- but it’s here,’ says Professor 5 the then Culture Secretary Chris Art. Later, Peter Mandelson is guest

of honour at a black tie dinner. ; ’Perhaps it's time to mention the

j for new talent. The struggle for

continuing search for recognition by

focus

, out how institutions work and how

applied art and design, it has a

preview

Royal College Of Art BBCZ, starts Tue 14 Sep, 9.30pm.

‘I don't know what Cool Britannia is Christopher Frayling, as he shows

Smith round the Royal College Of

Millennium Dome,’ he declares, but thinks the better of it, to the clear relief of his audience.

The Royal College Of Art is the only wholly postgraduate art college in the country and with 70% of its students working in

unique position as the launch pad

commercial success, the politics and practicalities of life in an educational marketplace and the

both staff and students form the

for this six-part BBC

documentary from Jill Nicholls. Nicholls' approach lies in finding 1*

they try to balance competing

requirements. Her previous

production credits include Superstore (about Tesco) and

When Rover Met BMW (a fascinating study of the

takeover of the classic British name by the German

giant). ’The common strand is that as well as looking at

it from the point of view of the students - or employees in the case of earlier series - there‘s a look at the people

. who run the institution,‘ she states. 'We see the efforts 7 they make to market it and to sell the identity of the

place.’ As the opening sequences suggest, the Royal College

has a glamorous image (albeit of the New Labour variety at present) that attracts high quality staff such

as designer Ron Arad and hundreds of hopeful students every year. The first programme follows students making applications and the second shows the fashion

| department working towards the final year show.

REVIEW Roll

Y. . /, w:

Sex, Chips And Rock 'n'

BBCl, Sun 5 Sep it *4:

Design for life?: Royal College Of Art

Although Nicholls is adamant this is a documentary not a soap, there's much in the way of narrative following the fashion students' progress from tutorials to backstage tears. 'There's this enormous build-up,’ she says. 'All that backstage tension for something that lasts just one minute.’

As well as coping with end of term stress and the presence of the cameras, the students have job interviews and are waiting for that elusive phone call from Gucci. One of the hopefuls is Northerner Craig Burglass - more Ant and Dec than Antonio Berardi as he wears his Sunderland football top. 'The filming was only intrusive when I was in a bad mood,’ he now says. Although Burglass never did get the call from Gucci, he is working in Germany. ’lf fashion doesn’t work out, maybe I'll get a part in Byker Grove.’ (Moira Jeffrey)

and LOuise come of age. Society is in the grip of a WhirIWind of change, and nothing Will ever be the same again, and the grown-ups Just don't understand, and all that.

Panned: Joe McFadden in Sex, Chips And Rock 'n' Roll

92 THE “ST 9—23 Sep 1999

So you’re a mousy but strong-Willed 60s chick With a dictatorial grandmother, a blonde Sister Who’s been around the block and stopped at every corner, and the soul of a poet. You yearn to create, but somety demands that you accept the role of wife and mother, and maybe take a secretarial course if you absolutely must express yourself.

In your confusion you unWisely accept an unceremonious proposal of marriage from a ferretty older man; shortly afterwards, though, some straggly-haired rock 'n' rollers make it clear they’d like to open your doors of perception . . .

Rock ’n’ roll is busily fumbling With the world's waistband as tWins Arden

Thus commences another tragi-comic family epic, comprismg all the requiSite elements of airport romantic fiction. The characters are familiar from every post-war period piece since Emily Lloyd first flashed her knickers in Wish You Were Here. We have the fiery young Irishman (played by doe—eyed Scot Joe McFadden), the dissolute aristocrat slumming it, the 24 carat-hearted slapper, the sleazy boss, the ineffectual, sentimental daddy and the iron-haired matriarch.

Predictable is putting it mildly; but that said, Sex, Chips And Rock ’n’ Ro/l is well-meaning enough, and has been constructed With a loving attention to detail that puts much current TV drama to shame. (Annabel Slater)

Box Pops

Celebrity sofa surfing. This issue: Toyah Wilcox

What is your favourite show? The League Of Gent/emen The best, most inventive and brilliantly acted comedy It took comedy even further up the evolutionary ladder than The Fast Show

What do you eat/drink while watching TV? Lots of fruit and stilton cheese. l'll drink fresh orange and SOmetimes champagne.

When did you last shout at the telly? There's a certain weathergirl who has me shouting ’get off my tellyl' But u5ually I Just change channel.

When did you last weep real tears at the TV? The documentary about the Belgian police and the paedophiles, who they were Virtually harbOuring I cried uncontrollably for hours afterwards,

Who was the first telly person you had a crush on? Troy in Stingray. I loved his wooden hair and tight buns Favourite/most hated advert? Favourite is the series of ads featuring The Fast Show characters, lvlost hated are those late night public safety ads ab0ut chip fat or furniture burning. They send you to bed paranOid, Greatest TV moment of all time? Emergency Ward 70’s final episode my parents always watched it and I hated it.

What is you favourite TV theme tune? Mission Impossib/e or Hawaii Five-O.

What show do you stay in/rush home from the pub/miss church for? Modern Times and The Sopranos.

Is there enough swearing on TV and who should be encouraged to curse more? Those little old ladies on Coronation Street shOUId not only swear like troopers, but should mug the odd youth every episode. Maybe With a bit of arson thrown in. Dot Cotton should swear more.

lit! Barmy Aunt Boomerang, 88C 7, starts Thu 76 Sep, 4.20pm.

STAR RATINGS

* s « e r Unmissable :

--. s r v Very good a t w it Worth a shot I I fir r: Below average I « You’ve been waged“; '