LISTINGS TELEVISION
TELEVISION
A selection of television highlights, listed by day, in chronological order. Television Listings compiled by Eddie Gibb.
FRIDAY 15
I The Contenders (BBCt ) 7—7.30pm. We know where he keeps it. bttt what does Lindford Christie put in his lunch box‘.’ Find out in this edition of the new sports series which looks at athletes’ diets.
I BBC Proms 94: The First Hundred Years (BBCZ) 8-l()pm. The first night of the Proms is for music lovers. not Union Jack wavers. This centenary concert. which is broadcast simultaneously in stereo on BBC Radio 3. is a performance of Schoenberg‘s Gurre/icrler. conducted by Andrew Davies.
I Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Channel 4) l0.30—l 1.05pm. Usual impro-comedy format. usual suspects; specifically Ryan Stiles. Steve Frost. Tony Slattery and Colin Mochrie.
I Passengers (Channel 4)
ll.05pm-12. 10am. The no- presenters show continues its youthorientated. videocam view of popular culture the world over.
I Pets Win Prizes (BBCl ) Mo 7.20pm. As one Danny Baker vehicle finishes (ngmres) another one starts. This time it's a That's [.rfc-esque game show which makes pets jump through hoops to earn their owners points. Look otlt for "l‘hat‘s My Stick lnsect‘ and 'Cioldfish Croquet.
For this the BBC gets its charter renewed‘.’ ~ '
I Stars In Their Eyes (Scouts-h) 6.45—7.45pm. Possibly the kilschest moment on terrestial television this summer — the live final of the look/sound- a-like amateur singing competition. hosted by Matthew Kelly. You. the viewer. can take part with the phone-in poll. Sublime populist telly.
I Seinleld (BBCZ) 9.()5--9.3(lpm. Drier- than-dry wit from the sitcom star who's happy to be upstaged by his straighttish) man George.
I
I A Night With Derek (Channel 4) 9.l5pm-5.05am. Derek Jarman was one of those rare individuals who touched the hearts of people who had never met him or perhaps didn't even think tnuch of his films. Channel 4 pays tribute to the filmmaker. painter and gardener who died after a very public battle with AIDS earlier this year. by showing four of his best films: The Tempest ( l0.15pm); The last ol England (12.15am); Blue
SATURDAY 16 I
l
l l
(2.05am); and Sebastiane (3.30am). Preceding the films is an in-depth profile You Know What I Mean.
I The Jupiter Collision (BBCZ) ‘).3()—l()pm. The first in a week-long series tracking the path of the comet Shoemaker-Levy ‘) as it speeds towards an explosive encounter with Jupiter. The first pictures of the itnpact are expected to be shown on Wednesday 20 July at 10.25pm. I Local Heroes (Scottish)
l l.5()pm-~12.25am. Former Bronski Beat frontrnan Jimmy Somerville travels to Berlin to talk about AIDS. homosexuality and pop stardom. Bit of a clash with Channel 4's Jarrnan night. but l‘m sure you've got a video.
SUNDAY 18
I Macbeth (Channel 4) 3.15-5.55pm. “The Scottish play' given the Verdi lreatrnent. with a dramatic production of the opera by the Savonlinna ()pera Festival Orchestra and Choir. filmed at a castle in the middle of a Finnish lake. I Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman (Scottish) ()- 7pm. A new series about the strong- willed female doctor (Jane Seymour) on the l‘)lh century American frontier. I World Cup Final Grandstand (BBC 1) X.” lituiSpm. If yotl switch on. that'll make a total of two billion viewer‘s for the finale of the international blizzard of goals and yellow cards. l’undits Jimmy llill. Terry Venables and Alan llansen (the good. the bad and the ugly ~ but who's who'.’t_toin Desirtond l,_\ll;ltrr for football's fittest hour .llltlahall. lf you prefer. it's also on Scottish (3 llptll) with pundits likely to include the worthy. but slightly dull. l)on How and the almost catatonic Ray Wilkins. I Stanley and his ( BBCB) 8. lS-topni. Television premiere ot this soft-centred love story. starring Robert de Niro as an illiterate bachelor and Jane Fonda as the recently—w itlowcd mother of two who teaches him to read. I Carny (BBCZ) li..‘r(tprrr~ 1.25am. Alex Cos's .‘vloviedrome season continues with this well-regarded film co-written by Robbie Robertson of The Band fame. with Jodie Foster as a waitress wlrojacks in her job to join a couple ofcircus performers on the road.
MONDAY 18
I Babylon 5 (Channel 4) 6—6.50pm. The continuing story of life on the planet-sized spaceship in this Spielberg produced sci-fi series. which leaves Slur 'I'rt'k's New Generation stranded on the launch pad.
I Chart Bite (Scottish) 74.30pm. Music show with funny camera angles, indie bands and the Sc_ottish charts.
I As t Happened: Moon landing (Channel 4) 9—10.45pm. More 25th anniversary celebrations of the moon shot with previously unseen footage of the launch and NASA’s own film of
: Armstrong‘s ‘great step for mankind'.
I Panorama (BBC 1 ) 930—10. IOpm. ‘Grassed: The Changing Role of the Police lnformant' is an investigation into the ‘murky and morally dubious‘ role of police informers. Does ‘getting a result'. as Burnside of The Bill would say. justify
using informants as ‘agents provocateurs’
to trap known criminals?
I Private Investigations (BBCl ) 7.30—8pm. The last of this series of public access documentaries asks if pheromone sprays do indeed make the wearer irresistible to the opposite sex. The road test in a Bolton nightclub should be interesting.
I Boom 101 (BBC?) l()—lO.30pm. Jo Brand; loves cakes. hates the Mona Lisa. Why‘.’ Find out in the next instalment of this show about celebrities‘ irrational dislikes.
TUESDAY 19
I A Whole Different Ball Game (BBC2)
7.40—8.30pm. For those suffering from
post-World Cup withdrawal. this four-part
documentary will serve as a Methadone- like fix. lt traces the culture. the politics and the passions of four famous footballing nations. starting with ‘Brazil: A Nation in Football Boots‘. Football is the Brazil's ‘national morale'. reckons
' former captain Socrates. ‘We'd believe
again in the country (if we won). and that things can work.‘ Did they do it?
I Gagtag (BBC 1) 8—8.30pm. Jonathan Ross hosts a new comedy qui7/impr0 series with team captains Frank Skinner
I and the rehabiliated. but increasingly
over-exposed. Bob Monkhouse. The format sounds like a cross between Whrrse Linc . . . ' and A Question (rfSpnrt. with
Greg Proops. Jim Bowen and Ted Rogers
filling the empty seats.
; I Chandler & Co (BBC 1 ) ‘).3()—l(l.25prrl.
The promising female private eye series starring Barbara ‘Mrs Cracker‘ Flynn continues to prod at men‘s sexual insecurities and shortcomings.
I Billy Connolly’s World Tour of Scotland (BBCI) l0.25—l0.55pm. Billy visits the Clyde. Stirling and the Wallace monument
in this instalment of his comic odyssey back to his roots.
I Big Wave Dave‘s (Channel 4)
l l.45prn-12.15arn. Another American comedy show with Emmy Awards and impeccable credentials; the producer‘s credits include Cheers and MM ‘S*H*. The Big Wave Dave's of the title is a surfshop on Hawaii. set up by a bunch of city slickers looking for change of scene. Surf burnrning isn‘t the life they imagined. of course. and disaffection sets in with hilarious results.
WEDNESDAY 20
I The Ink Thiet (Scottish) 4. l5—4.45pm. Kids show with possible cult potential. starring Richard O'Brien. no stranger to gothic make-up, who plays a bit of an evil buggen
I Danielle Steel’s Message From ’llam (Scottish) 9—l 1.30pm. A two-parter on successive nights about an idealistic journalist who becomes a war correspondent after her boyfriend is killed in the 'Nam. More from the battle front tomorrow at the same time.
\ t I Frontline (Channel 4) 9—lOpm. Queenie Fletcher, mother of WPC Yvonne Fletcher who died in the Libyan Embassy seige ten years ago. and Independent reporter Tim Kelsey team up to find out why no one has ever been charged with the policewoman‘s murder. I BBC Design Awards (BBCZ) 9.5()—l().3()pm. Muriel Gray presents the final of the BBC's design awards from the Ark in Hammersmith (is it a ship or an office block?) So will it be the thermal flask; the disposable torch: the chair; the motorbike; or the wetsuit? Also included is a piece about Scottish architect Kathryn Findlay‘s free—form concrete houses in Tokyo.
I NYPD Blue (Channel 4) lO—lO.55pm. Yes. I know it's a repeat. but surely you haven't seen every espisode'? You have? ‘Well watch it again. Stephen ‘Hill Street Blues' Bochco's reign continues.
I loudon a CotBBCZ) 11.15—11.55pm. Loudon is joined by Chris Rea and Marcella Detroit in this acoustic(ish) music show from the old Fruitrnarket in Glasgow.
The List l5w28 July 1994 73