Saturday 22nd
BBC2 - Timewatch: Pyramid - The Last Secret - "For centuries archaeologists have been trying to work out how the ancient Egyptians raised huge stone blocks to the top of the Great Pyramid.
This documentary presents a radical theory by French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin. He believes that an internal ramp was used, which is still inside the Pyramid waiting to be discovered. If he is right, it is the greatest discovery since Tutankhamun."
Channel 4 - Capitalism: A Love Story - "Michael Moore loves America, but America does not love Michael Moore. After the release of Fahrenheit 9/11 public opinion of the liberal filmmaker took a downturn. Republicans have good reason to hate him but the attitude of Democrats is baffling. They claim to dislike his oversimplification, his manipulation of emotions and sometimes facts, and his bombastic personality. Republicans have long used these methods to influence the public with great success - all Moore does is play them at their own highly effective game. There's been a lot of talk around health care reform about Democrats behaving too nicely, too politely. Jon Stewart recently argued on 'The Daily Show' that it's the rationality and fairness of the Democrats that will prevent them from making any real changes. While the Republicans are sending out hugely marketable statements and buzzwords, however misguided, the Democrats are bumbling around with the details. We love President Obama not for the small print of his plans, but for how he makes us feel. We need more "Yes we can" and less "Um, yes, well by 2011, we might". Moore has been a liberal in Republican's clothing for the last decade - he looks like a Republican and he sounds like a Republican. He takes radical ideas, mixes them up using the Republican recipe, and makes them easy to swallow."
Sunday 23rd
BBC2 - Money - "A BBC Drama Production two-part adaptation of Martin Amis' darkly comedic tale of excess, greed and flawed ambition set at the beginnings of Eighties capitalism.
Bold, irreverent and satirical, Money follows the story of John Self (Nick Frost), a successful British director of commercials who is thrust into the world of New York movie deals, shark agents and impossibly petulant actors in order to shoot his first film.
Navigating larger-than-life characters including uber-slick film producer Fielding Goodney (Kartheiser), wooden soap actress Caduta Massi (Jerry Hall), clean-living method actor Spunk Davis and ageing Hollywood hard-man Lorne Guyland (casting to be announced), Self lurches from one crisis to the next as he chases his dream – and the money.
Juggling his girlfriend Selina (Emma Pierson) with an old film-school crush and movie stars, Self relies on his wits and luck to survive an increasingly degenerate lifestyle – but a mysterious danger lurks that Self can't seem to shake, and it might just threaten the dream..."
Channel 4 - Dispatches: The Lost Girls of South Africa - "In South Africa a child is raped every three minutes and AIDS continues to spread with epidemic ferocity.
Dispatches follows four girls aged 11 to 13 as they struggle to come to terms with the crimes committed against them and fight the social stigma that comes with the abuse.
From the multi-BAFTA-winning True Vision team, this is an intimate and deeply moving portrayal of the tragic impact of child abuse in a post-apartheid South Africa still coming to terms with its difficult and violent past."
BBC4 - Mark Lawson Talks To Martin Amis - "Mark Lawson talks to notorious literary bad boy Martin Amis ahead of the BBC dramatisation of his book Money. In this revealing interview Amis speaks candidly about his relationship with his father Kingsley Amis, which survived the breakup of his parents' marriage and his father's disinterest in reading Martin's books. Amis also reveals how his sister Sally was a 'victim of the sexual revolution' whose consequent struggles in life influenced his latest book The Pregnant Widow."
Tuesday 25th
More4 - True Stories: A Bipolar Expedition - "Mark James' film, showing in the True Stories strand, follows Paul Downes, a successful businessman with bipolar disorder whose manic highs are followed by depressive lows.
Now he wants a wife - a soul mate and someone to care for him - and has hired a castle in Jamaica, inviting 12 Ukrainian women to join him, in the hope that one will marry him.
James follows Paul on his 2009 trip to Jamaica, and gives a rare insight into Paul's bipolar disorder, exploring its origins and the impact that the manias and depressions have had on his life.
However the most extraordinary aspect of the film is capturing Paul in the grip of a manic episode, as his interest in finding a wife dwindles and his attention turns to taking over the world."
Thursday 27th
ITV1 - How Safe Is Your Beach? : Tonight - "According to official figures, bathing at almost 200 of the UK's beaches carries a risk of infection from sewage-derived bacteria. The programme investigates the causes of this contamination and asks whether any of our beaches can be guaranteed to be free of pollution."
Friday 28th
Channel 4 - Unreported World: Iraq's Next Battlefield - "As the US prepares to withdraw from Iraq, reporter Evan Williams and director Matt Haan travel to the most dangerous part of the country and find increasing religious, ethnic and political violence in this oil-rich region threatening to spill into bloody civil war once the troops leave.
The Unreported World team begins its journey in Mosul, a city of two million people that lies on the fault line between the Arab and Kurdish parts of Iraq and has been a centre of resistance to the Americans since the invasion in 2003. Their route is lined with flattened buildings that have not been rebuilt since the invasion. Seven years on, it remains the most dangerous city in Iraq, with at least 50 murders occurring every month.
In 2009 Iraqi forces took over responsibility for the security of the region, supposedly moving from a state of war to civil policing. But their main activity remains battling Sunni insurgents, who want the area to remain unstable as they battle what they see as the domination of Iraq by the Shia Muslim ruling majority.
One local commander tells Williams that most of the killings are political rather than criminal. He claims Al Qaeda are trying to cause division between Kurds, Sunnis and Shia and are also targeting some of Mosul's oldest ethnic minorities - such as the Christians, Shabaks and Yezidis - to cause fear and chaos."
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* This applies to staff members and students at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.
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