LISTINGS TELEVISION
V TV REVIEW
For three weeks every summer the streets of one of the world's most beautiful cities are packed with Festival-goers, taking in vibrant theatre, dance and comedy, and joining in the parade. Sound unfamiliar? That‘s because Sydney’s Mardi Gras has been a fairly closed shop since 1978, a festival where straights are tentatively allowed to participate but, as one organiser put it, ‘they don’t really know how to behave, they fuck around too much, they dress badly and they just look all wrong.‘
Channel 4‘s closing gala for its Summer’s Out season was a behind-the- scenes look at Mardi Gras, Feed Them To The Cannibals (the title coming from a former Governor of New South Wales’ idea of how to treat homosexuals). For a country that still clings to the traditional macho values of the tinnie in the ice-box and the Sheila in the kitchen, getting the round in and ‘no pooftas‘ as Monty Python put it, Australia has a surprisingly vociferous gay community. Or at least Sydney does. Drive a few hours north into Queensland and owning a Bronski Beat cassette is probably still a hanging offence.
‘For a country that still clings to the traditional macho values of the tinnie in the ice-box and the Sheila in the kitchen, Australia has a surprisingly vociferous gay community.’
Sydney, though. can put in a convincing claim to be outstripping San Francisco as the world‘s gay mecca (incidentally, just what is it about cities with big metal bridges that attracts vibrant gay communities? San Francisco, Sydney, Bristol, Edinburgh. Hull . . . yeah, well), which is a surprise, as homosexuality was only decn'minalised in New South Wales in I985. According to one local MP, the gloriously Biblical Reverend Fred Nile, this has resulted in an influx of gay immigrants. Then again Fred has a neat line in anti-gay sloganeen'ng. ‘God created Adam and Eve,’ he points out, ‘not Adam and Steve.‘ Fred, though, was in the minority, with other MP3, the local residents and even the Police Chief fully supporting the Mardi Gras parade. Any other dissenters probably
kept quiet once the lesbian vigilante group, the ‘Dykes On Bikes’ turned up at the head of the procession.
Mardi Gras itself is the world’s greatest example of the gay adoration ofeverything naff and tacky, all Hollywood showtunes and chorus line high-kicking. Perhaps it’s to do with being an oppressed minority themselves. but gay culture seems to be made up of everything everybody else has rejected as being crap. Think about it: Judy Garland, torch singers. Gloria Gaynor, Kylie Minogue. Marc Almond. Slushy romance or sleazy sensuality, you buys your costume and you takes your pick.
‘Any other dissenters probably kept quiet once the lesbian vigilante group, the ‘Dykes 0n Bikes’ turned up at the head of the procession.’
Neil Bartlett picked the chorus line for his Edinburgh show Night After Night, the subject of an over-reverent profile in Edinburgh lights (BBC2). Bartlett uses the musical form to address that peculiar fascination for gay writers, himself, his sexual orientation, and his relationship with their straight parents. It‘s an indulgence that is never questioned, although were a heterosexual writer to assume their audience had such an interest in their sexuality they would be justifiably scomed..
In one of those pretentious links Edinburgh Nights is becoming distressineg fond of, Kirsty Wark talked to herself in a dressing-room mirror before introducing Lea De Lan'a, this year's token controversial American, a lesbian comic who rants at numbingly high volume about being a raging dyke. ‘In the 905 it's hip to be queer,’ is De Lan'a’s buzz-line. Surely a more satisfactory state‘ of affairs by now would be that it's no big deal to be queer, nothing special, just get on with it. Mind you, that would mean that De Laria, Bartlett and their ilk would have nothing to say, nothing to sell. De Laria ended the interview by jumping on Kirsty and snogging her. Had the similarly—proportioned Bernard Manning tried a move like that she’d have no doubt kneed him in the groin. As it was she grinned uncertainly and put up with it. Too liberal by far. (Tom Lappin)
TELEVISION
A selection of television highlights,
listed by day, in chronological order. Television Listings compiled by Tom
Lappin.
FRIDAY 27
I I3 (Scottish) 7—7.30pm. Bryan Burnett and Janice Forsyth roam Edinburgh uncovering highlights from the Festival and Fringe.
I Parenthood (BBC2) 7.20—7.45pm. Gil (Ed Begley Jr) finds himself having to play host to the annual Thanksgiving Day dinner, and mother-in-law trouble inevitably ensues.
I Cheers (Channel 4) 9.30-lOpm. Nomi discovers a spot on his chest x-ray. Is our tubby hero’s number up?
I Nurses (Channel 4) 10—10.30pm. Luke convinces Jack that he has been exposed to a fatal disease and his only hope is to spend two days in a plastic bubble. wearing nothing but nappies.
I Naked City (Channel 4) ll.05pm—12.05am. An hour of innovative music presented by Caitlin Moran and Johnny Vaughan. The last in the current run.
I The Osterman Weekend (Scottish)
ll. lOpm—l.lOam. Rutger Hauer and John Hurt star in Sam Peckinpah‘s last filtn, about a controversial TV news director recruited by the CIA to spy on his friends. supposedly Soviet moles.
I Edinburgh lights (BBC2)
ll. lS-l 1.55pm. Kirsty Wark presents another show from the capital ans fest. featuring an interview with director Robert Wilson, a look behind the scenes with Incidental Theatre. and a report from the ‘Just Do lt' session at the Film Festival
SATURDAY 28
I The Best Of Cutting Edge: Volvo City (Channel 4) 8—9pm. A profile of the North East London Hasidic Jewish community who maintain a way of life that began in l8th century Europe, without access to newspapers or television.
I Teenage Blades: In And Out or Airica (BBC2) 9—9.50pm. Josephine is from Kenya. from a privileged family in Nairobi, and hasjust spent her first term at Marlborough College public school. She records her experiences in Kenya and in England.
I South Bank Show Special: Action . . . Sir Richard Attenborough (Channel 4) 9—10.05pm. First shown on lTV last year this tribute and career retrospective is shown to mark Darling Dickie‘s 70th birthday. It looks at his work as an actor. producer, director and lobbyist for the British film industry.
I Spender (BBCl) 9.20—10. 10pm. Our Geordie hero is offered the chance of a trip back to London, but when his sidekick Stick is accused of murder, Spender needs all his persuasive powers to track down witnesses.
I Cinema, Cinemai: Toto to Items (Channel 4) 10.35pm—l2. lSam. Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael’s acclaimed film stars Michel Bouquet as an elderly man who believes he was switched at birth with the son of a wealthy man. He looks back to his childhood and plots his escape from an old people’s home in order to kill his hated rival. lt's an intriguing blend of comedy. drama and fantasy.
I The Adventures or Baron Munchueen (Scottish) 10.40pm—lam. Terry Gilliam's expensive flop stars John Neville as the crusty old Baron with amazing powers who sets off on a series of extraordinary adventures.
SUNDAY 29
I Hypnosis (Channel 4) 5.30-6pm. The trancey, dancey rave series offers more sound and vision in a daft, crusty. Cockney hippy sort of style. Guests include Kylie Minogue. Buju Banton and Snow.
I Strathblair (BBC 1) 7.30-8.20pm. Loose ends are tied up in the final episode of the BBC Scotland drama series, with double celebrations in store for Andrew and Flora and Robert and Tansy.
I Concerto! (Channel 4) 8—9pm. Dudley Moore and Michael Tilson Thomas of the LSO present young British cellist Steven lsserlis performing Saint Saéns’s Cello Concerto.
I Always (BBCl) 8.20—l 1. 15pm. Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter and John Goodman star in Steven Spielberg‘s romantic fantasy about a dare-devil pilot who gets himself killed on his last fire- fighting mission. Once dead. however his troubles aren’t over as he finds himself appointed guardian angel to a new young pilot who is wooing his grieving girlfriend.
I Frost In The Air (BBC2) 8.30—9.25pm. A three-part series looking at the life and career of David Frost opens with 60s satire in That Was The Week That Was and interviews with Ned Sherrin, Willie Rushton and John Cleese.
I Over The Rainbow (Scottish) 10.05—10.35pm. Neil and Spence have finally organised a tour, and Wicked Cleavage hit the road, first stop Peterborough.
I Everyman: no idea llate Women? (Channel 4) 10.30—1 l.10pm. ‘All you need for misogyny is a pair of testicles, a woman and a set of irrational beliefs,‘ says Jim Wilson somewhat contentiously. His opinion is substantiated by the fact that he battered his wife for eight years. Detective Inspector Carol Bristow investigates the background to woman- hating in our society.
I Moviedrome: Face To Face (BBC2) ll.55pm—l2.50am. Alex Cox introduces Sergio Sollima‘s strange allegorical Western about a teacher from New England who strikes up a friendship with an outlaw in the South-West and finds the rebel lifestyle suits himjust fine. Cox says. ‘It has some of the most outlandish haircuts ever seen in a Western.‘
I PM“ Be Moe Arnie (Channel 4) midnight—1.55am. Eric Rohmer's u typically mannered comedy about partner- swapping amongst irritatineg chic and I smug Gallic couples. Emmanuelle
Chaulet, Francois-Eric Gendron, Sophie Renoir and Eric Viellard play the bed-
The List August-9— I993 93