appalling affliction. Thrs programme. narrated by an ever so earnest Sue Johnston. looks at a handful of cases among the 2:300 sufferers; in Britain.
So. we have a young grrl who wants to be a ballet dancer but falls asleep up to :30 trrnes a day and one srxtysomethrng lady r.-./hose long lrfe ‘.'.’lttl the disease has rnsprred her to be involved In an a\.‘~/areness group called UCAN rrun excluswely by narcoleptrcs making rneetrngs unintentronally funny i. There's also a young man .vhose illness h; s left him. regrettably. wzth a massive chrp on hrs shoulder.
This rs rntert-zstrng stuff about a rarer drscr ssed condition. but rt fails to totally engage due to its all-too conx'entronal structure when rt could have been something excei_)trorrar. rPaul Dale: EW‘fioua IS DEAD
BBC Choice, Sun 6 Oct, 7.30pm 0
Dear oh dear. You can rust prcture the cabal of tent ‘. rate comedy ‘.'/rrters brainstorming this little beauty. Handa/l (Wt) Hopkrrk (Deceased/ meets friend's: that's a great Idea. Except. of course. it's not. It's brar". nurhbrngly. spirit» crushrrrgly dreadful. and the addition of the crrrrtrnally unfunny
Richard Blackwood rn the trtle role doesn't help matters either.
Havrng sard that. its not as if Blackwood has got much to work with. He's dead. but strll walking and talking. wet inexplicably he can't eat. sleep. feel parn or. yup. have sex. Hrs array of wacky" flatmates don't know about hrs utttrrl‘ely demrse and thererr‘. lies the ‘comedy' and. well. that's about rt.
There are no Jokes. no cornedrc acting abrlrty on show, no plot and a funereai lsorryr pace to proceedings. the only bright spot berng a daft hammedup cameo from Bill Paterson as the Angel of Death. lhrs :s deadly unfunny television.
(Doug Johnstoner
DOCUME NlARY
WHO KILLED TUTANKHAMUN? . . . REVEALED Channel 5, Wed 9 Oct, 9pm 0000
Long before Agatha Chrrstre dispatched Hercule Porrot on an ill fated trrp down the ere. Egyptologrsts x‘xere diligently digging for Clues that might resolve the death of Egypt's b0y-krng. Tutankhamun. The 19-year-old Pharaoh dred rn 1323 BC. though his tomb in the Valley of the Krngs was not unearthed untrl
1922. An autopsy on Tut's mummified body revealed shards of bone in the brain. consrstent wrth a sharp blow to the head. But drd he fall or was he pushed?
To clear up this nrgglrng 3000—year-old conundrum. Channel :3 has enlisted two former FBI (‘letectryes who cast therr beady eyes over the evrdence. building profiles of the krng and the main suspects: lut's ‘.'.’l(t()\.‘/ rconyenrentty arso hrs half sisterr. the Prime Munster and the (Iomrr‘ander in Chief of l gypt's arrnres.
lhe re\.’elatron. when It comes. rs hardly earth shattering. but this murder mystery set up rs Just a sensational pretext for y-xhat rs a fascinating insight into recreating a historical period through forensic and arclraeologrcal r’esear‘cl‘r.
'Allar‘. Radcliffe-r
boeutvtl NIAHY DARK ROOTS Channel 4, Sun 13 Oct,
lt x'xould be very easy to laugh your” way through the story of Anna Nicole Smith. n'xere rt not for the fact that it's so tragic. Born a petrte southern brunette gust z few mrles way fron‘ Waco. corncrrler‘taily; Sn‘rth rdolrsed tvlarrlyn Monroe so much that she had to look lrke her. Unfortunately. the surgery makes rt seem as though she's ll st swallowed Brigitte Nrelson.
But the strip Joint
bosses of Houston oned the look and she was soor‘ spiayeo across the coyer of P/a‘.’.‘)or.' ano sho‘.'.'rr‘g up an a Coop Brothers lll()‘.'l(}. Ther‘. she fel. it love wrth an octogenarrar‘ 'l‘llttl- brllronarre. Gold digging hussy or son‘eone who falls ‘or dyrng men? Sn‘rth may come across as prtrfrrl but she's no 'ess appalling than the trailer trash cousins she itt)£ll‘.(l().'l(2(t Ithorrgh :t seen‘s she took aft therr teeth or the poss E ‘.'.'hr<:"~ atterr‘pted to protect her 'ius'2arid. No one con‘es out of th-s looking ‘.'(‘:l‘, p'ett‘;.. which 'r‘akes rt tor; fo epioj. ttrlry rtfirrarr t)or‘ai(isor\
til ‘7z\t.t/\
SIRENS Scottish, Sun 13 & Mon 14 Oct, 9pm O.
the tape ()5 <::>.s<:::~t,~
l‘.'.as se'it o" Tl‘rs 'ta.:'f
ps‘.r:l‘<><t'a"‘g‘r hag: a
beautifully :iLea' r:r"'.r.'r:.
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BODILY HARM
one swgle sound could be discerned. \‘v’errdly. rt actually. rr‘ade little difference. so coxrous '.'.'as the tale and tt}l(?§;l'£il>t‘-t}(t '\.'.'er'e the elot t‘.'.‘sts. tl‘at you f‘r’ILlltl out the '.'.(:':ls 'llt() rr‘outl‘s.
'rttors'
A se'ra: rapist 1s rr‘akrro lift;- “Ml fo' .'.<;~r'w:,-" .'.'io "‘ake tt‘e
"':"\-:: alo":: 3. :\'*<lr)t"i; 11'“. I;:a'talsrl;.vr"g;a Hf): .I'i < .r"t‘rr .Jt l’r:;.'<':" t)‘. r;.
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Channel 4, Mon 14 & Tue 15 Oct, 10pm 0.0.
Have you worked rt out uet'? Steins goes for a ll'tchcockran feel but er‘os up 'r‘akrv‘g a balls so oarier ti‘rr‘. that a l ‘n‘itle could work
o‘ a UK)? ‘t out. .Just for a la.rgh. tr", '.'.'atchrr‘g with the "kite or‘:
flirsa" Donal rsor‘,
ALSO ON
Britain's Favourite Hoaxer (I‘rar‘r‘el J.
K Oct. F‘omr ll‘e sto", of Kart Poune". the bloke ‘.'.l‘o gz‘rtec'asl‘es spo't.r‘.g exertts.
This is 80 Solid Chamfev he I"? {)3}. ".05':;;”‘~ [)ocu'r‘e'ttar‘, tracking the "ltllrt'y rated and (?()".tlf)‘.'(:l'f§‘£t' ga'age act.
Jock Bottom St‘offs“. fix, '0();:.‘. .r'..’:‘.’i';>'r: A g" rr'irrtg; Ally. t\r’ir:()o;st what's atrong .‘.rr‘.l‘ Scottish footbal. Dwarves in Showbiz (Jeri/‘02?! Soc 7.3" Oct. Elrw‘.[)1'xarxes'n f3t‘-f“.'.’tIr/. essentially. Falling Apart (Ilia/vie, 4. (in, 7.’ ()(,‘3. 70mm Mark Strong and ller'r‘rone Nt).'"'lfl, play a
:toupie at ‘.'.*ar.
Is there a British screen actor working today who can do midlife crisis in extremis better than Timothy Spall? It's hard to believe so, and in this two- part drama from the productive mind of Tony Grounds (The Martins, Births, Marriages and Deaths) he once again shows that he’s top of the pile when you need someone down on their fortysomething luck.
With the body and will of his gruff dad (George Cole) slowly fading and his party-planner wife (Lesley Manville) relaxing a grip on her wedding vows, all Mitchel (Spall) needs is to lose his job in the City. And of course, he does, just a few days shy of the celebrations arranged to mark his 44th year. Even his sensitive goth daughter, with whom he shares a birthday, may be leaving him as she has ambitions of attending boarding school.
The opening part neatly portrays a family on the edge before the second segment gently tips them all the way over. The performances are pretty much flawless with Annette Crosbie as Mitchel’s world-weary mum and Manville as a woman desperately trying to make amends for her one and only error both giving Spall a run for his money.
With so much adapted drama on the box, fresh storytelling deserves attention. The potential ‘oral sex storm‘ headlines notwithstanding, Bodily Harm should get it. (Brian Donaldson)
THE LIST 1 17