tv@list.co.uk
HORROR DRAMA KINGDOM HOSPITAL BBC3, Sun 2 May,
10pm & BBCZ, Sun 9 May, 10pm .0.
Kingdom Hospital may be Stephen King's baby. but in truth it's the Illegitimate offspring of Poltergmst and Chicago Hope. Based on Lars von Trier's cult Danish mini-series. but now produced by King. this is a somewhat messy three way between medical drama. horror flick and black comedy.
Built on the site of a former mill. where- do/ens of young children perished in a savage fire. Kingdom Hospital is high on technical facilities. but low on patients. So when a rich local artist Is involved in a near-fatal hit and run. the hostpital director starts rubbing his hands. But even With hot shot surgeon Dr Hook on the case played by former brat packer Andrew McCarthyi it takes a little kiddie intervention from the dark Side to pull him through. Ninety minutes of ghostly apparitions. talking animals. giant anteaters and a bunch of freaks in medical uniforms: mildly diverting, one and all. (Kelly Apteri
MUSICAL DRAMA WHATEVER: A TEENAGE MUSICAL
Channel 4, Tue 4 May, 11 .05pm COO
I/‘i/hatevei': A Teenage I‘l/ii/sica/ is slightly reminiscent of the mildly ambitious musical morality Video films that
came out of under- funded. enthusiastic community arts youth centres across the UK throughout the 19803 and 90s But it's nice to see a slightly old- fashioned urban youth project get a TV airing. The set-up is simple: a bunch of Brighton teenagers wax lyrical on sex. race. drugs. teenage parenthood and Violence both in naturalistic schoolyard chatter and in song and dance.
It's written and directed by Daisy Asquith (one of the subjects of BBC's enjoyable 1991 kids doCumentary The Lowdown: The Big Picture). and scored by young vocalists. MCs and beatboxers discovered at local youth clubs and schools. Dunstan Bruce of Churnbawarnba helped organise and record the kids' performances. This may well make you cringe but y0u will also want every 14 to 17- year-old in the land to see it. (Paul Dale)
RELATIONSHIP DOCUMENTARY
REVENGE: GETTING EVEN WITH YOUR EX Five, Wed 5 May, 10pm
This unsavoury little number ticks all the right boxes. readily finding its place aside a similar swarm of Five baloney. With dire narration. ludiCrous flashbacks. horrible 'real life' participants, this is a bog standard documentary for the times. Essentially looking at the extremities of behaViour induced by feelings towards an ex~ partner, this lurches from the sublime to the ridiculous.
The acme of this inane docu-soap is undoubtedly Cindy. Discovering that her husband has talked shit for the majority of their married life -- affairs.
112 THE LIST 7‘.) Apr lit May 9004
knocking up other ladies. essentially making a mockery of their nuptials — she bakes a pie and decides to make him eat his words; literally. in the form of dog's excrement. If nothing else. this strange expose of unrequited love deserves praise for allowing (the majority of) us to feel sane when it comes to matters of the heart. (Anna Millarl
CRIME DOCUMENTARY I LIKE TO
WATCH
Channel 4, Thu 6 May, 11.05pm 0
Sexual voyeurism is a fascinating topic. There is. of course. a massive difference between peeping through curtains and predatory serial rapists stalking victims. and a range of strange psychologies are at work Within a large grey area of sexual behaVIour. Which makes this idiotic and frankly amateurish documentary 8 major letdown.
/ Like to Watch gropes around for an hour or so. jumping aimlessly from topic to topic. failing to gain any insight into its subject and doing so in a style that is Slapdash and haphazard in the extreme. One minute they're banging on about modern spy technology, the next an old perv sadsack is making himself look stupid with his own words, and before you know it, they're cutting up pointless soundbites from an FBI boffin. all of which lead nowhere. Puerile. unaccornplished and uninformed. this is rank television. Personally. I don't like to watch this sort of crap. (Doug Johnstone)
LEGAL DRAMA
TI-IE BRIEF Scottish, Sun 2 May, 9pm «0
This courtroom; detective series has Alan Davies back in a
‘ Jonathan Creek -style
role. this time as Henry
. woman from a murder'
SKETCH SHOW ALL-STAR COMEDY SHOW Scottish, Thu 29 Apr, 10pm 0.0
Stars in your eyes
Clearly tired of making sketch show error after horrendous sitcom mistake, ITV bosses clearly decided it was time to roll out the big guns and throw all their eggy laughs into one vast basket of giggles. That they persuaded almost every big name in the current British telly comedy scene to gather together for this show is almost beyond belief. Perhaps there are some juicin incriminating photographs stashed in the ITV vault.
Whatever has occurred (draw breath), Vic Reeves, Steve Coogan, Morwenna Banks, Richard Wilson, Ronnie Corbett, David Walliams, Don Warrington, Fiona Allen, Matt Lucas (take another breath), Bob Mortimer, Tim Healy, Meera Syal, Mark Benton, Ronni Ancona and Patsy Kensit are all crammed into this pleasing opener. Essentially the brainchild of Vic & Bob and Coogan’s Baby Cow productions, this is never as off-the-wall as the former’s Catterick nor genuinely sick as the Iatter’s Nighty Night but existing on a channel responsible for recent terrors such as Shane and Hardware, this can only be considered bloody hilarious.
If it proves one thing, it’s that while Bob Mortimer may not be the finest actor of his generation, he’s still an unlikely comedy genius. His interpretations of a Geordie spaceman, Australian snake-wrestler and floppy-haired estate agent are simply tremendous while he is given fine back-up from Reeves as a big-nosed melancholic, Banks as a victim of Norman Wisdom and Walliams as a egghead-hating boffin. Who says ITV can’t do comedy? (Brian Donaldson)
police report claims she fell accidentally, but Farmer's investigations reveal something far more sinister. The Brief is just the kind of easy yiewuig expected from a Sunday night and it
certainly passes the time pleasantly. But the variOus subplots are confusing and make it an odd marriage between comedy capei and serious muidei drama. (Rachael Stieetl
Farmer. a seemingly hapless barrister with a serious gambling habit and a bizarre relationship With a married woman. However. his good judgement and eagle sharp eye for missing eVIdence keep him straight and lead to him savrng an innocent
conviction in the first instalment.
In this second episode. he helps a distraught father who believes his daughter was raped and murdered at a party while backpacking in Indonesia. The oriin ial