Shortie's Bella is heading for some rough Romanian justice, and a series of local docos on BBC Knowledge.
TV
Bella in Shortland Street
Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00pm). Uh-oh, Zlata’s daddy – if that’s who he really is – is not best pleased when he discovers Luke is going to throw Zlata over for Bella, and as quick as you can say “Romanian mafia” he’s issuing threats and taking Zlata and Bella away to a “spa retreat”. Probably Romanian for “concrete shoes”.
James May’s 20th Century (BBC Knowledge, Sky 074, 7.25pm). Need more James May? The long-haired one from Top Gear looks at inventions that have changed our lives in the 20th century. He begins with inventions that shrank the world: the telephone, airliners and, of course, the motor car. In subsequent episodes he covers the space race, medical advances, warfare, the teenager, and big-city living.
Who Do You Think You Are? (UKTV, Sky 006, 7.30pm). A new season of this fascinating series; the family history searchees include JK Rowling, Sebastian Coe, Robin Gibb, Emilia Fox, Alan Carr and artist Tracey Emin.
aimRenderAd(300, 250, '300X250','ContentRect','/POS=POS2'); if(!$.browser.msie){ ContentRect_frame = $("#ContentRect")[0]; ContentRect_frame.src = ContentRect_frame.src; }Strawberries with the Fuhrer (BBC Knowledge, Sky 074, 8.30pm). BBC Knowledge drops some local content into its schedule this week with NZ Young Producer Shorts 2011, a series that has been made in conjunction with the Screen Production & Development Association (Spada). Kiwi producers under the age of 30 were invited to submit proposals, and five were granted $5000 to make a documentary. The first one tonight, Strawberries with the Fuhrer, is made by Wellington’s Amy O’Connor. It’s the story of a woman who has lived in rural South Canterbury for almost 60 years and all that time has kept the secret of her father’s activities during World War II. Helga Tiscenko’s father was one of Hitler’s generals, and was executed as a war criminal. On Tuesday, Getting It Up is Emma Conroy and Catie McDonald’s doco about two couples’ struggles with prostate cancer and the loss and recovery of their sex lives after treatment; on Thursday, David White’s documentary Lex profiles a father who does mad stuff with his kids, such as build a catapult to teach them about propulsion (White is no relation to Listener photographer David White, by the way); and Friday’s A Bach Somewhere is the story of the New Zealand bach, and a man for whom the bach lifestyle has become permanent. All four documentaries screen at 8.30pm, and there is a marathon on Sunday, December 11, from 4.00pm. A fifth documentary, Porn and Piety, is yet to be scheduled.
FILM
The Chronicles of Riddick (TV3, 8.30pm). In which Vin Diesel and director David Twohy blow what cool they had, which was quite a lot, from Pitch Black. That was a lean and dirty horror set on a hostile desert planet full of voracious flying predators; this follow-up, in which the only connecting factor is Diesel’s character Riddick, is a bloated load of fantasy sci-fi nonsense that thinks it’s a space opera. And what the hell is Judi Dench doing there? Riddickulous. (2004) 4
The Hurt Locker (Sky Movies, Sky 020, 8.30pm). It’s tempting – or at least natural – to dislike this film because it glorifies the US’s “War on Terror” in Iraq and makes heroes out of ordinary men who really shouldn’t be there. But it was inevitable that Americans would make movies about the current “conflict” and this is the best one you’re likely to see. It’s about an élite bomb disposal unit near the end of its tour of duty and its risk-taking new sergeant who defuses a bomb with the casual indifference of a man brushing lint off his suit. It won Kathryn Bigelow the 2010 Best Picture and Best Director Oscars (among others), but it was the lowest-grossing top winner in history. David Larsen’s 2008 review here. (2008) 8 – Diana Balham
RADIO
Book Reading (Radio New Zealand National, 10.45am). Beginning this morning is a 10-part adaptation of James McNeish’s first novel for 14 years, The Crime of Huey Dunstan, which was published last year. It’s the story of a retired psychologist who recalls a court case 15 years before concerning a young man accused of murder.
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