MEDIA LIST
MEDIA
TELEVISION
FRIDAY 5
I Reid About Poland (C4) 8—9pm. In a follow-up to his USSR series Jimmy Reid examines Solidarity‘s position from his own perspective as leader ofthe 1971 shipyard occupation on the Clyde. and holds out hope that as long as Gorbachev holds the reins things can improve for Poland.
ITen GloriousYears(BBC1)10-11.15pm. A comedy spectacular on the theme ofour Leaderene‘s ten years in power, this sounds a very weird fish indeed. lmean. Peter Purves and Nicholas Parsons? In comedy?
I Tommy Smith: Jan Types (BBC2). 11.20pm—midnight. The Wester Hailes wunderkind gets his own series. which places him in ‘diffcrent and challenging musical environments' each week. In other words he‘ll be playing with a varied crowd of musicians. from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to Hue and Cry. This first programme ofsix reunites him with his old pardners Gary Burton and Chick Corea.
I The Bed Sitting Boom (BBC2) midnight—1.30am. Richard Lester directed this surreal and anarchic black comedy from 1969, written by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus, set in a post-nuclear landscape and starring Sir Ralph Richardson. who seeks help to stop him turning into a bed sitting room. All star supporting cast.
'SATURDAYG
I The Eurovislon Song Contest (BBCI). 8—10.45pm. Britain‘s hopes pinned this year on Live Report with ‘Why Do] Always Get it Wrong'?‘. A song more suited to our Norwegian brothers. one would think.
I Fawlty Towers (BBC2) 9.30— 10pm. As part of BBCZ‘s 25th anniversary celebrations. the ‘Kipper and the Corpse' edition.
I Le Bll (C4) 9.45—1 1 .45pm. Described by the New York Times as ‘agraceful. dreamlike extravaganza‘, the latest in the Film on Four International season is performed entirely without dialogue. and condenses 50 years of European history into a night at a dance hall. This stylishly-filmed. award-winning movie was made in 1983.
I Spitting Image (Scottish) 10.10—10.55pm. A special edition celebrating ten years of Mrs T. and an excuse to re-use some ofthe puppetsthat have been forced out of the Cabinet and into mothballs.
I Ordinary People (Scottish). 11.40pm-2am. Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton star in this Robert Redford-directed flick. in which a family has to come to terms with the death of the eldest son in asailing accident. Sincere stuff.
I Montreux Jazz '88 (C4) midnight— 1 am. A varied line-up includes George Benson. Booker T and The MGs. rising guitarist Robben Ford and Milton Nascimento‘s blend of Afro-South American music. Plus a Special Mystery Mega Band.
SUNDAY 7
I Theatre Night: Knuckle (BBC2) 7.55—9.40pm. Tim Roth and Emma Thompson star in a shady tale ofcrooked property deals. City financiers and above all Roth's missing sister. presumed dead. I Dance on 4: Hopplal (C4)8.15—9. 15pm. See panel.
IThe Media Show (C4) 9. 15—10. 15pm. in the final programme of the current series Muriel Gray looks at how the Left are responding to the need for a viable policy
on media. On the other side of the world cameras follow Sting on his quest to heighten awareness of the destruction of the rain forests.
I Moviedrome: The Man With the X-Bay Eyes(BBC2) 10.45pm-12. 10am. The laid-back director Alex Cox introduces the first in a new series of cult movies. which will include Jabberwocky. Stardust Memories. Sunset Boulevard . A lphaville, THX 1138 and more. A fitting start tothe season. X -Ray Eyes gave this writer nightmares for months when it was last shown on TV.
MONDAY 8
I Horizon (BBC2) 8. lO—9pm. A look back over 25 years of the outstanding popular science programme. the longest-running on BBC2. mainly drawn from its controversial peak in the Seventies. But how will they cram it into only 50 minutes? I Wildiile on One (BBC1)8.30—9pm. Narrated by David Attenburgh, the programme comes from Abuko. an isolated patch of dense rain forest smaller
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_. #261. As Maylest begins its much appreciated splurge into the wonderful world at contemporary choreography with its lirst real programme at dance, Channel 4 is hot toot into its seventh annual Dance on 4 series. It is a season which is as eclectic as it is taut with talent, classical ballet taking equal billing with the most experimental oi dance-makers.
So much dependent on its direct contact with audience and its physical presence, dance is not a medium well-suited to television. But in the absence oi a regular availability at dance, particularly in Scotland where the best of contemporary comes in all too short bursts of activity like Third Eye Centre's New Moves and Maylest, television otters a reasonable second best. No one could deny that the sight at Mikhail Baryshnikov on stage is more exhilerating than seeing his iigure leaping around the 24in screen, but better to have a diminished taste of his giant talent than none at all.
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Starring in David Gordon‘s ‘Made in the
USA', Baryshnikov ioins the cast of his company American Ballet Theatre on 4 June, 8.15pm.
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Nureyev in recent years. Pina Bausch is
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a name not so well known by a general public but in dance circles is one at the most influential choreographers at this century. During the Seventies she created a theatrical style ol dance oi such originality and depth, that it was to become the inspiration tor a whole generation at new choreographers to lollow. Two years in the making, her ‘Lament oi the Empress’ (Sun 21 May, 8.15pm) is likelyto be one at the most exciting events in this season.
Channel 4 have been sensitive to the diiticult translation ot dance to television by showing only work which has been specially adapted or commissioned directly tor the medium. Siobhan Davies's ‘Wyoming' on 28 May, 8.15pm (see Maylest leature) has been enhanced with a voice over narrating the words which inspired her to make the piece and in a very diiierent vein, Royal Ballet principal dancerAshley Page makes his lirst work lortelevision (Sun 11 June 8.15pm).
Kicking oil the season in style, Jiri Kylian's ‘Silent Cries‘ will be screened at the latertime oi11.35 on Sat 6 May. It you are a dance tan at any description and cannot get to the screen on time,l would suggest you commandeer a video. (Alice Bain)
than Kensington Gardens in the midst of Gambia‘s most heavily populated region, which has a diversity of wildlife unrivalled in West Africa.
TUESDAY 9
I The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 133/. (Scottish) 8.30—9pm. the popular and often very funny series begins its repeat showing.
I Storyboard: Making News (Scottish) 9—10pm. First of four dramas in the series which launched The Bill and Kingand Castle. The series is set in a TV news channel taken over by a dynamic businessman.
Ithirtysomething (C4) 10—1 1pm. The gradually rising audiences for the gentle yuppie comedy have rewarded it with the coveted old Hill Street Blues slot.
WEDNESDAY 10
I Bapido (BBC2) 6.45—7.15pm. The severely warped presenter Antoine de Caunes. whose gobbledegook diction is worth tuning in for by itself, presents an interview with Paul McCartney, as Macca prepares for his first tour in a decade.
I Inside Story: Animals in War(BBC1) 9.30—10.25pm. Fascinating-sounding look at the bizarre variety of animals employed to aid human beings in their conflicts. So just how did Rob the parachuting dog save 100 lives in WWII? ICIllllX(C4)10.15—11.45pm.The breathtakingly ludicrous pinnacle of pretentious youth programmes struggles into its third week. You gotta say yesto suchbloated excess.
I The Session (C4) 11.45pm—12.4Sam. Last year RTE invited over a hundred musicians to take part in this series, which features a different kind of music each week, matching, say, The Pogues with The Dubliners and Joe Strummer. The first of 12 programmes brings together white gospeller Bobby Whitlock, soul/R&B guitarist Steve Cropper and rock singer John Parr.
THURSDAY 11
I Who Cares? (BBC2) 7.30-8.30pm. Jonathan Miller, president of the Alzheimer's Disease Society, presents the first of six programmes seeing what is being done to help the people who care for others. and what should be done forthem. I Film on Four: Leave to Remain (C4) 9.30—1 1.35pm. An Iranian student chooses to remain in London after her fiance returns to Iran as a revolutionary. Cut off from her parents' support she faces deportation unless she can support herself. Without a work permit marriage to an Englishman seems the only solution. I Derek Jannan - “You Know What i Atean' (C4) 11.35pm—12.35am. A profile ofthe most controversial film-maker in Britain, an iconoclast who stirs up admiration and disgust in roughly equal amounts. Followed at 12.35am by his provocative version of The Tempest.
FRIDAY 12
I Comic Asides (BBC2) 9—9.30pm. The first of six contrasting comedies, providing an outlet for new writers and performers, features the RadioActive team making the crossover toTV.
I Wax on Wheels (C4) 10.30—1 1.20pm. Extrovert American presenter Ruby Wax presents a new series in which she travels the country looking for eccentric individuals who might. one day. upstage her. Whether she will find them at the Newport Pagnell Service Station is another matter.
; SATURDAY13
I Modern Times (C4) 8pm—9.45pm. Another of (‘haplin‘s masterpieces. as the assembly-line worker who gets out of control.
The List 5 — 18 May 1989 81