TV

Reviews

US SlTCOM EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS Five, Sun 19 Mar, 8pm 0000

Considering how easy it can be to hate Chris Rock - the nasal voice and a career based entirely on the worn racial epithets of Richard Pryor - he has come up with an inspired and utterly Ioveable show for his TV debut. Essentially, this is The Wonder Years in the ghetto. Rock writes, produces and narrates the loosely autobiographical adventures of 13-year-old Chris, who moves with his hard-grafting, disciplinarian parents Julius and Rochelle, brother Drew and sister Tonya across New York to Bed-Stuy. His mother, determined to do better for her son, sends him on a two-hour commute to a white high school across town where she reckons he’ll get a better education away from the local hoods.

In the pilot episode (‘Everybody Hates the Pilot Episode’: you know where that’s heading), Chris is settling into his new class as the lone black kid and dealing with the school bully while his father tries to grab some sleep between his day and night jobs. Chris, being the oldest child, is the ‘emergency adult’, attempting to keep his siblings quiet until his dad’s alarm goes off. While Everybody Hates Chris is deeply sentimental, not just for that peculiar cultural war zone that was 1982 - shiny hip hop chic meet 705 polyester - it plays the family politics out without resorting to caricature.

This is further proof that in the US, the small screen often trumps cinema in the comedy stakes. A contender for new comedy of the year - alongside the redneck genius of My Name is Earl - the show is a more human and touching interpretation of the African-American experience than we’ve seen to date; it reminds us of the stupidity of stereotypes, rather than relying on or subverting them. With Everybody Hates Chris, Rock takes another step out from the shadow of Pryor and into a brave new world. (Mark Robertson)

92 THE LIS‘I‘ 16—30 Mar zoos

THE CHATTERLEY AFFAIR

BBC4, Mon 20 Mar, 9pm 0000

Do"'t let .our i.‘.'i\.'es Or semants ~.-.ratch this :lra'ria lest it depraxe gir‘rl cerrupt them in the most delicmus manner possible It imagines an altar: bet .veen two Jurors in the 19630 obscenity trial against Penguin for publishing the dirty DH Lawrence tale. Larli’ Chatter/m3; Lover. She lilo Arige/s' Louise Delarnere) is a posh. carnally experienced divorcee; he (Rate. son of Timothy. Spalll is su-reetly innocent. working-class and iriarried.

The retelling of the actual courtroom drama is cut wrth scenes from the lovers' week of sexual exploration. which begins when they read the book together. As the passages get steamier. our couple get more horny and what follows is all unbelievably sexy (it is from the pen of Andrew ‘leather dildo' Davres. after all). But this drama is about much, much more than carnality. depicting a time when Britain was on the cusp of sexual liberation. And it illustrates. with perfect acting, the delicate purity of an illicit relationship. rAshley Davres)

SOCIAL DRAMA THE FAMILY MAN

8801, Thu 23 Mar, 9pm 00.

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With Stephen Poliakoff's star haying well and truly plummeted this year. the time IS right for UK TV's original writing contenders to snatch his place in the stratosphere. Jimmy McGovern and Tony

Crowds have new pieces due up SOOn but many viewers wrll turn to Tony Marchant for their slice of Quality. Yet even he is finding it diffzcult to maintain the standards he's set wrth Kid in the Comer, Holding On and Swallow,

Havrng previously tackled ADHD, loan sharks and pharmaceutical companies. Marchant is now on the march With the contemporany baby busmess. Coming across as a good egg. fertility expert Patrick Stowe (Trevor Eve) seems to have the interests of his troubled patients at heart while neglecting his own kids back home and we focus on four desperate couples (including Michelle Collins, Lennie James and Claire Skinner) who turn to Stowe for another child.

Those who don't have a firm grip on the whys and wherefores of embryo implantation, might be left a bit lost by the whirlwind of characters and terminology blizzarding thrOugh the first 20 minutes. But the clear medical and moral dilemmas are in there if you have the patience. (Brian Donaldson)

DOCUMENTARY S SO

EA N THE STATE OF RUSSIA More4, Mon 20 Mar, 9pm 0000

Nick Hornby being whipped to bleeding pornt by a drunk Russen Cossack is not something you see every day. And while the chap in question is not the pointy-eared author. but Marcel Theroux's director, the whip and the blood are only too real. In Theroux's Death of a Nation, his crew are temporarily held against their Will by men with ‘White Power' scrawled on their wrists and the reek of Moonshine upon their breath simply for intervrewing Turks from southern Russia who are set to leave for a new life in America.

In exploring what has gone horribly wrong with Russia (basically. the Berlin Wall coming down and the floodgates being opened to all manner of

hatreds and criminal activities) Theroux is especially worried about the population numbers men are lucky if they get past 56 while births are outnumbered by abortions in certain areas. Factor in the growrng AlDS epidemic and Russia WI” Virtually cease to exrst by 90530, It you were hoping for the other documentaries in this season to cheer you up, forget about it. Terrorist atroCities are covert-xi in Moscow Theatre Siege (Mon 20 Mar, 10pm) and Bes/an (Tue 21 Mar, 10pm), while How Putin Came to Power (Tue 21 Mar, 9pm) is an exploration of how a minor KGB figure became the most powerful man in Eastern Europe. (Brian Donaldson)

The Games Channel 4, Fri' 7 7 Mar, 8.30pm Designed to make you feel really unfit. the celebrity athletics show gets back into its stride.

The Best Man Scottish, Mon 20 Mar, 9pm Two-part scary drama time with a posh guy and his less posh pal getting involved in nasty shenanigans. Stacked Paramount, Thu 23 Mar, 9pm Satirising her glamourpuss image for all its worth. Pammy Anderson (above) plays a dame sick and tired of her party lifestyle. so opts for cold turkey working in a bookstore.

Trick of the Mind Channel 4, Sun 26 Mar, 9pm Derren Brown gets to freak out some more crazy celebs including Robbie Williams. Kelly Holmes and Matt Lucas. Pinochet in Suburbia 8802. Sun 26 Mar, 9pm Derek Jacobi plays the nasty Chilean dictator during his time in the UK.