tv
highlights
The Practice Scottish, Fri 12 Sep, 9pm.
New drama series focusing on the Boston public defence practice which helps out those who can’t afford expensive representation. In tonight's Curtain-raiser, a young girl is caught With the stuff that aids dragon- chasing. She strenuously protests her innocence. Which makes for better drama than a confession, I suppose.
Shooting Stars 96: The Best Bits BBC2, Fri 12 Sep, 9.30pm.
Those crazy guys Vic 'n’ Bob are. shown at their manic best in the first of two out-take selections. Watch in glee as media whores of the calibre of Anneka Rice, Robbie Williams and Emma Forbes are completely humiliated in front of millions while Mark Lamarr looks miserable, in an ironic sort of way. See Frontlines, page 2.
The Decision: The
Wrong Body
Channel 4, Sat 13 Sep, 8pm.
The plight of female-to-male transsexuals is one of shame, self- hatred and secrecy -- many have experienced temporary gender confusion at an early age. Here, a party of Britons travel to the Netherlands and Visit doctors who give help to transsexuals as young as fifteen.
Bookmark: The Roots Of Alex Haley BBC2, Sat 13 Sep, 8.45pm.
Alex Haley's Roots became one of the most popular tomes of the century and repeated that success on the small screen This programme investigates the claims that the author was an impostor, charlatan and literary thief. It also show the posmve effect the book had on the lives and aspirations of black Americans. Danielle Steele gets mtervrewed, for some reason.
Alan Clark's History Of The Tory Party BBC2, Sun 14 Sep, 8.35pm.
To remind the Tories of their past
glories, Alan Clark, God’s gift to the blue rinse brigade, gets stuck in to the tangled history of his beloved party. The series starts with a look at the years between 1922 and World War II.
The Lakes
BBCI, Sun 14 Sep, 9.05pm.
Jimmy McGovern's latest life-changing drama tells the tale of a Scouse dole- ite seeking pastures greener. Sex, gambling, death, Catholicism and guilt are all there in this hard-edged, gritty, dark etc . . . four-parter. See feature, page 14-
Oasis: Mad For It
Channel 5, Mon 15 Sep, 7pm.
Watch the boys as their every move is put under the media microscope in the first in a series of profiles of the band, proving that as long as there’s a bandwagon Channel 5 will be on board. Find out the ’real’ story behind last year's abandoned US tour and what the hacks really think of the band.
Never Mind The Buzzcocks
BBC2, Mon 15 Sep, 10pm.
The game show for the nation's music trainspotters is back wrth the usual team captains — ever popular Sean Hughes and ever hefty Phill Jupitus still in the saddle. You'll notice that Mark Lamarr smiles a lot more in this because he’s being himself, you see, and not ’acting'. Guests are Suggs, Marie from Kenickie, Mark Little and
Shaggy Marc Bolan: Dandy In
The Underworld
Channel 4, Tue 16 Sep, 9pm. Twenty years on from the death in a
car accident of glam's glammiest rocker, this is a celebration of the man’s talent through song and the thoughts of contemporaries such as Tony Visconti and Gloria Jones, the driver of the fatal vehicle and mother of his son, Rolan, for pity's sake. Whether national grievrng means that this is stalled for a bit, remains to be seen.
Seinfeld BBC2,Tue 16 Sep, 11.15pm.
Glamour model: Mark Bolan: Dandy in the underworld, Channel 4, Tue 16 Sep, 9pm pays tribute to the great glam rocker on the 20th anniversary of his death.
Boys Keep Swinging: transsexual Zac trave
TV & RADIO
Is to Holland for a sex change operation
in The Decision, Channel 4, Sat 13 Sep, 8pm
This is the kind of thing which threatens to give American sitcoms a good name. In this starter for the new series, Jerry and his best friend Elaine agree to be Goclparents while remaining a bit panicky about their duties. All manner of hilarious scenarios ensue.
Late Review
BBC2,Thu 18 Sep, 11.15pm.
A new series of the cultural talking shop wrth staple triurnVirate Parsons, Pauliri and Pearson rninc‘irig their words over Sam Mendes and Mike Leigh. And keep an eye on host Mark Lawson's irritating habit of literally pushing his pen for no reason whatsoever
Wing And A Prayer Channel 5, Mon 22 Sep, 10pm.
Billed as a 'drama the courtroom COuldn't contain,’ - whatever that means this aims to reflect the reality of the British legal system as no other TV series has attempted before The first of six episodes tackles incest, ultra- vrolence and adultery. Great
Jo Brand: Like It Or Lump It
Channel 4, Fri 19 Sep, 10.30pm.
The 'woman in black' returns to pour forth her scorn on all things mast uline As With most of these things, the stand-up is splendid while the sketches stink. See big Jo perform in a chocolate factory, fire station and knicker factory.
radio
highlights
Glam Slam
Radio 2, Sat 13 Sen, 6.32pm.
An hour of r'ose-tinte-rl nostalgia or cringinn embarrassment depending on your experience of the glam era Contributions come from the cool - Bowre, Ferry, Bolan - and the fool Quatro, Glitter, Most.
My Tocher's The Jewel: The Songs Of Robert Burns
Radio Scotland, Sun 14 Sep, 1.05pm. The Bard's rnor‘e depraved inorrier‘its are highligwa as Kirsteeri Mct tie retraces his first steps to congress
among the barley rigs of Ayrshire. These led to some sordid writing which had to be modified in the face of Burns’s publisher's' protestations.
The Musrc Machine Radio 3, Tue 16 Sep, 4.45pm.
For some, the sound of the bagpipes is a thing of beauty - a symbol of Scottish pride and heritage. For the vast majority, the thing is a squealing mass of half-deaf cats struggling to make each other heard. Here, Tommy Pearson lets us in on the history of the instrument and the significance it possesses for other cultures
The Christy Moore
Story
Radio 2, Wed 17 Sep, 9.03pm.
Gerry Anderson presents the life and times of the Irish singer/songwriter/ saint. Contributions come from Sinead O’Connor, Mary Coughlan and, oddly, Andy Irvine. Check out Christy in concert on this station on Sat 20 Sep, 5,30prn
Sunday Play: Up Against It
Radio 3, Sun 21 Sep, 7.30pm. Marking the 30th anniversary of Joe Orton's bloody death, Damon Albarn stars in this adaptation of the playwrights final and uriperformed work Up Against It celebrates farce, the Beatles and the Summer of Love and has something to offend everyone. See feature.
20th Century Vox
Radio 5, Sun 21 Sep, 10.35pm.
Sybil Rusc‘oe gets stuck into sex and sexuality With a trawl through the frigid 50s and the slagging around 60s. One taboo after another begins to fall as teenage magazines emerge and the Pill finds its way down the nation's throats
First Impressrons , Radio 4, Thu 25 Sep, 6.30pm. 1 Fresh from glorious success at this i year’s Fringe, Alistair McGowan finds ' his way onto the Wireless alongside l Spitz/rig /rria_c;e’s Steve Nallon ‘ the ' voice of Thatch A- in a panel game wliic h involves doing lots of I impressions for points. The show was I recorded at The Pleasaric‘e and Is fronted by Pete McCarthy I. (Bfldfl Donaldsonl
l.’ \(-;t sir; I‘N/ THE usr79