TELEVISION LISTINGS
‘ IScreenplay:RedemptioMBBCZ) 9—1().3llpm. A welcome new series of Screenplay opens with a powerful drama featuring a rare T\' performance from
'Tom Courtenay. He plays a criminal. Stan Peachey. released after serving sixteen years of a life sentence. and determined to return to the scene of the crime toface those he left behind. Lindsay Duncan plays his wife Kath. and Miranda Richardson is her sister Valerie. Stan’s ex-lover.
I The New Statesman (Channel 4)
10.30- 1 lpm. Alan receives deaththreats
from Animal Rights activists. aftcra typically outspoken speech. IJUSl For Laughs (Channel4)
ll—l 1.30pm. More action from the
Montreal Comedy Festival. with Jimmy Mulville and Muriel Gray going behind the scenes to investigate the fine art of
schmoozing'. or furthering your career at
cocktail parties.
THURSDAY 4
I Scottish Frontiers 0n Medicine (Scottish) b.3ll—7pm. Kaye Adams presents the series investigating the treatments and techniques that keep Scottish medicine in the forefront of medical research.
I Rising Damp (Channel 4) 8.30-9pm. The
I Cheers (Channel 4) 9-9.30pm. Samis still monopolising Frasier and Lilith's child.
I The Second Russian Revolution: End Of The Beginning (BBCZ) 9.3o—ltl.2()pm. Boris Yeltsin calls for Gorbachev's resignation and warns of his thirst for dictatorial power.
I The Cowra Break-out(BBC1)
9.30—1 1pm. The drama series concludes with the Japanese POWs staging a mass break-out and coming into direct combat with the Australian guards. Australian soldier Stan is determined to rescue his one-time enemy Junji.
I Roseanne (Channel 4) Ill—10.30pm. Dan is pressurised into keeping up with the snooty neighbours. the Rubbles (not Barney and Betty. surely?)
IAbsoluteiy (Channel 4) 10.30—1 lpm. the
usual anarchic comedy from the gang. introducing us to feminist toilets. and the concept of returning your videos of 48 Hours two days late.
I Sport In Question (Scottish) 10.40—11.4Upm. Archie MacPherson introduces the sports discussion show. with a debate about referees. Guests include Derek Johnstone. Clive Thomas and George Cumming.
I Au Revoir Les Entants (Channel 4) 9:11pm. Launching a season of Louis
'Mallc films. this is a moving and poignant
story of a young Jewish boy sheltered from the Gestapo by the staff and pupils ofa provincial Catholic school.
I Video Diaries: Promise Me You Won’t Let Them Out On The Street( BBCZ)
10.45—1 1.35pm. Civil rights campaigner Steve Cribb records his experiences as a disabled person. offering a valuable insight into day-to-day problems and prejudices.
I BattletrucIt(BBCl)11.25pm-12.55am. A futuristic adventure set in a world after the oil wars (hold ona minute . . .). With energy resources at a premium. a marauding gang are running amok in the Battletruck of the title.
UNDAY 7
I The Cosby Show (Channel 4) 6.30—7pm. The cosy Huxtable household with some more heart-warming/sick-making comic tales.
I Fragile Earth (Channel 4) 7—8pm. The environmental programme looks at the problems caused by Australia's mountain cattlcmen. whose herds are destroying the local flora.
I Come In Spinner (BBCl ) 7.45—8.35pm. The second, concluding. part of the Aussie
I Wheel Of Fortune (Scottish) 8.3(l—9pm. Nicky Campbell introduces more fortune-hungry contestants.
I The Thing Is...Animai (Channel 4) 9—9.3(lpm. Paul Morley turns his cynical post-modernist gaze towards the institution of furry animals. enlistingthe help ofJohnny Morris along the way.
I Selling Hitler (Scottish) 9—10pm. The final episode of the comedy drama serial with doubts about the authenticity ofthc Diaries failing to dissuade Rupert Murdoch (Barry Humphries) from publishing.
I Art Is Deed...Long Live TV (Channel 4) 9.30—10pm. Muriel Gray scrutinises the pretensions of arty literature. interviewing Glaswegian author Laura Mason who spices up her novels with extracts from phone chatlines. Muriel gets more than
: sitcom classic from 1974 starring the late Leonard Rossiter. the late Richard Beckinsale and the still-alive Frances De
La Tour. Tonight. Rigsby‘s cat Vienna has
a run-in with the truculcnt wrestler. Spooner
I On The Line (BBCZ) 8.30—9pm. The investigative sports series looks at
; whatever happened to baseball in this
‘i country. Apparently the Americans are l . tryingto relaunch it over here. You have i
she bargained for in this edition.
I Celia (Channel 4) 10-1 1.55pm. Anne Turner's directorial debut is a charming rites of passage film. focusing on the grim childhood of Celia. faced with the deaths of both granny and pet rabbit. Turner avoids the easy traps of sentimentalising childhood. and makes some sharp points about the victimisation ofpeople suspected of being ‘commos‘ in 50s
drama mini series starring Lisa Harrow.
j I In My Defence (BBCZ) 9.05—9.35pm.
? Eileen Atkins gives a spirited performance as suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst on trial at the Old Bailey in 1913.
. IPerformance(BBC2)9.35-11.20pm.
. Nicholas Roeg‘s directorial debut isa ' masterful combination of visuals and
‘ verbals. treading the borderline between
been warned.
. and
I GDH (Channel 4) 9—1041me. The Alan Bleasdale drama. with Michael Murray (Robert Lindsay) attempting to regain control of the city and his life.
I The Travel Show (BBCZ) 9-9.30pm. The ‘warts and all‘ holiday guide hosted by Penny Junor. Reports come fromthe unspoiled northern coast of Majorca. and from the distinctly spoiled Stonehenge.
I Scottish Books (Scottish)
11.15~l 1 .45pm. Jenny Brown introduces the book review programme. covering summer reading and new poetry collections.
I Night Flyte (Scottish)
11.15pm—12 30am. Donald McCormick returns with a new series of the late-night talk show. featuring interviews and topical discussions.
I The Mary Whitehouse Experience (BBCZ) 9—9.3(ipm. Repeated skits and sketches from the feeble comedy series.
I Rich Tea And Sympathy(Scottish)
9- l()pm. A quirky new comedy drama series written by David .\'obbs (ofReggre l’errt’n fame). It's a struggle for family survival. featuring a cast ofeccentrics including a snooker-mad granny. a sex-mad grandpa and a chauvinislic biscuit magnate.
78 The List Zb’June ~ 1 1 July 1991
I Absolute Beginners (Channel 4) 11.05pm—1.05am. A distinct turkey at the time. Julian Temple‘s over-hyped extravaganza based on Colin MacInnes's novel. might have gained a touch ofkitsch appeal in time. and then again. it might not. With Eddie O‘Connell. Patsy Kensit.
David Bowie. James Fox. Lionel Blair and
Steven Berkoff (Steven Berkoff?)
I Hamlet Goes Business (BBCZ) 11.50pm-l .20am. Loopy Finn Aki Kaurismaki rewrites Shakespeare in typically wacky fashion. Hamlet inheritsa major shareholding in his father‘s business empire but Uncle Klaus plans to trade in the saw-mills fora Swedish rubber duck company. Whether this has any meaning other than the fact that Kaurismaki is several sultanas short of a tea-cake is open to question. but it's fun all the same.
SATURDAY 6 I
I Tour De France (Channel 4) ().3i)—7pm. if j
' that bike special elsewhere in the magazine has whetted your appetite for
fun on two wheels. check out the first leg of the annual marathon. with American Greg Lemond keen to hang on tothe
leader's yellow jersey he won last year. I Bringing It All Back Home: No Frontiers (BBCZ)8.2iI—9.15pm. The Irish music
series continues with a study of the ballad form that took root and flourished in America.
reality and fantasy. James Fox plays an overenthusiastic ganglands enforcer who crosses the path of fading pop star Mick Jagger (in a remarkably decent performance). The two guys feed offeach other‘s fears and power complexes. aided by a few hallucinogenic drugs. lt’sa powerful and very watchable piece.
I GBH (Channci4) 10—11.35pm. A repeat for the episode shown last Thursday.
I The South Bank Show Special (Scottish) 10.05—11.05pm. A profile of the novelist Julian Barnes. author ofA History OfThe World In [OI/2 Chapters. and acclaimed more abroad than he is in his own country. He talks about his past and his new novel. Talking It Over.
I The Street (Channel 4) 1 1 .35—12.05pm. Return of the quirky and innovative series about four New Jersey patrolcops.
MONDAY 8
I Them And Us (BBCI ) 7.30—8pm. Poet and comedian Craig Charles ventures forth once more to fight injustice and bureaucracy.
I Hope It Rains (Scottish) 8—8.30pm. Jace's escort. King. the ultra-chauvinist biker. claims Harry has beaten him up. in the latest episode of the remorselessly downbeat sitcom.
I ENG (Channel 4) l()pm—l lpm. The Canadian news gatherers hit the streets in search of stories.
I Scottish Women (Scottish)
l().45—1 1.15pm. Sheena McDonald introduces another topical discussion with l()()guests providing the opinionson mental health.
I Down Under (Channel 4)
l lpm—12. 15am. A new series of Australian films opens with a trioof semi-autobiographical shorts by acclaimed director Jane Campion.
TUESDAY 9
I The Literary Island (Channel 4) 8.3(l—9pm. Melvyn Bragg introduces the series looking at the influence of surroundings on literature. this week coming to Brighton.
Victoria. A delight.
WEDNESDAY 10
I Screenplay: Broke (BBCZ) 9—10.30pm. The second in the series ofTV dramas isa black comedy starring the wonderfully vulgar Timothy Spall. with Larry Lamb. I Fire! (Scottish) 9—9.30pm. The final episode of the fly-on-the wall series features exclusive pictures ofthc firefighters at work after the Cannon Street rail crash in January.
I Out (Channel 4) 9L10pm. The lesbian and gay magazine programme offers
another three short films. looking at sport.‘ hairstyles. and the Montreal Gay Games. 1
I The New Statesman (Channel 4) 10.30—11pm. A rerun ofthe recent scatological series starring Rik Mayall as Alan B'Stard MP. the hard-line Tory.
I Just For Laughs (Channel 4)
11—1 1 .30pm. Highlights from this year's
Montreal Comedy Festival. introduced by
1
Jimmy Mulville and the ubiquitous Muriel }
Gray. investigating paranoia with the help of controversial political comic Will Durst.
I A Marshall Chronicle (Channel 4) 6—6.3(lpm. A new American sitcom that looks like a cross between Adrian Mole and Teenage Health Freak set in Manhattan. Marshall Brightman isa confused teenager doing his best to behave ethically in a dog-eat-dog world. I Bellamy Rides Again (BBCI ) 8—8.30pm. The bearded butcher ofvowels offers more environmental-friendly reportage. I Rising Damp (Channel 4)8.3()—9pm. Leonard Rossiter and company in more boarding-house-related frolics.
I LA Law (Scottish) 9—1lipm. Becker becomes bewildered when defending a man with multiple personalities on a murder charge. Rumpoie never had these sorts of problems.
I 58H (Channel 4) 9Ll().30pm. The sixth
episode of Alan Bleasdale‘s drama. starring Michael Palin. Robert Lindsay and Lindsay Duncan. Jim Nelson's holiday cottage is ransacked for clues.