REVIEW TELEVISION
V RADIO HIGHLIGHTS
I Classic Serial: Pere Goriot The human condition doesn‘t come much grimmer than in this. one of Balzac‘s most famous novels. In a sordid garret. in which ‘misery oozes from the walls‘. Pere Goriot entertains his two glamorous daughters. arousing the curiosity of a fellow Iodger who plans to use the women as his passport to Parisian high society. Stephen Fry plays Balzac. the narrator.
Radio 4. Sat 12. 7.50pm.
I Pavarotti - From Rodollo to the Moor The Italian sex symbol ofopera grants critic Rodney Miles an exclusive interview about his career. his ambitions, his disappointments. his favourite antipasti. ‘I have never taken the easy way.‘ our Pav comments darkly. On Wed 16 you can hear him take the part of Cavaradossi in a performance of Puccini’s Tosca. live from Covent Garden.
Radio 3. Sun 13. 3.40pm.
I King Oedipus Robert Lindsay stars alongside Dorothy Tutin and Paul Daneman in W.B. Yeats‘s version of Sophocles‘s original warfaring. city-saving. eye-poking classic. Radio 3. Sun 13. 7.30pm.
I Chain Reaction A clever variation on the chat show theme. one week’s interviewee becomes the next week‘s interviewer. each time choosing someone whom they particularly admire. Glenys Kinnock (Ian McKellen’s choice) interviews Juliet Stevenson. who reveals that she is looking forward to middle age. so that she can play Cleopatra.
Radio 5. Mon 14. 9.30am.
I Who Sings The Hero? This afternoon’s homage to the unsung re-creates the story of Gertrude Wijsmuller. a Dutch woman who single-handedly rescued hundreds of Jewish children from Vienna in 1938. many ofwhom subsequently came to Britain.
Radio 4. Wed 16. 2.02pm.
I Gary Lineker's Football Night A night of Euro-fitba. probably accompanied by a few learned pronouncements on Maastricht by yon thinking woman’s crumpet. Radio 5. Wed 16. 7.30pm.
I In Concert: Erasure The men who turned Abba into a fashion accessory apply the same magic touch to classics like Twinkle. Twinkle Little Star. to a rapturous crowd at Hammersmith ()deon.
Radio I. Thurs 17. 9pm.
I Cult Heroes: Elvis Presley A recent survey reveals that during Elvis‘s lifetime there were 34 Elvis impersonators and now there are 8029. lfthe trend continues. one in five of us will be wiggling our hips and singing Love Me Tender by the year 2037. Magenta de Vine gets her mind around the Elvis epidemic. Radio 5. Thurs 17. 9.30pm.
Lasting art
In an increasingly tickle TV climate, arts programmes are probably the most vulnerable tashion victims. With a law exceptions arts shows have a rapid turnover, depending on whetherthe trend is lor earnest cerebral debate, last-flash soundbites or polo-necked po-mo pretension.
Omnibusthen, is something 01 a survivor having lasted 25 years, and on a mainstream channel at that. It returns tor a new series on BBC1 on September 15, opening with a prolile ol the acclaimed British novelist Angela Carter, who died recently. The new series will have an extended run, with increased tunding, something of a minor miracle, when the BBC seems to be ploughing all its cash into copycat gameshows and teeble Spanish soap operas.
‘The role ol Omnibus is to be at the heart 01 88C1’s arts agenda,’ says Controller oi 88C1 Jonathan Powell. ‘It reflects the broad centre ground 01 arts and cultural activity both it the UK and overseas.’ The series run will be increased to 26 weeks with twenty new programmes including proliles oi iilm
Angela Carter. subject oi the first Omnibus prolile oi the new series
director Ridley Scott, Canadian theatre director Robert Lepage and opera producer Sir Peter Hall. The remainder oi the series will be made up of six repeats irom the lirst 25 years. With audiences reaching an average 01 3.5 million, Omnibus is still the most watched arts series on British television, picking up around ten times the audience of the Late Show. Eat your heart out Michael lgnatietl.
Omnibus starts on 8801 on Tuesday 15 September at 10.10pm.
Phew. that's that Festival nonsense over with. Time to settle back with a 24-pack, an industrial strength pizza and the latest video releases . . .
Rental
I The Prince 01 Tides( 15) Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand emote it up in an overrated slice of melodrama which Streisand directs. Tobe fair. Nolte puts in a powerful performance as a tortured Southern boy in New York falling in love with his sister‘s psychiatrist. (Columbia Tristar)
I Father 01 The Bride (PG) Enormously successful lightweight Steve Martin vehicle. remaking the 1950 Spencer Tracy tale of an over-protective parent. Martin is the clinging dad. loath to relinquish his daughter to her fiance. Martin‘s performance is closer to cloyingthan amusing which spoils the film. despite some neat moments. (Buena Vista)
Dennis Hopper stars as Detective Harry Niles. a good cop with a bad attitude. 11c battles itout with murderers. pimps and probably litter louts
with his own brand of ' street justice. You‘ve
I Hear My Song ( 15) A charming low-budget slice of whimsy. with the additional advantage of featuring Tara Fitzgerald. Adrian Dunbar plays the devious but lovable A promoter Mickey who tries to regain his reputation and his woman by booking the legendary Joseph Locke to appear at his Liverpool nightclub. Things don‘t quite work out like that. (CIC)
I Nal15( 15) Laughing boy
guessed it. he's a nutter. and the film is a moderately daft reprise of Dirty Harry and others of that ilk. (Medusa)
I Secret Games ( 18) A little bit naughty thisone. Beautiful but bored wife Julianne (Delia Sheppard) is lured into joining an exclusive brothel for millionaire playboys (it happens) where she discovers that pure sexual abandon releases sotne darker inner impulses. Phoo-er. (Medusa)
I Delirious (PG) (Warner)
I Man In The Moon ( PG) (Warner)
I Pure Luck (PG) ((31(‘) I The Last Prostitute ( 15) (CIC)
I Strays ( 15) ((‘lC)
I Into The Badlands ( IS) (CIC)
IXITOl|(18)(First Independent)
I Miracle In The Wilderness (PG) (First Independent)
Sell-Through
I Absolutely—The Video (PG) 75 minutes worth of of highlights from the loopy comedy team's TV series. featuring such favourites as the Stoneybridge rs. Frank IIovis and the Nice Family. (Polygram £10.99)
I Sleeping With The Enemy (18) (Fox £12.99)
I Singin' In The Rain ( U) That classic Hollywood musical starring Gene Kelly. a fire hydrant and an umbrella. Best ofa whole batch of classic song and dance movies released this fortnight. IIey. let's do the show right here. (Warner £10.99)
I Showboat ( U ) (Warner £10.99)
I High Society(U) (Warner£10.99)
I IGigi (PG) (Warner
£10.99) IAnchors Aweigh (U) (Warncr£10.99)
ii
I World 01 Discovery- Shark Chronicles One of two educational videos released by First Independent as part ofa series devoted to nature and science. This film looks at one of the world's most dangerous predators. who can detect a single drop of blood in a million gallons ofwater. (First Independent £9.99) I World Ol Discovery-The Secret Lile 01118 Green Street (First Independent £9.99).
I Sibling Rivalry ( 15) (First Independent £9.99) I Dolly Dearest ( lS)The stupendoust poor tale of a possessed doll who backs up innocent folk. The effects and plot are so feeble that this is in with a chance of becoming a kitsch classic. (First Independent £9.99)
wildly comic tale ofthe relationship between a colourful crook and a corrupt cop who meet up in a psychiatric hospital during the war. along with the charming Krista. The principals. played by Gerard Depardieu. Michel Piccoli and Sylvia Kristel go their separate ways. but their paths cross again after the war. (Western Connection £15.99)
I lntervista ( 18) (Western Connection £15.99)
I The Gordon Strachan Story The rush-released tale of a ginger-haired midget who made it bigin the world of international football. (First
. Independent £12.99)
The List 11-24 September 1992 59