MEDIA LIST
our working lives. Topics investigated include the single European market (of course), the real impact ofthc new ‘Age of Leisure‘ and the question of whether some women bosses sleep their way to the t0p. I Convoy to Romania (BBC2) 8.30—9pm. The early pictures sent back by this film crew of an asylum in Transylvania that resembled nothing so much as a Nazi concentration camp raised an uproar and sparked off an appeal for handicapped Romanian children. This is the full documentary. and it‘s strong stuff.
IThe Comic Strip (BBCl) 94.30pm. The team‘s first series for the BBC has elicited howls of disappointment. Perhaps ‘Spaghetti Hoops‘ will turn the tide. but judging from the plot resume — an Italian banker (Nigel Planer) steals 200 million dollars. has a contract put out on him by the Grand Master of Freemasons (Nosher Powell from Eat the Rich) and is pursued by two assassins in the shape ofTim Mclnnerny and Alexei Sayle — it could go either way.
I Taggart (Scottish) 9—10pm. The first episode in a new three-part drama. ‘Hostile Witness‘. Mark McManus as Glasgow‘s favourite cop finds his life complicated by a false confession when he and Sgt Jardine are working on two separate murder cases.
I40 Hinutes (BBC2) 9.30—10. 10pm. For the first time. TV cameras are present at the selection process for a Tory candidate. Several women have applied. but what real chance do they stand, and how dothcy have to pitch themselves to get through the first round of interviews?
I High Hopes (C4) 9.30—1 1 .35pm. Only Mike Leigh‘s second feature film, but in the time since his first he had established himself as the leader of his field by making groundbreaking TV plays. arrived at through improvisation with his actors. High Hopes is set in and around London‘s King‘s Cross and centres around Marxist despatch rider Cyril, his widowed mother. who is the last council house resident in a yuppie street. and her snooty neighbours. A minutely-observed social comedy of late-19805 Britain.
I Rambo 3 (Sky Movies) lOpm—midnight. Sly Stallone descends still further into monosyllabic idiocy. At this stage it‘s questionable whether John Rambo can tie his Shoelaces, let alone take on the entire Russian army in Afghanistan.
I Small Objects of Desire (BBC2) 10.10—10.30pm. This series of short films about cult items continues with Casanova‘s ‘English Overcoat‘. the condom. The programme uses ‘innovative
new graphic techniques’. archive and newly-shot material to tell the humble rubber‘s story. The mind boggles.
I NB (Scottish) 10.35—11.05pm. What‘s groovy in the world ofentertainment in central Scotland this week.
I The Women’s World Speedskating Championship (Eurosport) noon—1pm. From Calgary. Canada.
I Public Eye (BBC2) 8—8.30pm. An estimated six million families care for their elderly relatives. and a surprising number are victims of neglect and even physical abuse. Public Eye talks to doctors. and even family members who have abused their relatives.
I Arena (BBC2) 9—10.30pm. Salif Keita is one of the real colossi who have become known in this country through the ‘world music‘ boom. Descendent of the warrior king Sundiata Keita. and inheritor ofthc venerable grior tradition. Keita has married his traditional style to the possibilities offered by hi-tech Western studios for some stunning recordings. Arena follows him back to his village birthplace and elaborates on the Malian tradition of singing, which encompasses morality. spirituality and collective memory.
I Blazing Saddles (BBC2) 11.20pm—12.50am. Mel Brooks‘ cowboy comedy has endured as a cult favourite, despite its savaging from the critics— though it‘s true that a tighter hand could have made it twice the film it was.
I Vagabonde (C4) 11.30pm—12.25am. Continuing the women‘s season. Agnes Varda‘s almost documentary-like reconstruction of the last few weeks of a young vagrant found frozen in a ditch. The ‘vagabond‘ in question being a young woman raises questions and responses not normally provoked.
I Englehert Humperdinck in Concert (BBC1)12.05—-lam. No one‘s heard of him for 20 years. but his record sales have topped 100 million. This is how he looked and sounded at the NEC, Birmingham, performing such favourites as ‘Spanish Eyes‘ and ‘Quando, Quando, Ouando‘. I She’s Gotta Have it (Sky Movies) 1.45—3. 15am. Spike Lee announced his presence like a thunderbolt with this enthralling sex comedy about Nola Darling. who sees no need to commit herself to one man. seen through the eyes ofthree lovers.
SATURDAY 3
I World Cup Skiing (Eurosport) 11am-1pm. 4—5pm. Coverage of men‘s and women‘s giant slalom from Spain and Czechoslovakia. Continues tomorrow.
I Katts and Dogs (Scottish) 5.45—6. 15pm. New US cop show, possibly not as edifying as the other side's recently-started beach-bums-with-guns series.
I Rhythms oi the World (BBC2)
6. 15—7. 15pm. Salif Keita‘s (see Fri 2) first London performance.
I Scottish Eye (C4) 6.30—7pm. A profile of Michael Forsyth. the youngest ever Chairman ofthc Conservative Party in Scotland and a man who believes that what the country needs is more Thatcherism. not less.
I Young Sherlock Holmes (BBCl) 7.15—9pm. Ilolmes and Watson meet as young students. encountering a few Spielbergian effects on the way. A major box office flop.
I Hello Again (Sky Movies) 8—9.40pm. Shelley Long (from Cheers) is a suburban housewife who chokes to death on a South Korean chicken ball. A year later. her wacky sister brings her back to life. leaving her shocked at how much has changed while she‘s. . . been away. Candidate for sicko movie ofthc fortnight. I White Fury (C4) 8—9pm. A film following the first rafting expedition down the Khongbuk River in Tibet, which plunges
off the side of Everest. Mad bastards.
I Clash of the Ash (C4) 10—1 1pm. Award-winning Irish play about a young lad whose love is the hurling field. butwith his exams looming must decide about his future.
I Stakeout (Sky Movies) lOpm—midnight. WarGames and Short Circuit director John Badham coaxed a pschotic performance out of Aidan Quinn.who plays the con breaking out of prison and setting off to reclaim his girlfriend, who by this time has fallen for Richard Dreyfuss. one of the cops sent to stake out her flat. I Championship Boxing (BBCl)
10.40—1 1.40pm. The nation holds its breath as Lloyd Honeyghan climbs into the ring.
I The Oprah Winfrey Show (C4)
11—1 1 .50pm. Appearing tonight are Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell. talking about machismo. their personal lives and how they‘re big softies really. They also want to plug their new film. which is more to the point.
SUNDAY 4
I Fragile Earth: Halting the Fires (C4)The year-long campaign of Brazilian natives to halt the burning of their rainforests.
I Denis Horden’s 21 Years of Laughter (Scottish) 7.45—8.45pm. A repeat ofa show seen last year. in which Norden
pillaged the 21-year-old archives of LWT for humorous moments.
I Airline (BBC2) 8.35—9.25pm. The first of four programmes on British Airways strips some of the glamour away from the image ofthc pilot, or ‘jet jockey".
I Sinionietta (C4) 9—10pm. A new six-part series bringing modern classical music up to date.
I 48 Hours (Sky News) 9.30—10pm. Anchorman Dan Rather and the CBS news team go to the scene ofcompelling news stories in the US and abroad and follow them as they develop over two days and nights. Possibly not always a programme that‘s in the best possible taste.
I Bequest to the Nation (C4) 1(lpm—12.15am. Terence Rattigan‘s adaptation of his own play. with Peter Finch as Lord Nelson and Glenda Jackson as Lady Hamilton. Made in 1973.
I The Craig Ferguson Show (Scottish) 10.05—10.35pm. Only a one-off. unfortunately. for the Cumbernauld-raised funnyman.
I Heart of the Matter (BBCl)
10. 10— 10.45pm. A new series. hosted once more by Joan Bakewell. who this week looks at the Aboriginal skeletons in British museums. and why Australian Aborigines want them returned.
I Small Zones (BBC2) 10. 10—1 1 .30pm. This week's Screen Two drama concerns two women; one trapped in a marriage toa violent drunk. the other a Russian dissident poet imprisoned in the Gulag. When the first reads a book of the other's
. poetry, she realises she needn‘t be trapped
any more.
I The South Bank Show (Scottish)
1035—1 1 .35pm. A film crew travelsto Moscow with 37-year-old Ukrainian viola player Yuri Bashmet. who has done much to restore the place of the solo viola.
I Oil the Page (Scottish) 11.35pm—12.05am. Jenny Brown interviews novelist Dorothy Dunnett.
MONDAY 5
I Horizon (BBC2) 8. 10—9pm. The strenuous efforts of scientists to try to prove that Yucca Mountain in Nevada will pass the 10,000 year test. Under US law. a potential dump for nuclear waste must cause no more than 1000 deaths over a 10,000-year period. Since the containers carrying the waste can be assumed to have wasted away after 1000 years, scientists must work out every conceivable way in which waste could possibly escape from
the mountain. This is all very well, but the locals aren't very happy about their area being selected in the first place.
I Burning the House Down (C4) 9—lopm. The story of four white brothers in South Africa who happen to be anti-racist rugby players. Persecuted by right-wingers. they were eventually jailed in a rigged court
I The Lahours of Erica (Scottish) 9—9.30pm. A new six-part series ofthc sitcom with Brenda Blethyn as Erica.
I Stand Up Jim Davidson (Scottish) 9.30—10pm. The cheeky (and. to many. grossly offensive) chappie returns for a new series of stand-up routines.
I Eurocops 2 (C4) 10—1 lpm. A second series. comprising seven police films. each made by a different European country. This is C4‘s offering: a tale of a l lome Counties policeman who can‘t communicate outside his job and his wife. and responds by turning to the bottle.
I Move Over Darling (BBCI) Pamela Stephenson presents five programmes examining women‘s place in contemporary society. Runs Mon-Fri this week. in a fairly late slot each night.
I Women of South Lebanon (C4) llpm—12.20am. A powerfully-acted and beautifully-shot drama-documentary taking as its subject a woman who was imprisoned for a year in during the Israeli occupation.
TUESDAY 6
I Making Du1(BBCl) 8.30—9pm. Another series of the fine comedy-drama with Margi Clarke, about women in a Mike Baldwin-style electronics factory in the North ofEngland.
I Out on Tuesday (C4) 9—10pm. (‘4‘s gay and lesbian magazine returns for 10 hour-long programmes, which will include subjects like homosexuals in fiction. older lesbians. Bea Campbell on lesbians and gays in Poland and the Soviet Union. regular studio discussions on the ethics and etiquette of coming out and. tonight. contributions from gays on the Right.
WEDNESDAY 7
I Bookmark (BBC2) 8. l()—9pm. A film crew went into the Amazonian forests. to a tribe which has no written language.to investigate how their oral traditions work. I Signals: The Elephant’s Loo (C4) 9.15—10pm. In the East German countryside there stands a 360-degree panoramic canvas representing a 16th century religious revolt and known colloquially as ‘the clephant's loo“. Commissioned to celebrate the 40th anniversary ofthc GDR. is it the lastgasp ofa dying regime?
I Fillh Column (BBC2) 10.20—10.30pm. A new opinions slot on issues of the day, doubtless similar to C4's Comment.
THURSDAY 8
I Nature (BBC2) 8.30—9pm. Michael Buerk‘s back. in an expanded series with a broader outlook than the last. admirable, series.
I 40 Minutes: Green Police ( BBCZ) 9.30—10.10pm. In the USA. police. scientists and lawyers have banded
together to form a task force dedicated to stopping the environmental polluter. This istheir story . . .
I Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (C4)
9.30—1 1 .25pm. And this week‘s star movie is. . . a bit ofa mess. really. Roland Gift‘s movie debut drowned in a hopelessly confused Hanif Kureishi script and unfocused direction. The steamy bits will drag ‘em in, though.
I N310.35—11.05pm.Sec Thurs l.
I The World Ice-Skating Championship (BBCI) 11.30pm—12.20am. From Halifax in Nova Scotia. with Christopher Dean (Torville's other half).
I Some Call it Jazz(Scottish) 11.35pm—12.05am. With the Ernie Watts é Jazz Quartet.
23 February— 8 March 199075