in their spoiling missions by local officials bribed with drug money. In the meantime though. the agents are plotting a major raid on the birthday party of a trafficker.
The List 22 November — 5 December 199173