LISTINGS TELEVISION
6.50-7.25pm. The football fanzine-style show returns for a new series. hosted this time around by Kevin Allen of Comic Strip fame. assisted by Shelley Webb. a journalist who happens to be married to England midfielder Neil Webb.
I Vice Versa (Scottish) 8—10pm. A daft comedy fantasy starring Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage as a stressed out workaholic and his son who find their relationship improves when they swap bodies. Written by Dick Clement and [an La Frenais. who should know better.
I Traveller's Tales: As American As Apple Pie (Channel 4) 9—10pm. Part two of Jimmy Tingle and Alan Schroeder's odyssey through small-town America in their Ford Convertible.
TUESDAY 15
I Citizen Smith (BBC1)8—8.30pm. Classic sitcom revolutionary Wolfie Smith enjoys a rerun in John Sullivan‘s sublime 70s show. Tonight Wolfie is recovering from the disappointment of losing his deposit in the Tooting by-election.
I Floyd On Spain: Costa Blanca (BBC2) 8.30—9pm. Floyd visits tourist country in part five of his Iberian odyssey. Out in the mountains in the village ofTarbena. he cooks a mighty fish and pasta dish.
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It. ‘ i -_ a & M I Film On Four: Life Is Sweet (Channel4) 10—11.55pm. Mike Leigh's most accessible film to date stars Jim Broadbent and Alison Steadman as a suburban couple with a couple of daughters - a plumber and an anorexic respectively. The plot. such as it is. follows the attempts of a grotesque family friend (Timothy Spall) to open a restaurant. Leigh‘s ear for the banality of everyday conversation is as acute as ever. although this is several degrees warmer than his previous work.
I Omnibus: Angela Carter's Curious Room (BBCI) 10.10—1 1pm. The last interview with the English novelist before her death earlier this year explores her witty and inventive style. Kim Evans‘s film embarks on a search for what Carter calls ‘The Curious Room‘. the place where the secrets of a life are stored before birth.
I Point BIank(BBC1) 11pm—12.30am. Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson star in a tense and atmospheric thriller about a villain given a chance to gain revenge on the gang who double-crossed him.
WEDNESDAY 16
I Wayne’s World (BBCZ) 6.50—7pm. The ten-minute slots that spawned the movie hit.
I The Shetland Sessions (BBC2)
7.40—8. 10pm. Aly Bain hosts highlights from the Shetland Folk Festival. including the Easy Club and the all-women group the Poozies.
I Inspector Morse: The Iniemal Serpent (Channel 4) 8.30—10.30pm. John Thaw and Kevin Whately return in a repeat of last year‘s [TV series. The first czise concerns the mysterious death of an eminent scientist shortly before he was due to deliver a controversial speech on
the environment.
I Blade Runner (Scottish) 9—10pm. 10.45—1 1.55pm. The favourite film of certain people around here. although they probably prefer the version without 45 minutes of news inserted into the middle. Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer starin Ridley Scott's influential and visually inventive futuristic thriller about a killer cop tracking down rogue robots.
I Screenplay: A Little Bit Of Lippy( BBC2) 9— 10. 10pm. An outrageous comedy about transvestism. 19-year-old Marion finds a pair ofwomen‘s knickers in her husband's laundry and jumps to the obvious conclusion. Turns out though that hubby merely wears them himself. Alison Swann stars as Marion. struggling to come to terms with her man‘s fetish.
I The Breakfast Club (BBCl) l().50pm—12.25am. L'h-oh. brat pack time. John llughes‘s nerdy piece of American slush stars Emilio Estevez. Molly Ringwald. Anthony Michael 1 Tall. Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy as five kids (shyeer. right!) who bare their souls rather unnecessarily after skipping detention.
I Moio Working: Jimi Hendrix (Channel 4) 11.15-1 1 .45pm. The final programme in the series concentrates on the legendary dead guitarist. featuring songs like ‘Purple Haze‘. ‘Voodoo Chile' and ‘Shaddap Your Face‘.
THURSDAY 17
I PS And 08 (BBC!) 8.3(1—9pm. Tony Slattery hosts the feeble etiquette show. with captains Lesley Joseph and Jonathan Meades joined by upper-class wasters Roddy Llewellyn. Michael Pickworth. Lucinda Green and Gay Larson.
I Rising Damp (Channel 4) 8.3(l—9pm. When an actor comes to stay everybody becomes stage-struck except Rigsby.
I Taggart: The Hit Man (Scottish)9L- 10pm. Jimmy Catto. one-time hit-man. is released after twenty years in jail. Pretty soon a series of shootings begin to look like Jimmy's handiwork.
I The Travel Show (BBCZ)‘F9.3()pm. Penny Junor and intrepid traveller Matthew Collins present the consumers' holiday show. which includes a report from New York. Meanwhile poor old Carol Smillie is packed off to the Lake District.
. FRIDAY 18
I The Man From UNCLE (BBCZ)
6.25—7. 15pm. The man who put the sleaze into sleaze-ball, Robert Vaughn. returns as Napoleon Solo. Special guest tonight is Vincent Price as an evil TllRUSl 1 agent who gets his hands on a brainwave machine. Utter tosh. ofcoursc. but wonderful nevertheless.
I Challenge Anneka (BBCI ) 8—9pm. She must have some pretty compromising photos of BBC executives to get away with this. A new series of the execrable Ms Rice, gadding around in a jump suit and helping the needy.
I Under The Sun: Tribes Of Europe (BBC2) 9.30—10.2()pm. This new series begins with a look at Yugoslavia and attempts (some hope) to explain why the Albanians. Bosnians. Serbs and Croats have suddenly found it impossible to live next to each other.
I Between The Lines: Words OlAdvice (BBCI ) 9.30—10.2()pm. Best cop show since The Sweeney I reckon. but then what do 1 know? Tonight Tony Clark (the excellent Neil Pearson) has to deal with an accusation of sexual harassment down at the nick.
I Crimes Of The Heart(BBC 1) 10.20pm—midnight. Strong cast —Jessica Lange. Sissy Spacek. top quality director— Bruce Beresford, and Pulitzer Prize-winning story by Beth Henley. but ironically a much-neglected film. Maybe audiences were fed up with yuppie reflection and reminiscence in the aftermath of Big Chill and Ordinary People.
I Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Channel 4) 11.30pm-l .4Sam. David Bowie is his usual hammy self. but Ryuiehi Sakamoto is surprisingly good. both as the sadistic camp commandant and composer ofthe film‘s atmospheric music.
SATURDAY 19
I Song And Memories (Channel 4) 12.30—1pm. A new series in which personalities from india and Pakistan choose favourite film-clips and music. The first show kicks off with Amitabh Bachehan — the Johnny Depp of the Indian film industry.
I Casualty (BBC 1 ) 8—8.5()pm. The TV version of a splatter movie continues. IThB LOOK(BBC2) 8.10—9pm. A new. five-part series looking at the fashion industry.
I The Witches OlEastwick(BBC1)
9.10—1 1.05pm. Jack Nicholson is ‘just your average horny little devil' whogives Cher. Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon everything they wish for (plus some). It‘s a jolly little romp for 9()per cent of the time but packs an effective. surprisingly scary. punch at the end.
I The Brain Drain (BBCZ) 9.40-10. l()pm. Jimmy Mulville with the first in anew series. See preview.
I Sinead O'Connor(BBC2) 10.10—11.05pm. The woman who uses MTV as a base for SCUD missile attacks on Yankee imperialism is captured in reflective mood. singing some of her favourite songs by some of her favourite artists.
SUNDAY 20
I Screen One: Born Kicking (BBCl)
9.25—1 1pm. Eve Barker stars in what sounds suspiciously like a Gregory '5 (iirl for the 90s. as a woman who makes the grade in football.
I Did You See? (BBC2) 9—9.4(lpm. More snide than a speeding lgnatieff. Jeremy Paxman returns with a new series ofthe bitching session.
I The Rosary Murders (Channel 4) 10—11.55pm.A serial killer ofnuns gets all remorseful and goes to his local priest to confess his sins. Unfortunately for him. his priest is Donald Sutherland whodecides to deal out some rough justice of hisown.
MONDAY 21
I Out olDarkness (BBCZ) 7.50—8.3(lpm. The excellent series charting the faltering steps of African nations towards democracy continues.
I A Bil 01A Do (Channel 4) Iii—l 1pm. Repeat showing for the award-winning series starring David Jason as the fatherof a bride.
TUESDAY 22
I Civvies (BBC1)9.3()—1().25pm. Major-league television time with the launch of the much-hyped drama focusing on the lives of ex-army men back on Civvy Street. It stars Jason lsaacs and Peter Howitt (formerly of Bread) and features a cameo appearance by Peter O‘Toole as a sozzled. out-of—work actor. Sorry. that last bit should read ‘as an East End villain‘.
I Film On Four: Bill-Raft (Channcl4)
10—1 1.50pm. Channel 4 has been lauding itselfas the saviour of British cinema of late. but in this case it can be justifiably proud. Ken Loach‘s marvellous thick slice of working-class Britain oozes wit and bawdy charm. Ricky Tomlinson (formerly Bobby Grant in Brookslde) is outstanding. especially in the bath sequence (ooh-er). I Omnibus(BBCl) 10.25—11.05pm. Asif Euro-Disney hasn‘t got enough trouble. the seminal arts programme begins its new season with an examination of how Disney has warped fairy tales and magic to make a fast buck.
I ElephantMan(BBC1) 11.15pm—1.15am. Towering performance (as they say) by John Hurt as the much-maligned bug-eyed monster. Terrific monochrome imagery and straight-down-the-middle direction by David Lynch in his pre-Peaks‘ days make for an impressive movie.
WEDNESDAY 23
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I Inspector Morse: Sins Of The Fathers (Channel 4) 8.30—1().30pm. The
' real-ale-swigging one investigates a series
of murders involving the proprietors ofa brewery. As is increasingly the case. Lewis does most of the solving.
I Screenplay: Dread Poet’s Society/Small Metal Jacket (BBCZ) 9.30- 10.20pm. Two plays for the price ofone tonight. The first is by Benjamin Zephaniah — the man thankfully rejected by Cambridge University for their Chair of Poetry. The second is about the use offalse-Buddhist suicide nuns by the Americans in Vietnam. lley. . . it could happen!
I The Prisoner (Channel 4)
11.15pm— 12. 15am. It was just a matter of how long Channel 4 could resist really. Everyone knew they had the rights to the all-time cult show. and demands forits re-broadcast have been long and loud. This is the first of the seventeen episodes (all to be shown over the coming months) and shows Patrick McGoohan's arrival and christening as Number Six. Set that video.
THURSDAY 24
I Present Imperfect (BBCZ) 9.3(l—1().3()pm. Focuses on Max Clifford— the man who offers his services as agent every time a ‘kiss-and-tell' story is latched on to by the tabloids. Parasite or entrepreneur? You know the answer already. don't you?
I Too Young To Die (Channel 4)
10—1 1.45pm. Your average angst-ridden TV movie featuring an abused girl. her marriage then abandonment. her slide into drugs and prostitution. and her eventual conviction on a murdercharge and possibility of the gas chamber. Cheery stuff. but the girl in question is played by Juliette Lewis. and this was one ofthe roles which helped to get her the infamous part of the daughter in Cape Fear.
I One Foot In The Grave ( BBC!) l().25—1(l.55pm. Repeat showing for the first series of the miles-above-average sitcom starring Richard Wilson.
The List 11 - 24 September 1992 61