TV
Reviews
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BBC2, Fri 30 Jun, 9pm
From right to left clockwise: The Somme, Pompeii . . . Live!, 24, The War of the World
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There are true-life stories of betrayal which leave your heart cold and sorrowful for the victims. This isn’t one of them. When the attempted overthrow of the government of tiny African inlet Equatorial Guinea occurred in 2004, it would normally have filled the World News digest columns; but the fact that the failed coup was co-led by a British mercenary, Simon Mann, guaranteed bigger coverage. With the added involvement of Mark Thatcher, this tragi-comedy of errors became front
page news for weeks.
Jared Harris appears to have stepped straight out of the pages of Blitzkrieg! to play Mann, an ex-SAS officer whose father and grandfather had both captained the England cricket team. Motivated by a potent mixture of boredom and greed, Mann is alerted to the desire of a few rogue interests to oust the admittedly awful President Mbasogo who, in his own words, can ‘kill anyone without being called to account.’ When Mann and his bungling cohorts were captured at Harare airport, claiming their £100,000 booty of weaponry was to be used for security in a mining operation in Congo, their fates were sealed.
Written by John Fortune (he of Bremner, Bird and Fortune fame), the comedy naturally ousts the tragedy of the tale, with Mark Thatcher (Robert Bathurst) shown as a horribly na'i've investor rushing around at parties watering down his mum’s whisky. Yet, the final chilling image of Afrikaner conspirator Nick Du Toit tied up in the filthy cell he can call home for the next 30 years should be enough to put off any would-be mercenaries out
there. (Brian Donaldson)
REMOTE CONTROL
Brian Donaldson wonders just what war is good for. TV shows. by the looks of it.
lV producers don't usually need the excuse of an anriivr-érsary to bring us programmes about riiilitary conflict. but It doesn't half help in targeting your Viewer. SO. yOu may find yourself getting entrenched in a raft of shows revolving around the 90th anniversary of the Somme. Only one of these shows can be named directly after this infagious WWI battle. and The
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Somme (BBC 1. Sun 2 Jul, 8pm) succeeds in being the most disappointing. provrding a bit of drama and a slice of documentary in its attempt to cover every angle of the conflict. but leaVing itself slapbang in NO Man's Land. By total contrast. Ken Stott provides a smooth narration to The Supreme Sacrifice (BBCQ. Wm 29 Jun. 9pm) zeroing in on a story which serves to tell a thousand truths: in 1914, Hearts were Scotland's hottest team when many of its squad volunteered for servrce. 1 hey lost both the league and many lives. Scottish historian Niall Ferguson concentrates
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If you believe all this coverage of yet another glorious British defeat is. like the poor Somme souls. a bit over the top. here's a more light hearted if equally bloody trip into the past. Best Ever Spitting Image Moments (8 IV. Sun 2f) Jr ll), l(),3()pm) features an Ant and Dec, latex nightmare presenting team. but this is no hint of a future for the show. Yet. wrth the Royals still making utter cocks of therriselves, a Bush back in the White House and a New stirring Ill the Vatican. you have to wonder why on earth it has never been brought back? Peter Show may have pensioned off his sWingoirieter. but the political stats addict loves to make his own dramatic returns to the box from time to time Havrng hung out With his son Dan on some of the worlds most infamous battlefields, Pompeii . . . Live! (F/ve. Hiu 29 JUN. 9pm) offers an excuse for the Most Inappropriater Enthusiastic Man Orr Telly to go bananas about some steaming lava and scores of charred corpses in this two-hour CGI and excavation extravaganza.
With 24 (Sky One, Sun 2 Jul. 9pm) bidding farewell With a double bill climax. you'd need some very clever technology to calculate the preCise numbers of the deceased over five years of government conspiracies. double crossing, kidnapped blondes
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