LISTINGS TELEVISION
TELEVISION merite-
A selection of television highlights, listed by day, in chronological order. Television listings compiled by Eddie Gibb.
FRIDAY 8
I The New Avengers (BBC2) 6.25—7.20pm. Revival of the cult 70s spy thriller serial starring Joanna Lumley. Gareth Hunt and Patrick Macnee as the crack squad of secret agents.
I Tomorrow’s World (BBC 1) 7.30-8pm. The long-running science and technology show returns for a new series with a filtn about a South African art historian who believes he‘s cracked the mystery of the Turin Shroud.
I TV Ballads (BBC2) 7.3(l—8pm. New series about life in the 90s featuring folk music acts from around the world. In ‘On the Street‘. poet John Hegley journeys frotn his hometown of Luton to Kings Cross in London. with music by Nanci Griffith. Richard Thompson and Simon Thoumire.
I Punt and Dennis (BBC l) 8—830an Average sketch show with the usual TV documentary spoofs.
I Strange But True? (Scottish) 8.30—9pm. Michael Aspel returns with another series of supernatural happenings and strange phenomena. starting with a guy who reckons he is a reincarnated soldier from the Crimean War.
I flab O. Nesbitt (BBC2) 9-9.30pm. Rab is in the cells on a drunk and disorderly charge.
I Medics (Scottish) 9— l()ptn. Return of the tnedical drama serial with Sue Johnson and Torn Baker. The hospital manager's son is in for a routine operation which goes wrong.
I Ellen (Channel 4) 9—9.30pm. An ex- boyfriend shows up and Ellen looks like falling in love again.
I Death Becomes ller (BBC 1)
9.30—l l.lOpm. Entertaining. special effects-filled comedy starring Bruce Willis as an eminent plastic surgeon (huh?) who dumps his wife (Goldie Hawn) and takes up with her best friend (Meryl Streep). Seven years on. the jilted wife is out for revenge as she masquerades as a bizarre beautician.
I Felix Dexter on TV (BBC2) 9.30-10pm. Another from the Count Ash/ex season of pilots gives stand-up Felix Dexter. best known as part of The Real McCoy group. his first solo show. Dexter unveils a host ofcotnic characters including Samuel. the zealous London Underground ticket inspector.
I Friends (Channel 4) 9.30-l0pm. More dating trauma for the twentysomething buddies.
I noom101 (BBC2) l()—l().30pm. Nick Hancock spars with Frank Skinner in this comedy show about pet hates.
I Frasier (Channel 4) l()— l0.30pm. Frasier and Niles call in the plumbers only to discover the tradesmen are their childhood bullies.
I Homeboy (Scottish) l().30pm—12.35am. A low point in actor Mickey Rourke‘s self-conscious attempts to restyle himself as the misunderstood hard-man of Hollywood. This dull boxing movie is based on a Rourke story.
I Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Channel 4) 10.30—1 LOSpm. Regulars including Greg Proops and Tony Slattery do the itnprov thing.
I Passengers (Channel 4)
ll.05—l 1.55pm. A new series of the youth magazine programme which reports on popular culture from around the world. Tonight there‘s a video diary from jungle star Goldie and a look at a controversial
French filtn which has been accused of provoking riots.
I Fallen Angels (BBC2) ll.lS—l l.45pm. Tom Hanks directs this adaptation of the Raymond Chandler short story I“ be Waiting" about a hotel detective who becomes embroiled in a mob hit plan.
I Farewell My Lovely (BBC2)
l l.5()pm—l.3()am. Dick Powell is private eye Philip Marlowe in this screen adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel.
SATURDAY 9
I My Cousin Vinny (BBC 1) 8.()5—l()pm. Modest but extremely entertaining movie : starring Joe Pesci as a barely qualified
lawyer who tries to get his cousin off a shoplifting rap in backwoods America.
Marisa Tomei won a best supporting actress Oscar for her performance as
E. Pesci's no-nonsense girlfriend.
I Flatliners (Scottish) 9.()5--l l.l()pm. Effective chiller about a group of medical students who dice with death in the ultimate laboratory experiment. But when the undergrads return from the other side. they are not alone . . .
I Dyke TV (Channel 4) l().5()pm— I .SSam. Second instalment of Channel 4‘s lesbian nights looks this way: We Recruit
( l().5()—l l.35pm) Documentary about the Lesbian Avengers. a witty group of media subverters. See preview. Only the Brave (l l.35pin—12.45am) American film about two teenage girls trying to navigate their way through the minefield of teenage emotions. Dusky Sappho ( l2.45— l . l()am) Another showing for the documentary about ‘bulldaggers'. the black lesbians of 20s America's jazz scene. Pull Your Finger Out ( l . l()—l.25am) A look a the link between drugs and the gay scene. with contributions from lesbian rock bands Atomic Kandy and Sister George. Out on Strike ( l .25 - l .SSam) Film about two miners' wives who fell in love during the 1984 strike.
I The Amityville Horror (Scottish)
I l.lOpm— 1 .20am. Variation on the spooky house theme about a family whose new dream home isn‘t everything they hoped it would be. What they get are swarms of flies. walls pouring blood. slime-filled pipes and Rod Steiger as a demented priest.
SUNDAY 10
I The Persuaders (Channel 4) 6—7pm. The kitsch classic series from the early 70s returns. with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis as two international playboys who fight crime when they're not seducing
I Apache Goes Indian (Channel 4) 7.05—7.35pm. Ragga star Apache Indian continues hisjoumey through India in search of his roots.
I Heartbeat (Scottish) 7.30—8.30pm. Teenagers are running riot in the village while Kate goes into labour. in a new series of this massively popular country bobby drama.
I The Money Programme (BBC2) 8.40—9.20pm. New series of the long-
running business programme. which is this year celebrating its 30th anniversary. kicks off with a look at the increasing use of artificial sweeteners in food and drinks. I My Beautiful laundrette (Channel 4) 9—10.55pm. Daniel Day-Lewis and Gordon Warnecke are the young lovers with a dream of opening a laundrette as a symbol of their multi-racial love in Hanif Kureishi‘s brilliant debut.
I Soul Survivors (BBCl ) 9. 15—10.3()pm. Following Jimmy Nail's C rm‘m/i/e Shoes comes another musical nostalgia drama in this two-patter starring Ian ‘Lovejoy' McShane as a Liverpool soul DJ. Otis Cooke. Backed by his pals at the local radio station. Cooke heads off to Memphis in search of his idols. The Tallahasies. in the hope of persuading them to re-form. I The Death of Yugoslavia (B BC2) 9.20— l(). l()pm. This continuing documentary series about the war in former Yugoslavia looks at the role of Serb president Slobodan Milosevic itt Krajina.
I House Party (Channel 4) lOpm-midnight. Entertaining musical comedy starring rappers Kid 'n‘ Play who get up to high school highjinks.
I The Public Eye (BBC2)
l0. l()—l l.45pm. Well-made. noirish movie based loosely on the life of famous New York reportage photographer Weegee. Joe Pesci is the cold but brilliant ambulance-chasing snapper who aspires to making art with his camera.
I The Frank Skinner Show (BBC 1) l().3()—l lpm. Frank returns with another bout of comedy chat.
I The South Bank Show (Scottish) l().45—l l.45pni. New series of the long- running arts programme kicks of with Melvyn Bragg interviewing Clint Eastwood to coincide with his new filtn The Bridges nfMuz/ixun (,‘ututrv.
I Don’t look Down (Scottish)
l 1.45pm—12.35am. Keith Bruce presents more frotn the Scottish arts scene including the stage adaptation of Janice Galloway's The Trick is to Keep Breathing. plus music from The Bathers and sometime Cocteau Twin Liz Fraser.
MONDAY 11 ‘
I One for the Road (Channel 4) 8—8.30ptn. Alan Davies continues his travels as the timeshare salesman in search of adventure with only a camcorder for company. Tonight he's in Prague and ends up making a wedding video in which he takes a starring role.
I The X Files (BBC2) 9 -9.45pm. When the residents of a small town inexplicably turn violent. Mulder and Scully are assigned to the case.
I Cutting Edge (Channel 4) ‘)—l0pm. Documentary about that acute form of urban angst. the house-buying chain which ties families together in a bizarre financial conga.
I Michael Moore‘s TV Nation (BBC2) 9.45—|().3()pm. Maverick documentary filmmaker Michael Moore presents another mixed salad of films. including an interview with a young black man from
Washington who has been picked up for questioning by police over twenty times but never charged. A case of harassment you might think - Mike certainly does.
I llomicide - life on the Streets (Channel 4) IO—l l.05pm. A teenager is shot in a case of mistaken identity.
I Omnibus (BBC 1) l0.40-l 1.30pm. Documentary filth marking the centenary of the BBC Proms using archive footage to explore this much-loved fixture in the classical music calendar.
I Salman Rushdie and the lost Portrait (BBC2) ll. IS—l LSSpm. Oblique documentary about the inspiration for Rushdie’s new book The Mour's Last Sigh which was inspired by the mystery surrounding a portrait of his mother which disappeared in India. After the commissioned portrait was finished. Rushdie's father refused to pay for it and the family never saw it again. With Rushdie's help. this programme sets out to track down the painting.
TUESDAY 12
I The Knowledge (BBC2) 8~8.30pm. New season of documentaries about the education system. starting with a look at opted-out schools which are reintroducing the l I-plus entrance exam by the back door.
I Rick Stein’s Taste of the Sea (BBC2) 8.30—9pm. Another recruit to the ranks of television chefs is seafood specialist Rick Stein who begins his cooking travels around Britain in his Cornish borne.
I Is It Legal? (Scottish) 8.30—9pm. New sitcom from the writer of Men Behaving But/[v set in the office of a firm of shambolic solicitors.
I Black Families (Channel 4) 9—l0pm. Documentary about the way British immigration laws are keeping Asian families apart.
I Nautilus (BBC2) 9.3()-lO.20pm. Start of a new five-part documentary series charting the history of man's exploits under the sea using dramatic reconstructions and archive footage. The first programme looks at submarines and those who sail in them.
I Scrubbers (Channel 4) 10—1 l.45pm. Gritty movie about life in a girls' borstal. I The Mercury Music Prize (BBC2) ll.lS—l 1.55pm. Live coverage of the awards presented by Tracey MacLeod. with punditry from Tony Parsons and Miranda Sawyer. The shortlisted artists are: Leftfield. Oasis. PJ Harvey. Elastica. Supergrass. Tricky. Van Morrison. Portishead. Guy Barker and James MacMiIlan.
I Men Talk (Channel 4)
I 1.45pm- l2. 15am. Richard Jobson hosts a discussion about men and the body beautiful.
WEDNESDAY 13 '
I Chart Bite (Scottish) 6.55—7.20pm. Scottish charts plus videos and pop news. I The Boat (BBC2) 7-8pm. Repeat of the magnificent German drama about the crew of a wartime U-boat. shown in six parts.
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