the documentary being made and the riot at Strangeways.
FRIDAY 7
I American Football: Red 42 ((‘hanncl 4) 5.3(l—6pm. llype. hype. hype — the new American Footy magazine programme that condenses all the hype. which occupies hours ofl'S ’l'\'. intoone half-hour slot.
I First Reaction ((‘hannel 4) 7.5tl—8pm. A brand-new arts show which gives well-known figures in the world of arts the chance to pontificate on current controversies. A sort of arty version of Points of View.
I Naked Under Capricorn (Scottish) 8.3(l—lllpm. Nigel llavers isbrulally beaten and left to die in the otrtback bya marauding group ot Aussie 'l‘\' critics. However. a friendly tribe of Aborigines pick him tip. dust him down and treat him like one of their own. though he is tohavc' problems in the future.
I Talking to Mysell ( BBQ)
10.30— 10.30pm. Poor old linoeh. noone will talk to him these days. which is aptly as he is a skilful debater. 'l'onight he gets the chance to debate only with himself.
I Omnibus: John Malkovich t BB(‘l) l(l.2(L»l l.2(lpm. A profile ofthc renowned actor and director.
I Clive Anderson Talks Back ( ( ‘hannel 4) lll.3(l -l 1.05pm. i‘srr I'm so bleedin' witty Anderson returns in another new seriesto skewer celebs on his rapier-like tsic) wit.
SJ
I Future Features: The Blob ((‘hannel 4)
l l .()5pm-~ 12.35am. The ‘B‘-film shocker that launched a young Steve McQueen on the road to movie stardom. and which inspired a high-tech remake last year.gets a deserved late Friday night showing. Aneta (.‘orseaut. ()lin llowlin and liarl Rowe star alongside Steve who saves the world with his carbon fire-extinguisher.
SATURDAY 8
I The Neighbours tDDDth Episode Celebration Programme (1313(‘1 ) S. 15-—()pm. Strewth. 1(le episodes of the old soapand no sign of it dying a death yet. Reliveall those happy hours spent glued to the telly and imagine what more constructive thing you might have done instead. Spooky thought eh‘.’
I Russ Abbot l BBL‘I )7.2i)_7.5npm. Europe'sfunniest man official.
I Cities at War: Leningrad —The Hero City (Channel 4) Supm. lf Londonthought they did badly during the war. their sorrows paled beside the horrendous suffering endured by the inhabitantsof Leningrad - detailed in this programme. I Hollywood Legends: Gregory Peck (Channel 4) 9- lllpm. Anothertrawl through l lollywood to catch a few anecdotes about a star or two, 'l'histime the unpredictable Peck. who gambled on the success of quite of few of the filmshe chose to appear in. is the subject oi the chats.
l
V RADIO
. Maybe one or two tiny laces crumpled
into tears the day they Listened with Mothertorthe last time, but generally
the children's programme and Radio 4
institution was regarded as an anachronism, and not sadly missed. Since then, despite their presenters'
lrequent relerences to the good old days oi the Dvaltineys and lamin
gatherings round the wireless, the BBC
3 has done little to woo younger listeners, perhaps daunted, and even disgusted, at the prospect of having to
compete with children's TV programmes.
All that will change with Radio 5, which hopped, skipped and jumped onto our airwaves on 27 August,
3 boasting a line-up which seems to
include most of the comedians currently performing in Edinburgh. Flocking to help form the tender minds ol Britain‘s young radio initiates are
i Stephen Fry, Pamela Stephenson,
BD'I‘he List 31 August- 13 September 19‘)“
Emma Freud and Spike Milligan as well as many others who will be presenting shows lor children and teenagers. Radio Scotland has its own weekly slot, ‘Earshot', with reports from all over Scotland, on Wednesdays at 9.30pm. There is a horizon-broadening ‘euromix‘ which looks at the ‘youth scene’ in Europe and, closerto home, Simon Fanshawe has got his own live arts programme. There are also programmes on cooking and health and, when term starts again, a new brushed-up set of schools programmes, designed to complement
the National Curriculum in an imaginative and entertaining way.
Billed as the education and sports station, Radio 5 will also cater lor Open University students and adults in education— learning languages tor example— at the same time as giving lrequent and thorough low-downs on all sorts at sports. And there will be a chance to hear some olthe programmes from the World Service’s English output, hitherto accessible only to some listeners in the south. It sounds like a bit at a hotch-potch and sceptics say that Radio 5 started all as a home lor all those sports and education programmes no one else really wanted on stations 1. 2, 3 and 4. ll that is the case, then it is good to know it has blossomed into something more substantial. Radio 5 can be tound on Medium Wave 693 and 909.
Radio 4’s new lour-partthriller,
Condition Purple. was made on location in Glasgow by Radio Scotland, and starts with the discovery ol the body oi a prostitute near Blythswood Square. The only clue to her murder is a coarsely tattooed ‘I belong to Dino’ on the woman's innerthigh. Does anyone in Blythswood Square know Dino? Surprise, surprise. no one does. I‘ll leave you to imagine the giveaway nervous stammers which suggest not everyone is telling the truth — good old BBC sound effects. It is great radio drama, but the tact that the plot is sometimes cosin remniscent ol 2 Cars makes it easier to ignore the underlying pulse olviolence. At the centre of Hamish Wilson’s production, after all, is the appalling realisation that this sort of murder really does happen, especially to prostitutes. Condition Purple, Radio 4 starts 6 Sept, 11pm. (Miranda France)
SUNDAY 9
I Dancing Into the Nineties ((‘hannel 4) 5.3(l—(r3llprn. The second part of('hannel 4‘s attempt to distil the essence of the 80s into two hour-long programmes.
I Equinox: The Spitfire ((‘hannel 4) 7-—8pm. With the reunification of (iermany. the programme maker. Buzzer l’otherington. decided. in his air-raid shelter in .‘vlaidstonc. to take another look at the design and performance ofthc Spitfire.
I Live American Football (Channel 4)
S‘- ().3ilpm. As yet they have not confirmed which teams they will be covering. though they are strrc it will be coming live. with lots ofchat to fill up the [S commercial breaks.
MONDAY 10
I Decade ol Destruction (( ‘hannel 4)
9 lllpm. lllyears in the life ofa Brazilian rain-forest. recorded by a film crew. Presumably they used a zoom lens in order to capture it. as it receded intothe distance.
I Excalibur((‘hannel 4) ll).3()pm—l .(lSam. A visually stunning. erratically acted but overall impressive version ofthc Arthurian legend. Directed byJohn
. Boorman it adds a splash ofgore and adab
of sex to the normal retelling of the tale.
TUESDAY 11
I Pandora's Lunchbox ((‘hannel 4)
U— lllpm. Which came first the idea orthe title'.’ My money‘s on the latter. The programme examines the effectsof factory farming on both the environment and the individual.
I Breast is BesttBB(‘2) lll. 1t)-lt).2t)pm. A young woman in (ilasgow insists on breast feeding her baby in a diner.
I High Plains Drifter ( Rm ‘1)
9,3(l—l l . lllpm. In what was supposed lobe
his farewell to Leone. Sicgal.spaghetti and all that. (‘lint directs and stars in this bold and genuinely weird tale of hell on the high plains.
I Everybody's Baby: The Rescue olJessica McClure ((‘hannel 4) 10— 1 1.50pm. Beau Bridges stars as the police chief in charge ofthc rescue operation that gripped the heart of America when 18 month-old .less McClure fell down an old well in Midland Texas. Apparently. even Ronnie Regan stopped work during the marathon struggle to free the child. 'l‘hough. back then. it probably didn't take much tostop him working.
I Bob Marley and the Wailers t( 'hannel 4) lint) I. ltlam. The great Bob in concert.
WEDNESDAY 12
I Sporiscene t BM ‘1 ) “min. lllpm. 'l'he
w holcof Scotland‘sopening encounter against Romania as they bid toqualify for the liuropean ( ‘hampionships.
I RearWindow: The Black Hillsit‘hannel 4) “ -‘).45pm. llte history ofthc North American Red lndians and theircurrent sittration comes under scrutiny through the . . rear window.
I inside Story: Doctors and Torture t 813(2) 9.35 llllipm.’l‘hehistoricaland contemporary relationship between your friendly neighbourhood doc’ and ’l’orquemada types.
INeedletlmr‘Z)U ll).25pm. lna northern city in the y ery near future. the problem of heroin has mushroomed. Sec Main l’reyicw.
I Sex Talk: MaleiorSale (Channel-l) lil45 11.30pm. 'l he programme which has been accused. perhaps rightly. of being all talk and no trousers. invites discussion on the subject of gigolos.
THURSDAY 13
I In Search olHoly England t(‘hannel4)
S 8.31lprir. Rabbi lionel Blue forsakes his normal knockabout radio routinesand sets off in search of the spiritual rootsof five well-known figures in British religous history lop of his list is the Venerable Bede.
ICanCel'OUleion(BB('2)‘).35—l().3llpm.
'l‘he orthodox cur e versus the alternative brigade. which should you trust'.’
I Your Health, Your Wealth (Channel-l) 11pm~midnight. An examinationof health issues looked at from the perspective of the residents ofcouncil estates in (ilasgow and Edinburgh.