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Highlights for 2008-08-20

06:00Olympic Breakfast (BBC 1)
 The sailing starts at 6am but were due a different kind of spectacle with the windsurfing events. Britain has good prospects with the Athens bronze medallist Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw in the womens event. Today, its the crucial medal races, which count for double points. Later, the focus shifts between canoeing, tae kwon do and synchronised swimming. In the afternoon, the big event is the mens 200m final at 3.20pm, with Jamaicas Usain Bolt the man to beat. The very highly regarded Shanaze Reade should be a cert in the semi and the final of the BMX cycling. Prepare for 30-odd seconds of extraordinary physicality when she tackles the 120m course. The final is scheduled for 3.30am. RT reviewer - Geoff Ellis
17:00Seconds from Disaster (National Geographic)
 Documentary investigating what happened when the space shuttle Columbia re-entered the Earths atmosphere after a successfull 16-day mission in space in February 2003. The shuttle broke up over Texas killing all seven astronauts on board. What caused the loss of the shuttle, and could the atronauts have been saved?
17:15Best of Friends: Sports Relief Special (CBBC)
 Rani and Abs present a special Sports Relief edition of the show that tests the friendships of five close mates with a series of terrible tasks and tantalising treats.
20:00Live International Football (Sky Sports 2)
 Live football action as Wales play Georgia in an international friendly at Liberty Stadium in Swansea. Wales will be looking for a confidence booster ahead of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in September.
20:30Trawlermen (BBC 1)
 Trawlermen are 30 times more likely to die than the average worker, so its no job for a softy. Its a job for manly men who dont mind being lashed by mountainous waves and cruel seas. And, not only is it dangerous, its also a precarious way to make a living. You might land a good catch, or you might not. You might even snag and lose your nets, as happens to one of the boats in this first in a new series of the popular observational documentary. But I loved the reaction of its phlegmatic skipper, who runs a "dry" boat (no alcohol allowed on board). Its a good job, too, he says, after seeing 6,000 pounds-worth of nets vanish, or "When you lose a net, youd be awful tempted to go for a wee dram". The men are a cheery bunch in the face of almost routine catastrophes - most of them technological, what with hydraulic failures and exploding engines. But there are upsides as well - a huge catch of valuable haddock puts smiles on a lot of faces. RT reviewer - Alison Graham
21:00Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery (BBC4)
 I spent a good half of this documentary with my jaw hanging open. Michael Mosley charts the history of neurosurgery, from its bloody birth to the awesome miracles performed today. The very idea of medical interference with the brain provokes visceral reactions, and not just in the case of well-meaning lunatic Walter Freeman, who lobotomised thousands of people with an ice pick through the eye socket. Be warned, this programme contains footage of full-on, flip-top surgery on conscious patients. But the stories Mosley tells are truly amazing. We meet a British patient whose Parkinsons has been almost reversed by electrodes in his brain that look like horns, powered by a battery in his chest that makes him look like hes swallowed a jewellery box; and a less fortunate American with a "black hole" in his head, caused by Freeman. Mosley asks the impossible question: were the advances made worth their human cost? RT reviewer - Jack Seale
21:00Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC 1)
 Boris Johnson is, to put it mildly, a divisive figure. But its hard to resist a man who routinely uses the word "fossicking" while looking as if hes been tipped head-first out of a sack onto a potato patch. And Johnson fossicks (ie rummages) a lot in a jolly ramble through his family history (made before he became Mayor of London) that first takes him to Istanbul to track down details of his great-grandfather, a radical Turkish journalist. Johnsons exclamations of delight at every discovery - "Cripes!", "Wowwee!", "Stone the crows!" - come thick and fast, particularly when he switches track to probe the supposed French aristocratic ancestry of his beloved "Granny Butter", a redoubtable Exmoor farmer. Soon, Johnson, who good-naturedly describes his quest as "a gross exercise in narcissism", is following an entirely unexpected path, one that leads him to a "stonking great Schloss" in Germany. RT reviewer - Alison Graham
21:00House of Saddam (BBC 2)
 It must have been tempting for the writers of this tale of Saddam Husseins rise and fall to lay on the hindsight with a trowel. As it is, theyve confined themselves tonight to one moment thats rich with irony: as we rejoin Saddams story in 2003, George Bush broadcasts to the Iraqi nation that their tyrant will soon be gone, and from now on "there will be no more torture chambers" in their country. Most of the story in the final part concerns Saddams post-invasion hide-out by the river in Tikrit and much of it is speculative. Instead of the commanding tyrant we saw in previous episodes, Saddam is now a refugee from US justice, more or less camping in his remote cabin. That saps some of the intensity: bearded and wearing a long shirt, he looks less like a dictator and more like Topol in Fiddler on the Roof. In the end the drama ends not with a bang but a whimper. RT reviewer - David Butcher
22:00Flying - Confessions of a Free Woman: Storyville (BBC4)
 Its the final part of Jennifer Foxs lengthy discourse on modern femininity, and the confessions continue to flow. Alas, insights into the lives of other women are undermined by Foxs incessant, onerous ruminations on her family, wrinkles and uterus. RT reviewer - Sarah Dempster
22:00The Usual Suspects (Sky One)
 You can forgive Britains major movie magazines for not spotting the impact this audacious thriller was going to have. Few had even heard of director Bryan Singer or screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, and there wasnt much feature potential in the jobbing actors of the mug-shot line-up. Yet, by the end of 1995, it was vying with Shallow Grave and The Shawshank Redemption for the number one spot in most peoples top tens and Kevin Spacey was suddenly the coolest actor in Hollywood. Was it because it gave the world the criminal mastermind Keyzer Soze? Maybe it was the intricacy of the flashback-packed script and the deft sleights of hand executed by its fledgeling director. Perhaps everyone admired the outstanding ensemble acting. Yes, Spacey stole the show and fully merited the best supporting actor Oscar for his mesmerising performance, but everyone in that rogues gallery played their part to perfection, not to mention the mysterious Pete Postlethwaite and confused cops Dan Hedaya and Chazz Palminteri. Or was it simply that noticeboard that kept coming back to haunt everyone? Whatever the reason, its a film that demands to be watched again and again - this is good old-fashioned pulp fiction told in the slickest 1990s style.
22:45The Descent (FilmFour)
 An all-female caving expedition goes horribly wrong in this brilliantly constructed panic attack from director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers). Six friends end up in an uncharted subterranean system and encounter a monstrous cannibal race, but desperation, betrayals and imploding relationships prove as fatal to the girls as the flesh-eating threat. From the high-impact opening shock to the poignantly bleak ending, this underground Deliverance is designed to cause maximum stress in anyone remotely claustrophobic, vertiginous or afraid of the dark. Marshalls expert choreography of the creepy "crawler" creatures provides the extra terror, while they provide the full-on skin-slicing gore. As a writer and director he has a keen understanding of what makes the horror genre tick, and overturns the usual conventions with canny wit. Super-scary and vicious, both psychologically and physically, this cleverly produced chill-ride is edgy British horror at its very best.


This information is provided by The Radio Times