TV & Radio Friday December 2

A journey into the mind (do we really want to know?), and TV3 has a great big comedy convoy.

TV

Into the Mind

Coronation Street (TV1, 7.30pm). Just as well Coro is back at 7.30pm, because the drama of the courtroom would be no good cut into five pieces and served at 5.30pm. Get ready for all the fun of Gail Platt in the dock, accused of offing hubby Joe. The first witness is lying Tracy Barlow, and with a mountain of other circumstantial evidence, it looks as if the Street’s annoying chipmunk is going to go down. When the trial screened in the UK, ITV filmed two outcomes – guilty and innocent – which could be seen on its website. Viewers would then have to tune in to see which verdict was delivered.

The Graham Norton Show (TV3, 8.30pm). Tonight’s guests are Sir Cliff Richard, Lord Alan Sugar (who is famous in the UK for their version of The Apprentice) and comedian Micky Flanagan, with a performance by Kelly Rowland. Over on TV1, the repeated Jonathan Ross Show features Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Carr, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Saturdays.

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Into the Mind (BBC Knowledge, Sky 074, 8.30pm). A journey back in time to investigate some of the crazy experiments that have taken place in the name of psychology, including behaviourism founder John B Watson’s experiments on a five-month-old baby, CIA mind-control projects, electric-shock therapy and psychopharmacology. Presenter Michael Mosley subjects himself to some tests, including taking magic mushrooms in a lab.

Comedy Convoy (TV3, 9.30pm). Behind-the-scenes shenanigans and live performances from a great big convoy of comedians who played 11 cities over 12 nights in May. Jarred Christmas, back in the country after 10 years in the UK, hosts.

FILM

Nanny Diaries (TV2, 8.30pm). Scarlett Johansson is an anthropology graduate who, when she stumbles into a nannying position with a privileged New York family, decides to treat it like field research. Diaries is adapted from a roman-à-clef that started a trend in similar workplace confessionals, The Devil Wears Prada included, but the flick is no Prada knock-off, tapping into something harder at the core of New York society. Still, it doesn’t tap hard enough. Despite Laura Linney’s turn as Scar-Jo’s brittle employer and Paul Giamatti’s all-too-brief scenes as her husband, it never lives up to its first, fun scene at the Museum of Natural History. (2007) 6 – Sarah Barnett

Assault on Precinct 13 (Four, 8.30pm). When good cops go bad: a passable remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 New Year’s Eve action classic that featured a cast of people you’ve never heard of (Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Gilbert de la Pena). This update by French director Jean-François Richet is chock-full of big names – Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Gabriel Byrne, John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy – but fails to capture the original’s dark grittiness and pace. And in a PC cop-out, so to speak, the marauding street gang villains have been replaced by bent white police officers who want to keep their corrupt dealings secret. Not awful, just hard to justify. (2005) 6 – Diana Balham

RADIO

Classic Concert (Radio New Zealand National, 11.06pm). Alison Krauss at the BBC pretty much describes this performance, which the country/bluegrass queen and her band Union Station recorded shortly before the release of her album Paper Airplane earlier this year.