LISTINGS TELEVISION
TELEVISION
A selection of television highlights,
listed by day, in chronological order. Television listings compiled by Tom lupin.
FRIDAY 5
I Doctor Who: Planet Of The llalelts (BBCI) 7.30—8pm. A special anniversary repeat to mark the Doc's 30th year as a Time Lord. This is a six-part story with Jon Pertwee chasing after those pesky Daleks. I wonder ifJohn Birt will be watching?
I The Vlertime Kitchen And Garden (BBC2) 8.30—9pm. Gardener Harry Dodson and cook Ruth Mott combine their talents for a new eight-part series. looking at how Britain fed itselfduring World War 11. See Food section.
I Bottom (BBC2) 9—9.30pm. Yet another chance to see Mayall and Edmondson being all lavatorial in the sleazy comedy series. Tonight the lads sign up with a dating agency.
I llemob (Scottish) 9—10pm. The post- war double-act comedy continues. with Ian forced into the role of house husband. and Dick getting involved in another dubious scam. Griff Rhys Jones and Martin Clunes star.
I Cheers (Channel 4) 9.30—10pm. The eternally unambitious Norm (Norm!) is told to take promotion or lose his job.
I Nurses (Channel 4) 10—10.30pm. Jack and Hank get involved in a crooked real estate deal, while everyone speculates about whether Luke is a nude calendar model
I blade In The USA: Triple Bogey On A For Five llole (Channel 4) 12.20—1.55am. James Poe‘s witty comedy stars Eric Mitchell as a screenwriter who goes to New York to research the killing of a Jewish couple fourteen years previously. interviewing their kooky children.
SATURDAY 6 Q
I The Great Depression (BBC2) 7.15-8.10pm. A new seven-part series looking at the American Depression of the 303 opens with a study of how even the thriving Ford company was affected by the slump. I Casualty (BBCl) 8—8.50pm. One of the nastiest cases yet for the Holby City team. involving a thirty-year-old calcified foetus (I know the feeling). Meanwhile Ash is attacked by two muggers. whom he encounters later on at the hospital. I Periorntance: Suddenly Last Summer (BBC2) 8.10—9.35pm. A new season of thespy dramas opens with Tennessee Williams’s tale of betrayal and deceit about a mother (Maggie Smith) refusing to come to terms with the death of her idolised son. Rob Lowe. Natasha Richardson and Richard E. Grant co-star. I llarry(BBC1) 8.50—9.40pm. Michael Elphick plays the middle-aged journalist. setting up a few dubious stories for the benefit of a visiting Italian newspaper executive. I The Cunomlle Lawn (Channel 4) 9-10.05pm. The concluding episode of the repeated Mary Wesley adaptation. set during the war and flashing forward to 1984 for Max’s funeral. I Air America (Scottish) 9-11.10pm. Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr play a couple of maverick US pilots in Vietnam who find their job smuggling supplies for covert CIA operations is more complicated than it seems. I llory Brenner - Vlbo Else? (Channel 4) 10.05—10.45pm. Another look at the week‘s news from the comedy impressionist. aided by John Wells and John Bird.
.1
I Out There (Scottish) 11.10—11.40pm. The title of the occasional arts documentary series takes on an appropriate tinge for a look back at the highlights of the ‘Glasgay’ festival.
I Ironweed (BBC2) 11.25pm—l.45am. A short season of films complementing the Great Depression series opens with Hector Babenco‘s adaptation of William Kennedy‘s novel. starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep as a couple of 30s hobos
1 » E I Opening Night (Channel 4) 7 11.30pm—2. 10am. The John Cassavetes
‘ starring Gena Rowlands as an actress who suffers a breakdown during the trial run of Q a Broadway play. Peter Falk is there or
’ thereabouts.
? suquv 7
. I Birds or A Feather (BBC!)
8.20—8.50pm. Sharon and Tracey discover
discrepancies in their husbands‘ tax returns.
I Scarlet And Black (BBC 1)
i 9. 10— 10.25pm. The second episode of the
f Stendhal adaptation finds Julien Sorel
E (Ewan MacGregor) in the seminary at
L Besancon. where. unknown to him. letters
1 from his lover are being kept from him.
5 I Spitting Image (Scottish) 10—10.30pm.
j A new series of the limp puppet satire.
I The Verdict (BBC2) 10.15pm—12.40am. Paul Newman plays down-on-his-Iuck attorney Frank Galvin
in Sidney Lumet‘s 1982 courtroom drama. Reduced to ambulance-chasing. Galvin
i believes his luck has changed when he is
presented with a seemingly simple case of
: medical malpractice. Little does he know.
etc.
I Made In The USA: Metropolitan (Channel 4) 10.30pm—12.20am. The closest American cinema has come to a class-related comedy. Whit Stillman‘s 'nannered and empty tale follows radical student Edward Clements’s attempts to be accepted by a pretentious bunch of affluent young society New Yorkers.
I The South Bank Show (Scottish) 10.45—11.45pm. Melvyn Bragg hosts a profile of lyricist Tim Rice. who won an Oscar last year for his work on Aladdin. I The Scottish Arts Debate (Scottish)
. 12.15—1.15am. Janice Forsyth chairs a debate on the proposals to create a new National Gallery for Scottish art.
MONDAY 8
I 1 I Get Back (BBCl) 8.30—9pm. Martin l (Ray Winstone) and family are forced to 3 move house. but find their new I accommodation less than idyllic.
I Cracker (Scottish) 9—10pm. Robbie l Coltrane continues to impress as
personally troubled but professionally brilliant psychologist Fitz. as the hunt for the killer of a young boy hots up.
I I’ll Fly Away (Channel 4) [0—10.55pm. The 50s American drama reaches its conclusion. with Nathan finding out the truth about Forrest (Sam Waterston) and Clarence proposing to Lilly (Regina Taylor).
I inside Victor Lewis-Smith (BBC2) 10—10.30pm. Bad taste comedy with BBCZ’s other Vic. as a host of healthy child actors arrive at a hospital to film ‘Christmas Day with The Sick Kids' in the middle ofJuly.
TUESDAY 9
I The Talking Show (Channel 4) 8—8.30pm. Scandinavian midget troll Sandi Toksvig presents a new series looking at communication techniques. The first in the series features voice coach Patsy Rodenburg from the National Theatre. and Tony Blackburn from. well you know . . .
I Between The Lines (BBC 1) 9.30—10.25pm. Tony Clark‘s team are called in to investigate the aftermath of a
i
peaceful demo that escalated into violence
, . . i when a senior police officer (played by season continues wrth a cornpellrng drama :
Bernard Hill) panicked.
Mk-
Q
.1» . : as
\ -
I Without Walls: J’Accuse: leonardo (Channel 4) 9.30—10pm. Lisping art critic
; Brian Sewell reckons Leonardo Da Vinci
? wasn’t all he‘s cracked up
to be. I EX-S: The Blacksburg Connection
; (BBCI) 10.25-11.05pm. A new series of
arts documentaries opens with the story of young Scottish singer Suzanne Bonnar's attempts to trace her long-lost father. an American G1. See preview.
I Total Recall (Scottish) 10.40pm—l2.40am. Paul Verhoeven‘s effects-heavy future shocker has strong claims to be Scwarzenegger’s finest film. He plays a construction worker who dreams of the colony on Mars. a place he
.5 has never visited. Hoping for
enlightenment. he visits a memory
1 implant service. but the device brings to I the surface clues about his true identity.
WEDNESDAY 10
g I Timewatch: Children Of The Third
Reich (BBC2) 8—8.50pm. A compelling
documentary about the experiences of children of Holocaust survivors and of Nazi war criminals. The two groups are brought together to talk about the feelings of guilt and horror that linger one generation on.
I Seinfeld (BBC2) 9—9.25pm. A Chinese meal proves a harrowing experience in the superior American sitcom that has a sharp eye for social foibles.
I The Buddha 0i Suburbia (BBC2) 9.25—10.30pm. The second episode of the Hanif Kureishi dramatisation finds Karim having to choose between the exotic
, lifestyle of bohemia offered by his father . and the intriguing Eva. or a more boring
existence with his mother.
I Thatcher: The Downing Street Years (BBCl) 9.30—10.30pm. The fourth and final programme from the Thatcher annals concentrates on her downfall (‘treachery with a smile on its face.‘ she calls it). and features some ratherjuicy dismissals of her successor.
. the godlike Alexei Sayle.
I The Almost Complete History or The Twontieth Century (Channel 4) 9.45-10pm. Another quirky revamp of archive material. this time not-entirely- seriously looking at the connection between the use of DDT in World War II and malaria-free holidays in Majorca.
I Private View: The Turner Prize (Channel 4) 11.45pm—12.20am. Three critics tour the Tate Gallery and review the work of the artists short-listed for the Turner Prize: Rachel Whiteread. Sean Scully, Vong Phaophanit and Hannah Collins.
THURSDAY 11
I NB (Scottish) 7—7.30pm. A new series of the arts and entertainments magazine. with Bryan Burnett and Janice Forsyth. I The Music Came (Channel 4) 8.30—9pm. Smut sultan Tony Slattery offers musical questions to guests Sonia. Helen Lederer and Cathy Thompson.
I All In The Game (Scottish) 9—10pm. The superior soccer drama continues. with Darren dropped from the Barcelona first team for visiting an Albanian orphanage. I Red Dwarf (BBC2) 9—9.30pm. The crew are alarmed to receive an SOS call from themselves fifteen years in the future.
I it You See Cod Tell ilim (BBC l) 9.30—10.15pm. Richard Briers. Imelda Staunton and Adrian Edmondson star in a new comedy drama from Andrew Marshall (2Pm'nr4 Children) and David Renwick (One For)! In The Grave). It's a heavy-handed satire on the advertising industry. with Briers playing a man with an attention span ofjust 30 seconds. the perfect prey for marketing scams.
I Blood And Belonging: Yugoslavia - The lioad To Nowhere (BBC2) 9.30—10.20pm. Michael Ignatieff presents a new series looking at issues raised by nationalism. The first programme looks at the bloodshed caused in the name of nationalism in the former Yugoslavia.
I Film 0n Four: Young Soul liebels (Channel 4) 10-1 1.55pm. Isaac Julien’s low-budget debut is a celebration of friendship and passion set amidst the emergence of black popular culture in 1977. Two DJs (Valentine Nonyela and Mo Sesay) find themselves involved in a police investigation after the murder of their friend TJ.
FRIDAY ‘12
I The Living Soap (BBC2) 7.15-7.4Spm. More student indulgence in the Manchester house. spied on by the BBC cameras.
I llemob (Scottish) 9—10pm. Griff Rhys- Jones. Martin Clunes and Amanda Redman star in the post-war tale of an aspiring showbiz double-act. Deasey and Dobson’s career misery is briefly interrupted by an offer from the BBC.
I Cheers (Channel 4) 9.30-10pm. Diane decides to head off to Europe with Frasier. secretly hoping Sam will try to stop her. This is the last episode featuring Nicholas Colasanto. who played Coach.
I Have 1 Got News For You (BBC2) 10—10.30pm. Ian Hislop and Paul Merton are the captains. Angus Deayton the MC. and the guests are Gerald Kaufman and
I Clive Anderson Talks Back (Channel 4) 10.30-1 1.10pm. The naked-bonced sultan of smug interrupts another bunch of desperate guests.
The List 5—18 November 1993 57