Reviews

SPACE ODYSSEY: VOYAGE TO THE PLANETS

BBC1, Thu 11 Nov. 9pm .00

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Sl‘lN t‘ll HUME DY MAX 8. PADDY’S ROAD TO NOWHERE Channel 4, Fri 12 Nov, 9.30pm 000.

Spin ofts can be embarrassing and tiresome, but this 'HWRWA Wig/NS 011811001 1:: nothing short of Splendid in that peculiarh Peter Ka\

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lrf tlrrf, lll‘»! episode, Htrart lar'ed Max shows ii if :tfr :rtr‘xe wannabe irnanrser l’addy who yearns 1or ternale r:ornparr, how to communicate wrth ladies, iapparently they prefer honesty and romance to lines like ‘(Zan you catch? Cos there's a couple of halls coming your way). And. follr iwrng a nrghtcluh incident Ill which Max dancer; so badly that they get rnto a 1ight With some sailors. Paddy teaches; hrrn how to shake his thang. Cue a delrcrous [)l/fl" [)ancrng :;pool. This is bulging wrth gags and laugh out loud moments. and could well he better than Phoenix Nights itself. [Jo not miss. (Ashley [)avresl

Pl lil()l)l)ltAl\/1A NORTH AND SOUTH

BBC1, Sun 14 Nov, 9pm 00

As periods go to set \otrr drama in. the Victorian era can often he a gloom\ SUIIIHt]. It you then locate it in the grrrm northern rnrll town of, erm, Milton. against a backdrop of the industrial r'e\.'olutron's

Crazy Rulers of the World Channel 4. Sun 7 Nov, 8pm. Having investigated the weirdos and conspiracy theorists on the fringes of mainstream politics. Jon Ronson turns to the bonkers wing of the US military and uncovers men who stare at goats.

The Sopranos Channel 4, Mon 8 Nov, 7 7pm. The finale of series five arrives with 3 Crash and a burn. Will Tony B get his just desserts? Can Carmela really take her dodgy husband back? Is AJ ever going to play the drums properly? And what was that freakin' dream sequence all about? The Mighty Boosh 8802, Tue 9 Nov. 7pm. Messrs Fielding and Barratt transfer their daftness from Beeb 3. kicking off with a Surreal bout of kangaroo pugilism. Boy Meets Boy Five, Thu 77 Nov, 2.35pm. It's the terrestrial telly world's first gay dating show. And it's presented by Dani Behr. Brilliant. When Jordan

Met Peter Scottish, Fri 72 Nov. 77pm. Are they new Posh and Becks? Terrifying when you think about it. really. But here comes the full unexpurgated story of the tender love affair between Ms Price and Mr Andre.

exploitation of workers to line the pockets of greedy rnrll owners. well. it's not exactly glamorous stuff. is it? And sort is With this four-part romantic drama which never really gets much out of a dingy first gear. despite some nice direction and some decent acting. Daniela Denthshe (EastEno'ers and My Fain/if l fairs well enough as the spoilt southern lass thrown into northern clrmes. wrth Richard Armrtage playing the predictable entrepreneur she wrll undoubtedly fall for. But the love story plot strand crawls along

Bl Ac‘k coMt nv BLACKPOOL

BBC1, Tue 9 Nov, 9pm 00..

This autumn's flagship BBC drama rides onto our screens on a salty wave of comparisons to the oeuvre of late, lamented screenwriting genius Dennis Potter. While Blackpool doesn’t penetrate the grubbier recesses of the human condition in as abstruse a fashion as Dirty Den’s best work, it‘s nonetheless intriguing and a refreshingly offbeat slice of dark entertainment.

David Morrissey plays brash casino mogul Ripley Holden, a man who believes in ‘family, money and Blackpool, and not necessarily in that order'. At first sight a shouting caricature of an unremittingly boorish bigot, Holden turns out to be a man tormented by a dark past, not to mention an unhappy trophy wife (Sarah Parish), a brainy daughter in love with a much older theatre director and a drug-peddling teenage son. To top his troubles off nicely, Holden‘s dreams of opening a super-casino are plunged into jeopardy when a young man is found murdered in one of his gaffs.

As in the Potter classics The Singing Defective and Pennies from Heaven, characters' epiphanies are transformed into glittering renditions of easy listening classics such as Elvis Presley’s ‘Viva Las Vegas' and Nancy Sinatra‘s ‘Boots’. A nifty device, perhaps, though rather wasted in this context, as the cast lacks the singing and dancing virtuosity to carry it off, while the numbers chosen to underline each situation seem at times rather too literal. Where Blackpool works best is by depicting the Vegas of the north as gaudy dystopia, the ideal backdrop to a seedy contemporary noir pastiche. (Allan Radcliffe)

at a snail's pace. and the

ohvrous social comment is dwelt on far too heavrly, making North and South a fairly tedious whole.

(Doug Johnstoner

SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY THE HAVEN Channel 4, Mon 8 Nov, 8pm 0000

Pinch yourself, it's true. There is a land not far from here where peace and harmony reign and the sun always shines. Findhorn is a BOO-strong alternative community on the east coast of Scotland and it's not gurte Christian. a little bit

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a, -, A , .-. THE LIST 105