The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 17

THURSDAY 13 JULY 1995 THE At Arts Entertainment .3 Arttoraiaini KMgM fails iBromni first TODAY'S Highlights e- -V -N i 4 1 is, like Noah's Covenant In Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), the dim symbol of some primordial (nuclear?) power that mankind must learn to leave alone. Yet where would this movie be without the miracle of modern technology all those fussy, digital, ani-matronic effects that give a ghostly life to animals, mountains and jungle mists? Screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, who visited similar territory previously in his own, woeful film Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), contrives a standard "postmodern" solution to this contradiction: he both criticises and celebrates technology, alternating positive and negative viewpoints in a dizzy dance. Although there Is very little in popular cinema that makes me ideologically squeamish, there is one scene in Congo that I found breath-takingly offensive. At a high action moment, the civilised Dr Ross (Laura Linney) unleashes a laser weapon that slices bad gorillas into many, gory pieces. Introducing her new toy as "the latest in communications she adds with a flourish: "Put these gorillas on the endangered species list!" Not since Raiders has there been such a proud advertisement for the all-American spirit of gung-ho extermination.

Only this time, it Is a woman who gets to perform the honors and for the makers of Congo, that amounts to a hip statement of solidarity with feminism. Dying harder and harder anger that spurred him into his historic fight against the English King, Edward I (Patrick McGoohan) and his son, Prince Edward (Peter Hanly). Although Edward also known as Longshanks founded the houses of Parliament he was known as a sadistic ruler capable of terrible brutality. This is an era when men fought with swords, picks, axes and spiked balls on chains. Consequently, the battle scenes are very bloody limbs are sliced and diced into bite-sized pieces, eyes gouged and heads hacked.

In battle, the Scots painted their faces with woad, a colored dye, designed to frighten the enemy. In his portrayal of Wallace, Gibson, who sports long hair, plaited dreadlocks and blue face, achieves a curiously modem, but appropriate, look. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the actor who plays his wife. With her perfect set of ultra-white teeth and long silky hair, she looks more like an Earth Princess from Nimbin. Wallace's romance with Prince Edward's beautiful but sexually unfulfilled French queen also stretches one's credulity to breaking point The most unforgivable aspect is its portrayal of Prince Edward, and his male partner, as vapid, mincing queens who are meant to appear as even more despicable than Long-shanks, Edward's sadistic father.

Edward, of course, is no match for "Mel the who defeats the prince's armies with the greatest of ease. Presumably all of the men fighting battles were perfectly normal, although they seemed to believe that lifting their kilts and exposing themselves to the enemy was an effective military strategy. When the king actually throws Edward's lover through a castle window to his death, on the stone walkway below, I had a horrible feeling we were meant to applaud. The film's most over-the-top sequence occurs when Mel (it is hard to think of him as "Wallace is being tortured. The camera tilts up from beneath a wooden cross, to reveal an outstretched arm, reaching up towards a heavenly blue sky.

I'm sure even William Wallace although a hero would have balked at that Reviews Film First KatgM. Hoyts and Village, city md suburban. Cms. Greater Union, city, Hoyts, Village suburban. ADRIAN MARTIN IHINGS START coins very wrong with First Knight in us am minute.

After a dreary, written Droloaue has scrolled away, we are introduced to Lancelot (Richard Gere) In fell his rogue glory, swordfighfJng for pennies in a tawdry town square. Everything about Gere screams late 20th century: his banter, nervous energy, streetwise charm, everything that makes him so appealing in contemporary vehicles like Breathless (1983). The heart instantly sinks: it seems as if we are in for a rerun of King David (1985), the great disaster of Gere's career. Yet it would be unfair to assume that Gere cannot fit into period pieces beside Jodie Foster in Sommersby he was terrific Ultimately there is no rule worth following concerning which actors (or acting styles) are "suitable" for historical drama. What Orson Welles once said of Shakespearean adaptation holds good here, too: "Whichever way you can play it, as long as It works, is right." However, since First Knight does not work at all, one is justified in asking why Gere registers so badly In it Director Jerry Zucker (Ghost) has not learnt the lesson of John Boorman's magisterial Excalibur (1981) a controversial Arthurian adaptation that I utterly adore.

This lesson is simple: if you want to make an energetic, "pop" period piece, you have to stylise every element in this direction. Zucker, however, just plops the manic Gere down inside an extremely stately, old-fashioned historical drama, surrounding him with the best of British actors (Julia Ormond and John Gielgud) and a dogged script by William Nicholson (Sha-dowlands). Everything in this film creaks: slow narrative moves, suffocatingly picturesque photography, and sombre dialogue was once a man who loved you too much to change It is hard to believe that so much life and drama can be drained out of the story of Camelot It has been told in so many ways (epic, comic, musical, minimalist) and yet it can still retain its mythic power. But Firjr Knight systematically fluffs each and every one of the legend's magic ingredients. The love of Lancelot and Guinevere expresses no transgressive thrill, no longing, just as the anguish of King Arthur (Sean Connery) carries no pathos.

The knights' code of brotherly honor is merely gestured to rather than dramatised, and their beloved Camelot is just a large, twinkling set The evil Malagant (Ben Cross) is presented as merely a disre- Television I JL McLane's best buddy. The series is now so familiar to us, it has assumed the iconic qualities of a cartoon. Like the Coyote of the Roadrunner cartoons, Willis is not subject to the weaknesses of a mere mortal body. He is punched, battered, shattered and squished to within an inch of his hairy chest but just keeps on going. To what purpose? It seems clear that the Die Hard films (and other blockbusters) are essentially contemporary versions of the ancient rite-of-passage test whereby the "boy becomes a man''.

As the modem world places less and less premium on brute strength as an attribute for survival, cinema heroes are becoming tougher and tougher. The size of their muscles and powers of endurance are in inverse proportion to their actual use-value in the real world where, in order to survive, a "man" needs a new set of more sedentary skills. These films are essentially menopausal fantasies about lost power. Even female characters are brutes. Simon's henchwoman, who also has a German accent stomps around in thick' boots and an army pantsuit while slicing up men with a deadly blade.

A nasty scar that runs across her neck suggests she, too, has passed the manhood ritual. My attention was riveted on the cigarette clamped defiantly between her pouting lips. Despite brawls and explosions and in defiance of gravity it was always there, a sign of her wicked ways. It should have been a cigar but that would have been stretching her stereotype too far. If you are an action fan you will love Die Hard With A Vengeance.

All you need is a strong stomach and a penchant for masochism. If you can endure the pain threshhold, you won't mind the glaring plot inconsistencies, woeful stereotyping and banal story. ANOTHER manhood ritual film, Braveheart has a more serious underside. Based on the life of the 13th-century Scottish rebel, William Wallace (Mel Gibson), Braveheart tells the story of Wallace's attempt to unite his people against their English overlords and drive them from Scotland. As few facts are known about the legendary hero, the screenplay is based on a long Scottish poem about Wallace.

Directed by Mel Gibson, Braveheart is well acted and contains a number of extremely well-staged battle scenes, but the romantic Interludes are overblown and poorly conceived. Picketed in New York by gay groups, Braveheart is also Distantly Desiring only to live in peace and raise a family, Wallace takes up arms after his wife, Murron (Catherine McCormack), is attacked by an English soldier. The film makes out that it was Wallace's NINE and WIN rv if Die Hard Writ a Vwtiuoee. Village. -j Braveheart.

Hoyts. BARBARA CREED THE DIE HARD series is inevitably faced with a self-perpetuating problem. In every new film, the characters have to die "harder" and in much more gruesome ways. Undeterred by bullets, sharp objects, tidal waves and small i nuclear explosions our masochistic hero John McLane (Bruce Willis) gets his man. The baddy, Simon, is a real I meanie, with a German accent, and a sick sense of humor.

He's played with just the right hint of menace by the master of dissipation, Jeremy Irons. In the previous Die Hard films, McLane pits his wits against monsters who have taken over a skyscraper and an airport respectively. This time they hold New York to ransom by threatening to blow It to smithereens. Simon sets bombs, ready to explode, unless McLane can answer a series of puzzles within a given time. The first riddle sends McLane Into the depths of Harlem where he meets Zeus Carver (Samuel Jackson) who is dragged unwillingly into the crisis and, of course, ends up by becoming Organ Jonas Nordwall Malvern Town Hail tpm American theatre organist Jonas Nordwall performs in the first of two Melbourne concerts with a repertoire to suit both classical and popular tastes.

Tonight's performance is on a Compton organ. On Wednesday 26 July he will play the Wurlitzer at the Moorabbin Town Hall. POETRY The Poetry of Gwen Harwood Radio National 9.30pm One of Australia's best-known poets, Harwood was born in Brisbane in 1920, but has lived in Tasmania since the end of World War II. This selection includes love poems (Carnal Knowledge I and ID, poems about pain (In Hospital! and poems satirising academla (Prizegiving). The program runs for 30 minutes, but an extended 45-minute selection of her works has been released on cassette.

OPENING KathyTemln Australian Centre for Contemporary An. South Yam Temin has created an exhibition called Three Indoor Monuments for the three gallery spaces at the ACCA. The rooms relate to art history, Jewish history and to notions of ritual and the home. The exhibition opens tonight and is open to the public from tomorrow until 13 August. Recording Shostakovich Symphony No.

13. Babi Jar. Sergei Aleksashlin baa, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Ctorg Sola. Dccca 444 791-2 Shostakovich's magnificent and courageous anti-racism symphony, named for the 1941 massacre of thousands of Jews outside Kiev, is built around five Yevtushenko poems.

This CD, released to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, imaginatively includes -the poems, narrated in English by Sir Anthony Hopkins. Solti is surprisingly restrained, building the menace in long, controlled lines to a searingly intense whole. Aleksashkin, a traditionally Russian dark adds bite. The CSO is at its burnished best. Compiled by John Mangan, recording: Barney Zwaru Tv Highlights ER Channel 9.

1.30pm I live for the bit about four times each episode when the next patient bursts through on a trolley. It reminds me of that magic moment when the screaming passengers on the Ghost Train smash through the dungeon wall back into the real world. Of course, this is the reverse. These passengers are only just entering the nightmare. Their first torment is the babble of pure American that assails them in the ER room.

If they survive that ordeal they will In all likelihood be made to play handmaiden to the plot lines of the residents' private lives. Or have to put up with the other "characters' who turn the hospital into something like the waiting room of a casting agency. There's the bum with his middle-class missus, a bag-lady with the wrong brain chemicals, a diabetic in a self-induced coma, and the father who blames himself for his baby's heart murmur. "Eight weeks old and you have to cut his heart open," the father says. Forty years old, I'm thinking, and I'm taking this stuff seriously.

Police Rescue Chamelll30pm Must be sheila week, because the little ladles get more than a fair go in what tends to be an outing for card-carrying blokes. Not that the lads are hard done by. While Georgia (Sonla Todd) is counselling family friend who blames herself for her brother's death, Anael (Steve Bastoni) is feeling anything but remorse aooui ms aiconoiic father carking it It 1 time for bit of acting (as opposed to action) and Bastoni delivers the goods. Braveheart Mel Gibson in full cry. SEVEN and PRIME SBS The tang of success wafts between Lines 6am WorldWatch.

Including Japanese News. 6.30 Ta Hem Toy Antenna. 7.0 Teie-glornal Italia no. 7.46 Cantonese News, 6.0 Mandarin News. 8.30 Da Journal.

9.0 La Journal. 9.45 NovoatJ. 10.15 WeatherWatch Music. 11.0 The Journal. 11 JO Business Report 12.0 English 12.30pm Film: At Arthur whose anguish lacks pathos.

evocation of "darkest Africa" all jungle drums, old wise men and growling tigers It soon finds plenty of reasons to pussyfoot and be apologetic. In a minor plot detail typical of this genre today, the white man who proves himself least sensitive to the nuances of African culture Is the one most likely to find himself defenceless before nature's savage revenge. Do not go to Congo, however, expecting an enlightened political fable. Despite its up service to feminism, ecology and post-Vietnam blues, this is, after all, a movie that derives from Michael Crichton, and from the Spielberg-Lucas legacy of Indiana Jones epics. Hence, the reality of contemporary African society Is reduced to a lurid backdrop of mercenaries, terrorists and government cadres firing bombs at each other, while our heroes smirk and dodge shrapnel in the foreground.

All the messages of the film are rather crazlly mixed. As In Crichton's mega-hit Jurassic Park, which is closely emulated here, modern technology and its soulless, corporate exploiters are given a finger-wagging, moralistic once-over. King Solomon's Mine guarded by killer gorillas and surrounded by volcanoes TWO Sam Marketing. S. 6.30 Anthropology.

S. 7.0 1st Edition. 7.30 Management S. 8.0 German. 8.15 Open Learning: Halianiasimo.

R. 8.30 Swam Street R. 9.25 Anytime Tales. 9.30 Play School. R.

10.0 Alias The Jester. R. 10.10 Mr Squlg-gle. R. 10.19 EC Plays Lift Off R.

1 0.40 T-Bag And The Rings Of Olympus. R. 11.0 Art Attack. 11.15 Watt On Earth. R.

11.30 Time Riders. Final, R. 11.55 Mr Fix It R. 12.0 The World At Noon. 12.30pm Latsllns.

R. I. 0 Film: The Kldnappera. 1953 drama starring Jean Anderson. R.

2.30 Nature Perfected. R. 3.0 Seeame Street. R. 3.65 Bananas In Pyjamas.

R. 4.0 Play School. 4J0 Madeline). Final, R. 4.55 Phllbert The Frog.

Final, R. 4.67 Captain Planet R. 5.25 VMIot 5.66 Degrassl Junior High. R. 6.25 Yes, Prim Minister.

British drama series: The Smoke Screen. S. 6.55 The Dreaming. Australian series exploring Aboriginal culture: The Story Of How The Bams Got BlrLG. 7.0 News, Sport, Weather.

7.30 The 7.30 Report 6.0 The Flying Vet A veterinarian who services an outback region in the Northern Territory travels many kilometres to treat his patients. R.G.S. 6.28 News. 6.30 Polio Rescue. ABC Killce drama series: Rescue e.

Georgia tries to help a girl who blames herself for her brother's death. PG, S. 9 .20 BaekchatS. 9.28 News Update. 9.30 The Big Picture.

Documentary series on former American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. G. 10 JO LatsHne. Includes late news. II.

0 The Men's Room. R. PG, 12.0 ATV New. 12.30am Bird Of A Feather. British comedy.

R. PG. 1.0 Film: Treasure Of The Sierra Medre. 1948 adventure starring Humphrey Bogart PGTS. 3.10 A QIm Of Water.

G. 1.30 Open Learning. S. 6am 6.30 9.0 9.30 Evil PRIME: 10 30 PRIME: 11.0 12.0 thief. 2.15pm 2.30 PRIME: 3.0 3.30 4.0 4.30 8.0 5.30 6.0 6.30 PRIME: 7.0 7.30 the truck.

6.0 8.30 When out 4 the a by Tony 11.50 12.30MI 1.0 2.0 4.0 4.18 6.10 First Knight: Sean Connery as a King spectful scoundrel, snarling with cartoonist) villainy. And, of course, there's Gere as "fearless" Lancelot, almost a hippie hero on horseback stealing a kiss, grimacing through painful childhood memories, taunting his opponents. At the high point of this film's ill-judged absurdity, Lancelot cuts a dashing course though the multiple, whirling punchbags and deadly blades of a This fanciful prop adds nothing to First Knight, but it should be immediately purchased by the producers of that fine TV show Gladiators. BIG-BUDGET adventure movies have a lot of contradictory demands and expectations to juggle these days. Frank Marshall's Congo is essentially an effortlessly entertaining, old-style action yam, albeit one without "name" stars.

American adventure stories have often traded on a shameless spirit of imperialism revelling in the spectacle of heroes who cut through swathes of animals and natives, as if about to quote Conrad's Heart of Darkness: "Exterminate the brutes!" Yet this is the '90s, and although Congo begins with the usual mythic Viewpoint SIMON HUQHES infectious because Harry finds himself on a promise with the company's secretary. "I never thought I'd do this again, you know," he confides. Poor Harry. Things are not so hot on the Mo front, though. 'While playing ducks and drakes with Kate over her clandestine work activities, Mo in turn resents her lover's secrecy In her own professional life.

Poor Kate. Poor Mo. The bleakness and sad little victories of these people's lives remind you of the clammy chill of Callan. Certainly, the betrayals and counterbetrayals are as labyrinthine with MIS entering the picture. They know just what sort of bait to use, these chappies, and they've got Mo hooked for a start They're offering her the opportunity to return to the force if she plays the double game with Tony and Deakin.

A drug gang has been mown down In broad daylight by what appear to be armed police. But one thing viewers learned very early in this series is never to trust appearances. Or John Deakin, who is the epitome of the smiling villain. But even Deakin seems to find himself out of his depth in the ooze of double-dealing. There is a cache of money, drugs and arms in a lock-up (the site of so much skullduggery in inner London), a container of weapons coming from the Ukraine, a band of particularly unpleasant neo-Nazis, the odd murder, and mayhem aplenty.

Oh yes, and Sytvestra La Touzel showing sufficient flesh to cause her mother deep shame. In this marvellous avocation of the political double game, that is the one double standard. You will never see Tony's touzeL TEN and TEN VIC 6am Sport Tonight. R. 6.30 Aerobic Oz Style.

G. 7.0 Cheez TV. Includes: Garfield; Teknoman; and Exo-Squad. G. 8.30 Mulligrubs.

P. 9.0 Good Morning Australia. PG. 11 JO News. 12.0 The Rlckl Lake Show.

US chat show: You're My Best Friend, So Stop Going After Every Man I Want PG. 1.0pm The Bold And The Beautiful. PG. I. 30 Donahue.

US chat show. People Addicted To Everything. PG. 2.30 the Oprah Winfrey Show. US chat show: What You Need To Know Before You Go To The Beauty Salon.

PG. 3.30 Bewitched. G. 4.0 Open House. Comedy series: Dumbstruck.

G. 4.30 Totally Wild. 5.0 News, Sport, Weather. 6.0 Echo Point Australian drama serial. Edwina gives Gordon an ultimatum.

G. 6.30 Neighbours, Australian drama serial Karl and Susan search for ways to recapture their youth. S. 7.0 The Simpson. US animated sitcom; Homer Defined.

G. 7 JO Behind The Wheat G. 8.0 Your Money And Your Lrfe.G. 6.30 NYPD Blue. US police drama: ADA.

Sipowicz. The wedding day finally arrives. Detectives search for an addict who robbed, and killed an Asian man. Final, M. 9.30 Law And Order.

US drama series: Old Friends. A pedestrian is hit by a speeding truck. The subsequent Investigation reveals that the victim's business partner not only responsible, but is also connected to the Russian Mafia. Final, M. 10JO New.

II. 0 Sport Tonight 11.30 The Last Snout 12.0 Baskeuialt Coverage of the Mitsubishi Challenge. BrtobMit Bultots GMionQ Superoat. R. 2.0 snfOfneecW.

G. 4.0 Lov Hurts. PG. 5.0 General Hospital. PG.

8qna And Daughter. Agro's Cartoon Connection. G. The Book Place. P.

A i Country Practice. Australian drama: Hear No part 1. G. Home Shopping. G.

Nws. Wheel Of Fortune. G. Eleven AM. Film: The Pink Panther Strike Again.

1976 comedy starring Peter Sellers, Colin Blakely. A priceless gem is sought by a wanted jewel Directed by Blake Edwards. R. PG. Behind The Scene.

Hay Dadl G. A Country Practice. G. The QeMn Glria. PG.

Empty Nest PG. Dianisy Adventure: Tat Spln.R,G. A "mazing. Family Feud. G.

Wheel Of Fortune. G. News, Sport, Weather. PRIME: Albury. Local News.

Today Tonight Albury: Seven News. Horn And Away. Australian drama serial. Nelson and Sally share a special moment on the beach. S.

Step By Step. US comedy series: One Truck, Al Dente. Al and JT try to hide dent they put in Frank's G. Funnteat People. G.

Between the Line. British police drama series. three vigilantes massacre some black drug dealers, peakin hires Clark, Naylor and Connell to find what the police know. Clarkl team soon become heaviy Involved in finding vigilante group, discovering mat the attack was by rival drug group, and not a bunch of racist vigilantes. (With Neil Pearson, Db vie.

Defiton. M. Aboriginal Australia. R. The Strapping Quid.

NBC Today G. Aboriginal Australia. G. CopBtwp. PG.

Dateline NBC PG. Sam ITN World News. 6.30 Daybreak New. With Tracy Grimshaw, Including Business Today. 7.0 Today.

Infotainment G. 9.0 Here's Humphrey. P. 9.30 Ernie And Denla. G.

10 JO News. 11.0 Coronation Street G. 11 JO Wriat'e Cooking. G. 12.0 Entertainment Tonight PG.

12.30pm. George Burn In Concert G. I. 30 Day Of Our Uvea. PG.

2.30 The Young And The Restless. PG. 3.30 The Odd Couple. US comedy series: Scrooge Gets An Oscar. G.

4.0 Living Single. Comedy series: A Hair Razing Experience. G. 4.30 Glad Rag. Comedy series: Chief On A Hot Tin Reef.CS.

8.0 The Cosby Show. US comedy series: The Birthday Party. WIN: The Price Is Right. G. 5.30 The Price Is Right G.

WIN: Sale Of The Century. 6. 6.0 News, Sport, Weather. WIN: Local Mews. 6 JO A Current Affair.

WIN: Nine National News. 7.0 Sale Of The Century. S. WIN: A Current Affair. 729 Keno.

7 JO Getaway. S. 8 JO E.R. US drama series set in the emergency room of a large Chicago hospital: Men Plan, God Laughs. Dr Greene refuses to work overtime.

M.S. 9.30 The Footy Snow. AFL Footy news and gossip. PG. 10.40 Nightllne.

G. II. 10 Star Trafc-Deep Spec Nine. US science fiction series: The Alternate. Odo's mentor arrives on Deep Space Nine.

PG. 12.10am Late Show With Dsvtd Ltti man. PG. 1.10 Entrtamrnnt Tonight PG. 1.40 The Footy Show.

Rugby League. PG. 2.50 Turn Round Australia. 3J0 FHm: Carson City. 1952 drama starring Rsndolph Scott Directed by Andre de 6.0 Woweer.

R.G. 6 JO The SuWvena. G. Moment. 1971 British drama starring Anne Raitt Explores the lives of a group of lonely people.

Directed byMikeLelgh.R,PG. 2.20 WeetherWatch A Music. 2.30 Page. 4.30 TV Ed. R.

8.0 FYI. (In Italian) I 8.05 MacNULhrr. 6.0 Cycling. Highlights of the Tour de France. 6.30 World New.

I 7.0 World ATP Tennis. i 7.30 Insight Australian cur- rent affairs. 8J0 A tt Happened: Aeroplane Dane. Examines one of the greatest survival epics of World War II, recorded in the journal of American airman Grady Gaston. R.

9.30 Riff Raff. 1990 British comedy starring Robert Cartyle. The behavior of workers on a London building site. Directed by Ken Loach. MA (language, drugs references, adult themes) 11.05 Rim: Drunken Angel.

1948 Japanese drama starring Takeshi Shimura. An alcoholic doctor running a tuberculosis clinic in Tokyo diagnoses a gangster as hav- ing the disease and trys to save his life. Directed by AUra Kurosawa. R. 12.40am Derrick.

German detective series. M. 1.40 Cycling. Highlights of the Tour de France. R.

2.10 Cloee. Work. R. Bleak 31 Acoeea New. JUST WHAT MAKES a good TV show? Having just watched tonight's marathon instalment of Between the Lines (Channel 7, 8.30pm) I'd like to know so I can bottle it.

A perceptive theatre critic once told me that actors are the first to realise they're in a dud. Too true. I won't say that audiences (bless their pointy little heads) give off an odor, but failure does have a certain stench. With TV and film It's rather harder to gauge. The audience, for a start is putative, many of them, perhaps, not yet born (all those Neighbours reruns).

The script, of course, is a fair indication. And the director, naturally. A measure of a good director is the amount of time he spends on the mobile phone in proportion to actual human contact. And beware a director who calls you "buddy" (you're not) or "sunshine" (he hates your work). Your co-workers are next on the checklist.

Actors are innately hierarchical creatures. Theirs is a despotism of talent perceived talent I should say. On first meeting they will circle each other like dogs. Who are you with? they want to know, meaning your agent And just like dogs, if the smells are right, actors will get on or off just famously. Finally, there Is that indefinable something that the industry calls chemistry.

The cocktail of chemicals, however, remains a mystery. Back to Between the Lines. The beauty of the script Is that each episode is like a Russian doll that holds within it further likenesses. Only at series end do we see the full sequence. There was a worry that once Tony and the team were booted from the force to go freelance things would fall apart On the contrary, as tonight's three episodes (such luxury) confirm.

After the previous two weeks of mortification, Tony's sex life Is on the up and up. For which we, the viewers, thank God. I know it was getting positively antsy In my loungeroom. As It happens, luck must be Channel 7pm Sam' Story. 7.30 British rtan rtour.

.00 8.30 K'a AH Qreek To Me. 9.30 Under Melbourne Tonight 10.30 Metal Vision. 11.30 SetJonCto. For tunlnc information tele phone 0055 19712. LIltH saaas-ivr I.