At long last W&G land in the UK
COMEDY
WILL AND GRACE
Channel 4, Fri 20 Jul, 9.30pm 000.
As eveiy girl knows. there's no friend like a gay friend. You like the same things. fancy the same people and. even if you secretly fancy him, he'll never break yOur heart. Cliched though it may be. it's a dynamic that works time and time again. and now we've got small screen proof. Best pals W/// And Grace have been charming audiences and Winning Emmys for the past three years in the US. and at last it's Our turn to pin in the fun. Destined to go down in the T\/ annals With the likes of Ellen and Friends. the show's eponymous couple are successful. gorgeous but, wouldn't you know it, hopelessly unlucky in love. But then if they had it all, we couldn't possibly like them. AlthOugh yOu get the feeling Will's oh-so-gay flatmate Jack and Grace's ditzy-as-hell assistant Karen are going to prowde the lion's share of the laughs. (Kelly Apterl
DRAMA WHERE THERE’S SMOKE
Scottish, Sat 21 Jul,
lf yOu were in any dOubt about how society views women who deViate from the nOrm, watch this mildly diverting pSychological thriller. and see how it drives the point home with all the subtlety of a
Sledgehammer.
Zara Turner is Kate. a successful 30s0n‘ething business woman who wants a baby v/ithOut the inconvenience of a relationship. so she decides to advertise fOr a sperm donor. Seems reasonable enough to me. But as the potential donor is introduced. so is the Sinister background music. and straight away you know that this is gOing to end in tears.
Sure endugh, the charming, intelligent doctor she has chosen to be the father turns out to be a complete psycho and before long. Kate finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation. That'll teach her eh? If you can stomach the heavy- handed moralising however, the poor script and frankly laughable acting Wlll undOubtedly finish you off.
(Kirsty Knaggsl
DOCUMENTARY ARTERY: KARAOKE CULTURE Scottish, Sun 22 Jul, 10.45pm 0000
l have a friend whose party piece. after several Babychams. is to lump onto a foot-high platform in a crowded pub and belt Out all six hOurs of ‘American Pie'. Admittedly, she can hold a tune. but that's hardly the mm of karaOke. as this instalment of the Scottish arts magazine reveals.
Presented by Chewin' The Fat's Karen Dunbar. herself a veteran karaoke host. the show
110 THE LIST ‘9 Ju—2 Aug 233‘
AWOIENTWAPOCALYPSE BBC1, Thu 26 Jul, 10.00pm 0...
When Walking With Dinosaurs trampled its way onto the box, a television revolution was said to have occurred. No longer did we need to rely on dodgy old techniques such as flaky manuscripts, fast and loose opinion, and stick-people drawings (with the odd abacus chucked in for good measuring) to bring the past to life. We had boffins who could utilise the latest technology and computer generation to actually show us amazing simulations of prehistoric routines.
Ancient Apocalpyse had been mooted as a Dinosaurs for the old worlds in which we would see inside the homes and gardens of the Minoans of Crete, the Maya of Central America, the Sodoms and Gomorrahs and, in this first episode, the Pharaoh-era Egyptians. Well, it’s not quite like that at all, really. The tricky CGI techniques are kept to a minimum, but some glorious natural photography takes its place.
And good old-fashioned geology, archaeology and climatology are used for the debate surrounding just why ancient Egypt collapsed when it appeared to be the most solid civilisation humanity had known. Was it an economic or political crisis which led to a rupturing of the status quo? Or were there naturally disastrous reasons such as the torrid desert? Or perhaps the Nile, until then the country's sacred ally and symbol of progress, had turned against those reliant on its fertile capacities? Or could it have been a climate change in a far-off land whose knock-on effect led to
calamity?
What killed off the ancient Egyptian world?
Whatever happened, the Egyptians turned from literary, artistic and social pioneers into savages forced through famine to eat their children. This is compelling stuff which makes the mouth water at the prospect of further civilisations being reduced to ruins in our living rooms. (Brian Donaldson)
sets 0th to illun‘lr‘iate tn 4 ongoing appeal of Japan's 'Empty Orchestra' for Scots punters. Inevitably. our thriving pub Culture takes a wedge of the responSibility. though the consenSus among those interviewed is that karaoke is simply a handy forum for those everyday Joes and Jeans who JUST WANT TO SING!!!
A phenomenon sadly ignored here is the way karaoke has strayed into the pop charts in the form of limited talents like Keating and Halliwell. This gripe aside. the programme remains woith watching as a piece of light- hearted fun.
(Allan Radcliffei
Revolver is not Heroes Of Comedy material
COMEDY REVOLVER
BBC Choice, Thu 26 Jul, 9.30pm 00
If yOu stumbled across this shiny new sketcn senes x-rhile idly ‘lle'l‘g. yOu'd be forgiven fer mistaking it for eve of those ‘Heroes Of Comedy' tributes. There's Melwn Hayes. still camper than a ring of portaloos. if a bit grizzled rOund the edges. Molly Sugden! Alive! And in the pink of health! Jings. they've even resurrected Mr Rumbold from Are YOU Being Served! And no line-up of camp olo comedians would be complete without Lionel Blair.
While the BBC is unquestionably in
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DOCol/ENTABY GIORGIO ARMANI: A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
Channel 5, Sun 29 Jul, noon 0
Giorgio Am‘an started his ‘aSnco empr; ust after hs 113th cripda,’ ‘o'ioxxr‘g a success‘u. career Ht" C“r stia'“ Dior. on in he 63s. t." s deep; talented UBSQ"B’ often seems. tn'ougr his Omnicresent ‘ape'. to on” the rev sou s of Amer ca's cop/eas
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swat "‘[th‘ES fps tie" .is C" raise cotttx'e t ck Vere " cs for: Av'i"ttr‘.i comes across as “strung 'r‘Orc than a" odious !‘.'.ie "“an. a I)‘3'..l‘£l".'. rite mil, s.;rro..":zs "i'i‘se'f 1"er ,o.n‘g (-i'vi the téeéttltltu! as some so". of 'tai‘—stu“co ballast against the ravages o‘ tn‘e. Th's sfarldasr‘ riot..i'r‘entai“,i centai'ts too many catwalk Cutaxxays to be a in»; uncensored snatch of :i‘c no at a'torexla central. This is one ‘or Ar'i‘an obsessixes Q'ly. Paul Daie.
ALSO ON
Hello Culture lCricnne. 4. Sun 22 Jul, ‘ 7 Doom. Either adventures in modem .vtn Matthew Colihgs. Space JBBC‘i. Sun 22 Jui. 9pm, San“ Neill takes us oc- a tr.p to crestigate the wonders of the solar system. 4x4 'BBC‘i. Mon 23 Jul. Boom. Nexr sees in which ‘our reporters analyse asoects of a tooca ssue. First up. air tra /ei. Brass Eye Special Channel 4. Thu 26 JJ.. “0550”, Ch's Morris' 3“ ‘ral/ explodes c screen after being mysteriously delayed, Big Brother lChannel 4. Fri 27 Jul. ‘3.30pn“, ‘f/no .W felon ” Craig's
uC.S.€D Fllg out
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