MEDIA LIST "
I Send in The Clowns (C4) lO.45pm—12.30am. Animated satire on the Reagan years. Steve Bell‘s setting of Sondheim‘s ‘Send in the Clowns' is repeated to mark President Reagan‘s last day in office.
I Seallaidhen (Scottish) 11.35pm—midnight. How religion influences the lives of the inhabitants of the Western Isles.
I The Stud (Scottish) 12.15—2pm. Joan Collins in the infamous pre-Dynasty steamer. Made in 1978 with Oliver Tobias.
I Medea (C4) 12.3-0—2.35am. British TV premiere ofthe Pier Paolo Pasolini opera with Maria Callas in the lead. Madein 1970.
FRIDAY 20
I Bhagwan: My Dance is Complete (C4) 8—8.30pm. Rare interview with the so-called ‘sex guru‘ who. having been booted out of the United States. leads his religion from a commune in India. ()ne of his more curious views is that AIDS is the direct result of homosexuality in monasteries.
I Arena (BBCZ) 9.3(i—1().3()pm. Second showing for ‘Byrne About Byrne'.John Byrne‘s quirky documentary autobiography.
I The Groovy Feilers(C4)10.30-11.20pm. New series from Jools Holland described as an alien documentary show. Jools is joined by Rowland Rivron (aka Dr Scrote). a Martian who helps Jools see life through Martian eyes.
SATURDAY 21
I Ice Skating (Scottish) 2. 10—4. 15pm. Finals of the Ladies Freestyle event.
I Live and Let Die (Scottish) 6.45-8.55pm. Roger Moore as Bond in the 1973 edition ofthe long running saga.
I Solaris (C4) 9pm-12. 10am. The Tarkovsky season opens with this 1972 science fiction film. in which a far-off planet is able to manipulate the psyches of the astronauts orbiting in a space station. Slow-moving but absorbing.
I The Slap Maxwell Story (BBCZ) 9.15-9.40pm. New US sitcom about a sportsjournalist and his fading career. IWestworid (BBC1)9.55—-11.20pm. Yul Brynner running riot as the robot cowboy in the futuristic theme park. Made in 1973. I Film Club (BBCZ) 10.20pm—1.30am. Dr Strangelove (starring Peter Sellers in 1963) and The Killing (1956) are the latest offerings in the Stanley Kubrick season. I Spitting image (Scottish) 10.30—11.05pm. Compilation edition of the satirical puppets show.
I Death at innocence (Scottish) ll.05pm—12.30am. Shelley Winters travels with husband John Randolph to attend the trial of their daughter‘s murderer. Sensitively treated TV movie from 1971.
I ATribute to Gli Evans (C4) 12.10-1.40am. Footage of Miles Davis and John Coltrane is included along with film of Evans himself.
SUNDAY 22
I Tennents Sixes (Scottish) 2-3pm. Start of Scottish TV‘s coverage of this entertaining football event. This afternoon sees cup holders Dundee taking on Celtic. and Aberdeen against Hamilton Accies. More coverage at 11.30pm tonight.
I Coronation Street (Scottish) 4—5pm. ITV‘S attempt to win back the ratings‘ top spots—for the first time in its history. Coronation Street gets an omnibus repeat. I American Football (C4) 5.55—6.45pm and 9.45pm—2am approx. The early evening programme is a preview of tonight's Superbowl. and a look at how the two teams got to Miami. Later on. the match itself : favourites the San Francisco 49ers against the Cincinnati Bengals. Be
sure to switch off during half-time. when the most inanely patriotic ‘entertainment‘ you have ever seen splurges onto our
I Campion (BBCI ) 8.35—9.3(ipm. Start of the latest nostalgic re-creation of the work ofone ofour great writers ofdetective pulp fiction. Peter Davison stars (as he does in so much else) as Margery Allingham‘s unlikely hero. The eight-part series kicks off with a two-parter — ‘Look to the Lady'.
I Three-Minute Culture ( BBCZ) 9.3(i—1().()5pm. Design guru Rodney Fitch is the subject of tonight's edition ofthe interview show that examines our throw away culture.
I Screen Two (BBCZ) 10. 15—1 1.35pm. ‘Flying in the Branches‘: Czech writer Anna Fidora has written this account of two Czech sisters separated in '68 and meeting again for the first time. Stars Susan Fleetwood and Edith Brychta.
I South Bank Sh0W(Scottish) 10.30—11.3(1pm. Profile of Patrick Leigh Fe rmor author ofA 'l'ime ofthts.
MONDAY 23
I Tennents Sixes (Scottish) b.3(I—7pm. More coverage of the six a side football contest with Celtic playing St Mirran. Ranger v Ilearts and Dundee v Aberdeen. Coverage of the semifinals and finals at
1 1.35pm.
I Singles (Scottish) 8—8.3(lpm. Return of the romantic sitcom. starring Roger Rees. Judy Loe. Susie Blake and Eamonn Boland.
I Starstrucit (BBCZ) 9—1().3()pm. The New Australian Films season continues with this film from the director of My Brilliant Career about a struggling punk rocker and her fourteen year-old manager.
I Swansong (C4) 11.20pm—1 . 15am. The Chinese Cinema season continues with Zhang Zeming‘s story of a composer whose struggle to bring up his young son is exacerbated by his being out of favour with the ruling Gang of Four.
TUESDAY 24
I American Football (C4) 5-6pm. A chance to catch up on the highlights of Sunday night‘s Superbowl.
I Tennents Sixes (Scottish) 6.30—7pm. Highlights of the finals of the Tennents Sixes.
I Talking Heads (BBCZ) 9-9.35pm. Stephanie Cole in latest in the repeated series of Bennett monologues.
I Sisters Under The Skin (BBCZ)
9.35—10. 15pm. Eight sisters from Derry. some who have left Northern Ireland and the Troubles. others who have stayed on. meet to discover how their attitudes have changed.
I Behind The Myth (BBCI) 10.15-11.20pm. Journalist Edward Behr presents this personal film about the late Emperor Hirohito ofJapan and concludes that the old myths about the man will have to be reconsidered by history.
I The Stamp oi Greatness (Scottish) 10.35—11.05pm. New series that tellsthe stories that lie behind special issue stamps. Tonight‘s programme features the Robert Burns stamp. but will probably have been completed too early to record the row (revealed with the release of the cabinet papers at New Year) when the issue was first considered in the Macmillan government.
I Piano Players Rarely Play Together(C4) 1.05—2. 15am. A Nightshiftdocumentary looking at three generations ofNew Orleans pianists. and the boogie-woogic. jazz and honkytonk styles which dominate the musical life of the city.
WEDNESDAY 25
I The Young Charlie Chaplin (Scottish) 4.45—5.15pm. Marking the centenary of his birth. Thames TV have made this six part dramatic account of the great comedian‘s early life. Twiggy stars as
Charlie‘s mother which traces the boy's life in a Dickensian style workhousc. Joe Geary stars asthe young Chaplin.
I Bookmark Special (BBCZ) 8—9.3tipm. The fiftieth anniversary of Yeats' death is marked in this special drama documentary which is narrated by T.P. MacKenna. The late Richard Ellmann appears in the programme along with the poet‘s son and daughter. The programme is followed by a new play from Ireland (Elephant) on a Burns night which becomes — at least for BBC2 — an Irish night. The Late Slimvalso has an Irish theme.
I Signals: The Grapes of Wrath Revisited (C4) 9. 15—10. 15pm. ()n the Silth anniversary ofJohn Steinbeck's famous novel about a family's flight from the dustbowl of ()klahama. the Signals team retrace the migrants' journey to California. and find that for today's agricultural labourers — most ofthem Mexicans— life has scarcely improved.
I Rough Justice (BBCI ) 9.30— 10.20pm. Resultsofa six month investigation into the cases of Wain and Paul Darvell andthc murder of a sex shop manager in Swansea. I Robert Burns: A Journey ( BBCI)
ll). 10—1 1pm. William McIIvanncy follows the route Robert Burns in his tour ofthe Ilighlands in 1787. in a programme first broadcast in 1977.
I Butterstone Burns (Scottish) 10.35—11.35pm. Scottish TV's Burns Night event which promises a departure
COMIC
Alastair Mabbott
Two unconventional new British comics have launched themselves into the marketplace in the hope that there is an audience out there to pick up on them. In their own ways. both Deadline (monthly. £1 .50) and Crisis (fortnightly. 65p) are taking a risk by stretching what would normally be expected on the newsagents’ shelves. A pot-pourri of comic strips and text features, the 68-page black-and-white Deadline has already developed a playful and irreverent personality. Amid a host ofshort strips it features the welcome re-emergence of the amoral (ie Complete bastard) private eye Johnny Nemo by Milligan and Ewins, and Philip Bond‘s ‘Wired World‘. The rest of the space is used for an interesting choice of off-the-wall interviewees; to say that they include Jah Wobble. Michael Clark and the mega-talented British comics artist Brian Bolland probably gives a fair idea of the mags attitude. Although it will probably take a bit longer for Deadline to find its feet, the potential is there for it really to take off and build up a dedicated
L THURSDAY 25 ,
from the tartan tenors of previous years. Dougie MacLean is joined in his home by Archie Fisher for the informal celebrations. The programme is followed by Dundee 's Fiddlers Rally from Grampian TV.
I Fortunata and Jacinta (C4) ll.4()pm—lZ.~ltiam. New ten-part adaptation of Galdos‘ 19th century novel. dealing with the rivalry between a man's wife and his mistress. Spanish with English subtitles.
IJoint Account ( BBCZ)8.3ll—‘)pm. New sitcom with I lannali (iortlon as a career- orientated wife (she's a batik manager) and Peter Egan as her once bankruptetl house-husband.
I The Equalizer ( Scottish) 9— lllpm. Return ofthe well made if violent L'Sthriller series. Starring Edward Woodward.
I The Rebellion oi the Hanged (C4)
9— 111.3(lpm. New drama series adapted from three novels by B. Travcn. best known for The Treasure aft/1e Sierra Matlre. It is Mexico. 1909. and the corrupt dictatorship of Porfirio Dial is in its last year. Directed by Jean-Luis Buntiel (relation). in Spanish with English subtitles. First ofthree.
I Forty Minutes(BBCZ)9.3o—ln.10pm. ‘(')ur Darren' — story of a seventeen year-old boy paralysed after a car accident.
' readership among teenagers who
have maybe been reading the more standard superhero comics for years and want a bite ofsomething funkier.
Meanwhile. the highly-politicized 2000A D offshoot Crisis continues on its chilling way. with a view of the Third World War which. for once. doesn‘t revolve around nuclear Armageddon and has. according to its creators. already begun. The ‘Global Vietnam' put forward by Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra is one waged by a monolithic multinational corporation spun out of control. Recruits from the dole queue are sent to South America on special youth schemes to win the hearts and minds of people
Ostensibly. ‘Freeaid'. as the army is called. is there to kiss babies. move the populace to improved housing and dole out endless family-size buckets of hamburgers. but they will brook no resistance. Not just agitators are wiped out. but anyone who would prefer to live life in the way to which they are accustomed. i From the very first issue we were left
l
in no doubt that ‘Freeaid‘ stood for the freedom of the cxploiters to answer to no one but themselves. Each issue is prefaced with a chronology of facts which are shocking enough in themselves to lend the lead story the most disturbing plausibility. Reality leaks through still further in issue eight with the appearance of Super Barrio. based on a real-life character who has become a symbol to Mexico’s poor. Well-researched. thought-provoking. though sometimes letting the didactic element get in the way of the story, Crisis could be something of a watershed in British comics if it survives. It also has a black woman as a lead character. How many mainstream comics. British or American. can say that?
26 The List 13 — 26 January