TELEVISION REVIEW
external conflict. Laos has now enjoyed two decades of peace and throws up many surprises for the traveller including being prescribed Bacardi to treat mild bronchitis.
I Modern Times: Beautiful Men (BBC 2) 9—9.50pm. The founders of the Miss World competition. Eric and Julia Morley. have turned their attention to the male of the species and launched Mr UK - the search for the most attractive man of the 90s. Sample quote from Simon Peat. electrician. part-time model and Mr UK hopeful: ‘l'm often too glamorous and outshine the clothes when I'm on the catwalk.‘
I A Man’s World: The Father (BBC 2) 9.50-10.30pm. The series examining masculinity in the first halfof the century manages to get more men talking incredibly frankly about their experiences. I The Haunted (Scottish) lO.45pm—lZ.25am. An average family in Pennsylvania finds their happy home is possessed by demonic forces in this everyday tale of American suburbia.
I Cheers (Channel 4) l 1.30pm—midnight. The toils and troubles of the inhabitants of the popular Boston bar get another airing. This time around Carla falls madly in love with the Boston Bruins goalie but when his winning streak turns pear-shaped. she‘s convinced that she is the jinx that will damage his career.
THURSDAY 28
I Food File (Channel 4) 8.30—9pm. Lazslo Holitz. who runs and cooks at the Gay Hussar. gets in a stew while the Men Who Know ask ifexpensively designed food wrapping makes functional foods more attractive.
I Undercover Britain: Football Touts (Channel 4) 9—9.30pm. Top touts manage to flog £11 seats for up to £180 and can clear two grand a week even though the practice was made illegal after the
Hillsborough Disaster. Gary Thompson assumes the identity of an apprentice tout and chances his arm with the big boys.
I Absolutely Fabulous (BBC 1) 9.30—10pm. Patsy and Edina slag and vamp their way through another edition. I NYPD Blue (Channel 4) lO—l().55pm. The squad investigates gang-related homicides on a basketball court but Sipowicz is removed from the case after using a racial slur against a suspect.
I late Edition (Scottish) 10.30—11.35pm. Jitn White and Alison Craig blether to Johnny Ball. Samantha Fox and Julian Clary while being serenaded by tribute band No Way Sis and The Rezillos.
FRIDAY 29
I The Fast Show (BBC 2) 9—9.30pm. The final programme of the current series guarantees a further dose of quick-fire chuckles.
I The Mark Thomas Comedy Product (Channel 4) 1030—] l.05pm. For the last time in the current series Thomas sticks the boot into the Establishment and records its groans.
WATERSTONE’S
West End Branch. 128 Princes Street Edinburgh EH2 4AD (0131) 226 2666
Tuesday 26 March at 7.00pm
THE MACMILLAN THRILLER TOUR
Craig Holden and Chuck Hogen will be reading, from their new novels “Standoffm and “The River Sorrow“ (both Pan £5.99).
'Wednesday 27 March at 7.00pm
LESLEY GLAISTER
will be reading from her new novel “The Private Parts of Women" (Bloomsbury $314.99).
FREE TICKETS AVAILABLE AT BRANCH Refreshments will be served.
The Nicolas Cage season continues with Wlld At Heart on Mon 1
I Deadly Pursuit (Scottish) l().3()pm~12.35am. Sidney Poitier. Totn Berenger and Kirstie Alley star ill this fast-paced thriller. FBI agent Warren Stantin exchanges the familiar streets of the city for the rugged mountains of the Pacific North West when a cunning killer escapes and infiltrates a hunting party.
SATURDAY 30
I The Governor (Scottish) ‘).()5— 10.05pm. The trials and tribulations of Lynda LaPlante‘s female prison governess continue unabated. I Drop The Dead Donkey (Channel 4) l()-l().35pm. Repeat showing of the first series of the comedy that looks behind the scenes of a newsroom and captures all the petty differences anti bickering. I Wildlife Cop (Channel 4) 10.35—1 l.10pm. Channel Four's ‘Blue Light Zone‘ season continues with this documentary which follows a Wildlife Liaison Officer as he tries to stop the criminal classes from making off with rare species of wildlife frotn Northumberland. I I love A Man In Uniform (Channel 4) 11.10pm—lam. Canadian filmmaker David Wellington's debut feature is a complex and demanding psychological thriller about an actor who plays a cop for TV but finds the difference between reality and entertainment a bit difficult to fathom.
SUNDAY 31
'I Board Stupid (Channel 4) l.15—l.45pm.
The last in the current series finds Normski er al risking life and limb by heliboarding in the Canadian Rockies.
I oerald McBoing Boing (Channel 4) 3.20—3.40pm. Onomatopoeic animation with the noisiest boy in the world. Sounds surreal. as it were.
I Doctor Finlay (Scottish) 7.30—8.30pm. A new casebook opens for the highland doctor.
I Hamish Macbeth (BBC 1) 7.30—8.20pm. Another pillar of the highland community. the copper who has gone to pot. goes head to head with the good doctor in a battle to the death ratings
I Encounters: The Eclipse Chasers (Channel 4) 8—9pm. Five men explain their obsession with eclipses which drives them to travel the globe. often at great expense. in order to witness one of the natural world's most fascinating phenomenan.
I The long Day Closes (Channel 4) 10.55pm—12.30am. Award-winning director Terence Davie‘s autobiographical story ofeleven year-old Bud growing up in 50s Liverpool. Surrounded by the love of his family and his discovery of cinema. his perfect contentment is eclipsed only by the struggle to adapt to life at a new
SC 00 . I Don’t look Down (Scottish) 11.15pm-12. 15am. A new series of the Scottish ans programme jumps from the screens.
MONDAY 1
I The Greatest (Channel 4) S.3()—-‘)pm. Sojust who was the greatest sporting figure of the 20th century‘.’ This evening the spotlight turns on athlete Mary Rand as well as cricketer alltl elephant rider. lan Botham.
I Wild At Heart (Channel 4) l()pm—12.2()am. Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern star ill David Lynch's remarkable road movie. Sex. death. \ iolenee. intrigue. passion and Elvis songs -- it's all in there. I Ex-s (BBC l) lt).lt)—-lt),4t)pin. The cameras turn on Glasgow's Gallery Of Modern Art.
TUESDAY 2
I Motor Mania (Channel 4) 8~-8.3()pm. Road rage is by no means a new social disease. Before the first Road Traffic Act was introduced it) l‘)3(). Britain‘s roads often resembled the aftermath of a particularly bloody battle as pedestrians and motorists crossed paths.
I J’Accuse: The New Lads (Channel 4) 9—9.30pm. Critic Jaci Stephen says that lad culture. once a bit of a laugh. has now become a social menace. She goes on to lambast laddism as being the first refuge of middle-class boys going slumming when in truth they’re still the well: behaved boy next door.
I The Nicky Campbell Show (BBC 1) l()-l().4()pm. Campbell welcomes more guests to chat. play music and whatever else.
I And The Beat Goes On (Channel 4) 10-1 l.()5pm. More tales of hardship and harmony from the Scotisers of the ()()s. I Big Mouth (Channel 4)
ll.()5pm-12. l()am. Tony Parsons lets rip with more opinionated cultural analysis.
I Chartbite (Scottish) 5. l(l~5.4(lpm. Music news. views and interviews from the funky two-some. liwan and Mari.
I The lonely Planet (Channel 4) 8.30—9pm. lan Wright and Justine Shapiro fall off the beaten track and into more misadventures in the third series of travel programmes for the independently minded. This time round. Wright travels through the former Soviet Republics of Uzbekistan and Kirghistan. where he attends an Uzbek wedding. wins a furry black sheep. meets an eagle trainer and does the right thing at a banquet thrown for him by yurt-dwelling shepherds.
I Cheers (Channel 4) ll.3()pm—midnight. Carla decides that the only way to stop the Boston Bruins‘ losing streak at ice hockey is to stop dating their goalie.
THURSDAY 4
I Africa Express (Channel 4) 8—8.30pm. Toyin Fani-Kayode leads the first television current affairs team to travel officially to Nigeria since the execution last November of Ken Saro-Wiwa. She confronts the appalling international reputation of her home country and examines new attempts being made by Nigeria to improve its image.
I Food File (Channel 4) 8.30—9pm. Claudia Roden gives a report on the mysterious spice Bots t/t' Panama and the extraordinary lengths which gourmets will go to find and keep this rarity.
I Undercover Britain: Taken To The Cleaners (Channel 4) 9~‘).30pm. The excellent documentary series exposes the plight of asylum seekers in Britain and the way in which greedy employers will pay them wages as low as £l an hour.
I NYPD Blue (Channel 4) lO—l().55pm. The boys and girls in blue investigate the murder of a woman burned alive inside an abandoned house.
I late Edition (Scottish) 10.30—11.30pm. Jim White and Alison Craig warm the sofa for their verbose guests.
I Das Boot (Scottish) 1.45-3.55am. Set the video and up periscope for a powerful tale of submarine warfare.