MEDIA LIST
FRIDAY 27 .
I A Bil DI a DD( Scottish ) 9-- Itlpm. Continuing the enjoyable comedy drama series which stars David Jason in a series of North Yorkshire celebrations.
I Flight Dver Spain (C4) 5 . 3(I—(1pm. Sounds like little more than an old fashioned travelogue with the twist that the filming is all done from a helicopter.
T his new series starts with views of Tarragona on the Gulfof San Jordi.south of Barcelona.
I On Trial (C4) 8—9pm. Sue Cameron presents this new three part enquiry into the state of the legal system and legal professions in this country. The first programme looks at ways currently being considered to make going to the law a more efficient process. and incIudesan interview with the Lord Chancellor. Lord Mackay.
I Arena (BBCZ) 9.30-10.30pm. Weird sounding edition of the arts show that seems to have reached that funny age. "lip of the Iceberg'. to quote the press blurb ‘explores our ambivalent relationshipto the breast as it‘s expressed in our culture and popular imagery.’
I Cheers (C4) 9.30—10pm. Return. fora new series. of the award-winning IIS sitcom. with Sam (Ted Danson) back in charge.
I Roseanne (C4) lo—it).3llpm. Cheers plus this latest L'S import (it only started in America last October) should make this one of the hottest comedy hours on TV. Stand-up comedian. Roseanne Barr. stars as the caustic mother in a working class family of five. Produced by the makersof 'l'he ( 'osby Show. the Roseanne family are poor and white while the Cosbys are rich and black. But the same. rather bland. family values shine through. Naturally. there has been criticism that Roseanne Barr‘s outrageous stage act has been pathetically watered down for TV. but nevertheless. it has been the most successful new comedy show of the season in the US.
I It's Showtime at The Apollo (C4)
l I.20pm—12.15am. Recordings from Harlem‘s famous theatre. featuring tonight. James Brown.
I Frankenstein (C4) 12.15—l.30am. Boris Karloffin the most influential I931 adaptation of Mary Shelley‘s novel.
SATURDAY 28
I Dance With Me (C4) 12.30—1.05pm. Latest of the decidedly weird drama offerings from Brazil. From the folk that brought you Isattra the Slave (iirl this is the story of twin brothers separated at birth. Fate brings them together in Rio.
I Scottish Eye (C4) 6.30-7pm. Sheena McDonald with the disturbing results of an aerial survey by an independent team of nuclear scientists which proves that the Government‘s official record of radiation contamination following Chernobyl is too low. Traces Will Remain is made for C4 by Skyline. Surely. with reports as important as this. Scottish Eye deserves a bettertlme slot from Channel Four?
I You Bell (Scottish) 6.45—7.45pm. New series of the sporting challenge quiz show hosted by Bruce Forsyth.
MEDIA
TELEVISION
I Rhythms of the World (BBCZ) 7.55-8.55pm. Robert Cray recorded on the last leg of last year‘s L'K tour — at the Hammersmith ()deon in October.
I Bergerac ( BBCl ) 8.35—9.20pm. New series of the scenic police show set in Jersey and starring John Nettles.
I Midnight Caller ( BBC] )‘).35— 10.25pm. New US detective series starring a cop turned phone-in host.
I The Film Club. 2001 : A Space Odyssey (BBCZ) 10. ll)pm-IZ.25am. The last film in the Stanley Kubrick season. was when it was first released (in 1968) awe-inspiring in its imaginative vision ofthe future and its portentous message. Increasineg however. it's the wit and humour that come through.
I Aspel and Company (Scottish)
I0.55—l 1.40pm. Sigourney Weaver. star of Gorillas In The Mix! is Michael Aspel's special guest.
I Our Man in Havana (C4) DDS—2.05am. Alec Guinness stars in Carol Reed's effective adaptation of the Graham Greene novel. Made in 1959.
SUNDAY 29
I Worzel Gummidge Down Under(C4 ) lIam—noon. New series ofthe children's comedy starring Jon Pertwee which was picked up by the Zoo Nealanders (as
Gummidge would say) when it was axed in Britain.
I lntemational Volleyball (C4) 5.30—6.30pm. First of four programmes covering the Third Annual Women‘s International Volleyball Tournament.
I The Money Programme ( BBCZ)
6.35—7. 15pm. Including tonight a report on the prospects for Sky-TV.
I The Laurence Olivier Awards ( BBCZ) 7.45-9. 15pm. Britain‘s (ifthat’s another name for London's West End) premiere theatre awards.
I The Big Company (C4) 8. 15—9. lSpm. New series looking at the way American corporations behave. ()ften. as with Coca-Cola. they seem to epitomise the nation and for much of the population a company like IBM becomes a way of life that sees them from cradle to grave. Partly by delving into the companies‘ own stores of archival material (promotional films. advertising and ephemera). Sheila
I layman - who has made films for Equinox and Horizon — puts together portraits ofcompany giants such as IBM. Apple. Federal Express and Coca-Cola. First of three programmes.
I International Snooker ( BBCZ) 9.20—9.45pm. Last day of the The Benson and Hedges Masters (coverage at various other times throughout the day too).
I The Media Show (C4) 9. 15— 10. 15pm. New series of the TV critique with Muriel Gray back in the chair.
I Three Minute Culture (BBCZ) 9.45—10.15pm. The Labour party's Communications director. Peter Mandelson on TV and politics.
I Screen Two (BBCZ) 10. 15—! 1 .Zflpm. Philip Norman (biographer of the Beatles) adapts his own autobiographical — if unpublished - short story which centres on the effect the death of Fifties‘ rock star Buddy Holly had on a teenage boy growing up in the bleak atmosphere ofan English seaside town. Charlie
LEAVING
Leaving is Daniel Boyle’s moving, perceptive and often funny account of the final two weeks in school for three Greenock boys (Screen 2, Feb 5). Directed by Sandy Johnson, it is the writer's first major project, although his collaboration with Julie Welch on Playing for Real eventually made the screen first.
Set in 1960, the film follows the travails of Nick, Gus and Jada as they prepare to lace the outside world. Nick is a capable pupil, and in line to receive a watch for perfect attendance; Gus is the school hard man, but emotionally vulnerable, while the diminutive but likeable Jada enjoys their protection and friendship. Their passage into the world is scarcely aided by most of their teachers, ranging from unjustly authoritarian to beyond caring, with only one real exception.
‘The film is entirely tictional,’ Boyle told me, ‘but there is an element of fact there. By and large, the incidents in school all really happened in classrooms, it not to me then to other people. My own schooldays were slightly later, but I chose the earlier period to avoid the familiar cliches ot sixties pop music and so on. I set it in Greenock, having taken to heart the age old advice that you should write about what you know.‘
While the experience of leaving lies at the heart of the story, it is as much about the relationships between
fathers and sons, or rather the absence of them; literally so in the case of Nick. about to be so in that ol Jada’s dying father, and through failure of communication for Gus. Each of the sons is crucially formed or changed by these relationships, a point quietly
echoed in the tragedy which overtakes Gus, the only slightly unconvincing moment in the film.
Daniel Boyle, who now lectures at Dundee College of Further Education, worked in a variety of jobs before going to University in 1978. He began writing in the mid-1980s, and has another BBC film, A View of Harry Clark, due in March, with a three-part series in the works. 0n the evidence so far, Greenock has produced another line writing talent for Scottish film-making. (Kenny Mathieson)
Creed-Miles plays the boy. Tom Bell his authoritarian father. and Pancho Russell portrays Holly.
I The Grapes of Wrath (C4)
I0. ISpm— l2.40am. John Ford's visually stunning adaptation of Steinbeck‘s novel gets another showing following Signalv' recent retracing ofthe route to the west followed by the refugee Okies. The film. made in I940. starred Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.
I The South Bank Show (Scottish) 10.30—11.30pm. Account ofthe first year in the life of the New World Symphony. a training orchestra set up by conductor Michael Tilson Thomas to provide a bridge between college and the professional world of music.
I Scottish Books (Scottish)
I I fill-midnight. Scottish Television's montth review of books.
MONDAY 30
I AIDS Special (Scottish) (villi—7pm. Reporting on the crisis conference on AIDS held in Glasgow over the weekend. I The Making of Supersense ( BBCl) 8.30—9pm. Secrets behind the makingol the ground breaking nature set IL s.
I Panorama ( BBC] ) 9.30 It) 10pm. "The Killer Inside'; AIDS Ill prisons and what can be done to protect prisoners and the community at large. Robin I)enselow reports from Iidinburgh. London and Stafford.
I The Nuclear Age ( Scottish)
1035—] 1.35pm. This fascinating history of our times reaches the Cuban Missile Crisis.
TUESDAY 31
I The Lone Ranger (C4) 5,-5.3Upm. Iii-Yo Silver and Away! Channel Four starts reruns of the vintage cowboy series which starred Clayton Moore as the masked crUsader and Jay Silverheels as his Indian sidekick. Each episode was designed to deliver a homily on living a true and decent life. and it became one of the most successful series of the Fifties.
I Tomorrow's World ( B BCZ) 7—-7.3t)pm. Special edition of the programme looking at the the future ofthe earth asthe Greenhouse Effect takes hold. According to l'omorrrm"s World. Iceland will be as warm as Greece during the winter by the year 2030. The programme specifically looks at the effect the changes will have on agriculture on the east coast of Scotland. I Talking Heads (BBC2) 9—9.35pm. Her Big Chance: Julie Walters in the latest in the repeated series of Alan Bennett monologues.
I Sisters Under The Skin ( BBCZ)
9.35—10. 15pm. The last programme in the series with a report on a group ofwomen who have organised a rival outing to the ‘men‘s' annual rugby excursion‘. Sounds about as ‘post feminist‘ as an Ealing Comedy.
WEDNESDAY 1
I Superchamps (C4) 5-5.30pm. The multi-discipline sports contest for kids begins a new series.
I A Day in Summer (Scottish)8— 10pm. ()ne-offdrama based on a novel byJ.I.. Carr set on a summer‘s day in I955 in Great Minden as it prepares to celebrate its annual feast. But the day is haunted by the memory of recent events. With Peter Egan. Jack Shepherd. John Sessions. Jill Benner and Ian Carmichael.
I Antenna (BBCZ) x. Ill—9pm. In the first of tonight's double bill ofdocumcntaries. a look at computer viruses. The second film follows up a report that a fifth of post-ope ration deaths could have been avoided.
I The Nightwatch (BBCZ) 9.25— 10.25pm. TV play produced in Northern Ireland but about a group ofinternational mercenaries forced to ‘enjoy' each other‘s company in Amsterdam as they await further orders. . . With EastEnders‘star.
28 The List 27 January - 9 February