The first recording today is missing the beginning. It’s Ring of Bright Water. I first saw this when I was quite young, and it remains a strong memory. If you’re familiar with the story you’ll know why. But surely, after all those years, and because I know what’s going to happen, it won’t have such an effect on me now?
Let’s see.
Bill Travers plays Graham Merrill, a writer, living in London. The character is based on the author of the original story, Gavin Maxwell, although I don’t think this is purely autobiographical.
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He has bought an otter, which he calls Mij. It’s not a very suitable pet for a small flat in London.
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Peter Jeffries makes a brief appearance as a friend of his.
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He decides a better place to live with Mij would be in Scotland. He has to take the train up, and buys a ticket for himself and his ‘dog’. But Mij gets out and causes some mayhem.
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So he’s put off the train. I hope he was close to his destination – Inverness is a long way from London by foot.
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“Exclusive Old World Cottage. Ideal retreat for writer. A few minor repairs. Quick sale to right buyer. But to me, at that moment in my life, it was the most beautiful place in the world. The place I knew I wanted to be.”
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In the village he meets the local Doctor, Mary MacKenzie, played by Travers’ Born Free co-star Virginia McKenna. The two were also married.
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It’s a very idyllic film for most of its running time. At one point, four baby geese imprint on Mij and follow them home, and when they’ve grown a bit, Graham tries to encourage them to fly.
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At one point it goes a bit Moby Dick as he catches a basking shark, as food for Mij. Who then won’t even eat it.
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Mij finds a friend.
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There’s some jeopardy, as Mij gets lost while out with his ladyfriend, and they find him tangled up on a beach and have to rescue him.
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He builds a special tank for Mij, so he can sketch him underwater.
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But when Graham has to go back to London for a few days, the traumatic event takes place which scarred me as a young child (and probably most who’ve seen this). Mary is walking with Mij and her dog Johnny. She chats to a ditch digger, and walks off, but Mij goes running down the ditch, the digger sees him, and kills him with a spade. “I thought it was just an otter” he says, which doesn’t seem like much of an apology. And I’m sorry, reader, but time has not healed this trauma. It’s not just the shock of the first time.
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Mary is waiting at the bus stop when Graham returns from London. I was crying here too.
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Oh sure, they try to salvage some happiness by having Mij’s friend, and her babies, arrive on the island, but they’re just the bereaved otter family. As Phoebe from Friends would say, “What kind of otter snuff movie is this?” I’ve never forgotten this. Even the voice of Val Doonican on the end credits can’t lift my spirits, I’m afraid.
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Media Centre Description: Family drama about a disillusioned civil servant who makes a better life for himself with the help of a pet otter. The man buys the animal to brighten his dull London routine but is soon forced to vacate his flat due to the creature’s playfully destructive disposition. He finally leaves his job, and the pair take off for the Scottish Highlands to forge a peaceful new life. Based on Gavin Maxwell’s best-selling autobiographical book.
Recorded from BBC TWO on Thursday 27th March 2008 12:38
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Thursday 27th March 2008 12:40
If only there were something to lift my heart up. Well, thank you, BBC schedulers, because immediately after this there’s the first full trailer for the fourth series of Doctor Who. It’s a long one, too, lasting 90 seconds, and features a lot, including spoilers for the return of both Martha Jones and, more surprisingly, Rose Tyler. Plus, they use All The Strange, Strange Creatures as the soundtrack, still one of the greatest pieces of music every written, so I was definitely smiling by the time this finished.
After this the recording stops with the start of Animal Park.
The next recording starts with the end of Mysti.
There’s a promo for CBBC Run.
Then, another series one episode of M.I. High – The Power Thief (although Media Centre lists this as yesterday’s The Big Freeze)
Our villain of the week is starting a series of power cuts with some magic stones.
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Blane sees Daisy being dropped off at school by a posh car.
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After a power cut, Lenny has to generate a bit of power for the HQ.
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Blane’s friend Stewart is dowsing for a hidden underground river which he believes is taking the power from the school. This leads Blane to suggest that the power cuts are being caused by Ley Lines.
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They also find a story about stolen Dark Stones, about which Daisy appears to be an expert. “Apparently, if all three dark stones are put together, they’re supposed to have the ability to bring the country back to the dark ages.”
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The man with the stones makes his demands. “Unless you pay me 200… No. 300… Sorry. 350,000 pounds. I shall keep taking power until it’s all gone for good. Actually, 200,000 pounds will be fine. Thank you.” “At least he’s polite.” “And cheap, too.”
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Blane and Daisy have to break into a museum to find the final dark stone and protect it. Daisy notices a picture of herself and her dad, so she hides it from Blane.
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Rose tries to talk to the villain, to reason with him.
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Daisy gets stuck in a laser grid, but Blane helps her get out.
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But they’re caught by guards. Daisy has to pull rank. “I do hope you’re going to ring and tell Daddy.” “Oh, some hot shot lawyer, is he?” “No. He’s the chairman of this museum’s board of trustees. Check out the photo in the exhibition area downstairs.”
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They find the house where the villain, Brent Gilbert, who used to work at the museum, is operating from. It’s absorbing a lot of power.
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They use power absorbing foil on the stones to stop them draining. Rose is sympathetic. “I’m sorry people didn’t believe you, Brent. That doesn’t mean you should force them into seeing things your way.”
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Media Centre Description: Children’s spy drama. When freak power cuts sweep the nation, the teenage spies are in the dark about who or what is to blame. A mysterious voice transmits a ransom demand: pay up or Britain will be sent back to the Dark Age. Blane thinks there’s some truth in Stewart’s hair-brained theory that ley lines are sucking away electricity. But Rose is unimpressed by Blane’s hocus-pocus ideas.
Recorded from CBBC Channel on Thursday 27th March 2008 14:18
BBC Genome: CBBC Channel Thursday 27th March 2008 14:20
After this there’s a trail for the M.I. High website, then the recording stops with the start of Freefonix.
The next recording starts with the end of Smalltalk Diaries.
There’s a promo for CBBC Run.
Then, an episode of Secret Show – Secret Double Agent. Doctor Doctor is trying to steal the Secret Thing a lot, but they keep thwarting her.
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“As you know my name for reasons of security is changed every single day And today you may call me… Oh! Stinky Winky.”
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They decide to store the Secret Thing in a compartment in Stinky Winky’s mantelpiece.
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The mantelpiece is under guard. But one of the guards, Agent Kent, is a traitor.
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Stinky Winky discovers the theft.
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They still need toe code for the compartment, so they set a trap for Stinky Winky. The Mantelpiece is found, but then he’s strapped in a rocket-powered crate.
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Doctor Doctor tortures Stinky Winky by putting bug rings on the mantelpiece.
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Agent Kent tries to get the code from him.
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“Or was that the attack code?”
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“Quick! My mantelpiece will save us.”
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Doctor Doctor tells Stinky Winky that she’s already got the secret thing, so he checks that it’s still there by opening the compartment, at which point THEM attacks from both sides.
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As the others take cover, Kent sees his opportunity, and grabs the Secret Thing and runs towards the THEM agents.
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Anita restarts the fire in the fireplace, and they take off again. They see Kent running, with expendables after him, towards Doctor Doctor, and assume he’s keeping the Secret Thing safe, so they zoom in and grab hm.
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Agent Kent is given the medal of Exceptional Exceptionalness and we learn his full name – Kent B Trusted. He’s crying throughout the ceremony. He’s also given the job of permanently guarding the Secret Thing. “Oh goody, that cheered him up.”
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Media Centre Description: Comedy series for seven- to twelve-year olds about two agents in a top secret organisation. A new, impenetrable hiding place is found for the Secret Thing, inside Changed Daily’s mantelpiece. The double agent Kent B Trusted finds out and steals them both. Will Victor and Anita uncover the spy within their organisation, or will Doctor Doctor finally get her evil hands on The Secret Thing?
Recorded from CBBC Channel on Thursday 27th March 2008 16:43
BBC Genome: CBBC Channel Thursday 27th March 2008 16:45
After this there’s a trail for The Slammer.
The next recording is a repeat of Secret Show – The Secret Thing.
Media Centre Description: Comedy series for children about two agents in a top-secret organisation. The Impostors, creatures capable of replicating humans, try to steal ‘The Secret Thing’. Victor and Anita must protect The Secret Thing at all cost. But what is The Secret Thing? Will Victor ever find out? How will he tell the difference between the real Anita and the Impostor copy?
Recorded from CBBC Channel on Thursday 27th March 2008 17:00
BBC Genome: CBBC Channel Thursday 27th March 2008 17:00
After this, the recording stops with the start of Freefonix.
The next recording is a repeat of 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Avalanches.
Media Centre Description: Iain Stewart travels across mountain ranges and glaciers to reveal ten remarkable stories about avalanches. Over a million avalanches happen each year, and yet we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the chaotic turbulence inside an avalanche. We discover how the deadliest avalanche in history killed 18,000 people in 3 minutes, how Hannibal’s army was devastated by avalanches as he crossed the Alps to fight Rome and why an avalanche was key to a great aviation mystery.
Recorded from BBC TWO on Thursday 27th March 2008 19:58
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Thursday 27th March 2008 20:00
The next recording is the final episode of the first series of Ashes to Ashes. We’ve reached the time when Alex remembers her parents dying in a car bomb. “I remember a red balloon.”
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“I remember a billboard.” And her father puts on music – Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes.
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She goes to see Arthur Layton, the man who shot her in the present, and who knows something about how her parents died. He doesn’t tell her anything.
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Alex goes to see her father working in court. It’s the first time we’ve really seen him. He’s got a picture by young Alex in his wig box. She tries to warn him that someone will attempt to kill them tomorrow, saying she’s had a tip off. “Thank you for the warning. I have to say, you are a little eccentric.” “Thank you. You’re not going to take any notice of what I said, are you?” “I shouldn’t have thought so, no. I know how to protect my family, Alex. Goodbye.”
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One of her clues is the blue Ford Escort they were driving, which was not her father’s car. A list of owners of such cars has a name she recognises. “Uncle Angus.” He’s taking part in a Gay Pride march. I guess this must be the paramilitary wing of the Gay Liberation Front.
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Also at the rally is Tom Robinson, Ray starts singing 2468 Motorway, and moaning. “I went out and bought that record. I’d no idea a poof had made it. If you want to make poof music, you should dress up as a red Indian or a builder, people get that. But to sing about motorways and be a…” “Ray! Please, shut up.”
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Alex wonders how to stop her uncle lending his car to her parents. Impounding it is too imprecise. So she takes the severe option. And causes a bit of a riot at the march.
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The station is visited by Lord Scarman, who’s writing a report about the causes of the Brixton riots, but also looking into police abuse of their powers. So Hunt has tidied the station up to make a good impression. Scarman is played by Geoffrey Palmer.
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Hunt is embarrassed that Alex is investigating a murder that hasn’t happened yet. She faked a call from her ‘informant’ about a car bomb tomorrow, and is trying any way to stop the events that she remembers.
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Chris is in a cell, posing as a criminal because Hunt thinks he’s more presentable than the ones they had.
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She goes back to see Layton, asks him if anyone’s contacted him about a bomb. “You talking about a car bomb? A car bomb on a timer that would blow that car to kingdom come after the cassette player’s turned on? I can’t recall. No.” He also starts humming Ashes to Ashes.
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Her last ditch effort to save her parents is to arrest them. She plants some drugs in her father’s wig box. She intends to keep them there until after the time the bomb went off. It doesn’t help that Lord Scarman sees them coming in, and he knows them.
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After the trouble at the Gay Pride march, the cells are a lot busier now. Even Tom Robinson himself is there (here played by Matthew Baynton). Alex says “I know you. You end up on Radio 6. You fall in love with a woman and have two kids.”
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Alex has a talk with her mother. “You once told me I should spend more time with my daughter and less time winding up police officers. You were right.” “Was I?” “I’ve talked to my husband, and I’m going to take a sabbatical from work, two years, which I’m going to spend with our lovely daughter, doing all the silly little things I should have done with her years ago, not because women can’t work and be great mothers…” “No, no, of course not.” “..but because… ..I love her and… I’m not absolutely sure she knows that.”
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Alex visits Shaz, who’s recovering from her stabbing last week. “I hope you wake up before I go. I probably shouldn’t say this, but you were my favourite construct. So bright and… ..so alive.”
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Next morning, Lord Scarman is leaving. Hunt gives a spirited defence of his people. “You can despise us, you can disown us, you can try and close us down, but you will NEVER break us, because we are police officers. We are brothers. We are un-bloody-breakable!”
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There’s bad news, though. Alex learns that her parents have been released. And she gets a phone call – from Arthur Layton, who was released on bail this morning, by Price’s legal team.
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They go to court, but only Evan is there, and he tells them that he’s resigned from the firm, presumably the fallout of his affair with Caroline. And he’s also lent them his blue escort so they can go away. I knew it, he’s a bad ‘un.
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Alex and Hunt race to the location where the car blew up. The road is blocked by a lorry with the soap billboard on the side.
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Layton is there, watching.
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Uncle Evan is running towards young Alex, but shouting to her father.
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Her father takes off his glasses in the car, we track in, and his face starts going white. He was the creepy bowie-type clown all along!
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Then the car explodes.
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She sees a figure run towards her younger self, she remembers her uncle Evan.
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But it’s not Evan, it’s Gene Hunt, who picks little Alex up and takes her back to the car.
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Later, back at the station, Alex is watching a videotape of her father. “If all goes to plan, by the time you are watching this I will be dead, along with my wife Caroline and our beloved daughter Alexandra. Why did I do it? “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation “and go to the grave with the song still in them”. Well, not me and, er… not Caroline. We sang our song. But a very charming man, a maggot, wriggled into our paradise and… ..it was compromised. The truth was sullied and it could never be unsullied. But shed no tears for me, Caroline or Alex. We are where we want to be, together, forever.”
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“I knew he was intense, but his own wife and child?! I couldn’t understand why he was so keen to get Layton out of the Scrubs. He needed him…to plant the bomb.”
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Hunt brings young Alex into the station. “The little girl’s asking to go home with Evan. You OK?” Evan says “She’s got no uncles or aunts that she knows. I mean, I know that I’m not a blood relative, but I’m all she’s got. And I love her. So will you help me to get custody? There’s one more thing. I never want her to know what her father did.” Alex says “Maybe she has a right to know.” “When she’s older.” “You’ll never tell her. It’s not your fault.”
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“How come you were there, taking the little girl’s hand? That couldn’t have happened. You weren’t there. You’re not real.” “I’m everywhere, Bolly. I was needed and I was there.”
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Later, in the restaurant, Shaz comes back from hospital. “How are you, Shaz?” “I’m good, thanks to you, my guardian angel.”
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Media Centre Description: Drama series following the exploits of Life on Mars DCI Gene Hunt. Alex believes that if she can go back to the day her parents were killed and prevent their death, she can leave the prison of 1981 and get back home to her daughter Molly. With Gene waylaid by a station inspection, however, Alex needs to use every ounce of her strength to stop the elements coming together.
Recorded from BBC ONE on Thursday 27th March 2008 21:00
BBC Genome: BBC ONE Thursday 27th March 2008 21:00
After this, there’s the Doctor Who trail again, plus a Radio 1Xtra promo.
Then the recording stops with the start of the Ten O’Clock News leading with the rather bad problems on the first day of Heathrow Terminal 5.
The next recording is That Mitchell and Webb Look. There’s the romantic scarecrow.
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“So, let’s go through it one last time. All we’ve got is a name and a address. An occupation, a phone number, a modus operandi, motive, opportunity, a confession, and him in the room.” “Aye.” “So, I ask you all, where the hell do we go from here?” “We could try arresting him, boss.” “Or is that just what he wants us to do?” “No, it isn’t.” “Or is that just what he wants us to think?” “Look, I’m just going to go.” “He’s always that one step ahead of us.”
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The really creepy film director talking to a young actor about his forthcoming nude scene.
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Here’s a scarily prescient bit. “A spokesman said, ‘you think you know a guy, and then he goes and does something like that’.”
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“Foreign news now, and at a special session of the United Nations, it was agreed that the war on terror is, in the words of a new resolution, just too difficult. Instead, the Security Council has agreed to launch a war on the comedian and ornithologist Bill Oddie as a way of bringing the nations of the world together in a more achievable common cause.”
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The very needy Horse owner again.
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The office partner who has suddenly become a massive fan of a football club just as they’ve won a big trophy.
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The Holy Grail at a car boot sale.
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David has been pretending not to be bald.
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It ends with one of my favourite sketches of the series, A History of Numberwang.
Media Centre Description: Off-beat comedy sketch show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. An actor gets naked for the sake of his art. A horse has a birthday, but won’t try the cake. There’s a sexy scarecrow and a maths-crazed robot trying to take over the world. Why has the UN decided unanimously to declare war on Bill Oddie?
Recorded from BBC TWO on Thursday 27th March 2008 21:05
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Thursday 27th March 2008 21:05
After this there’s a trail for Eastenders and a promo for Radio 1Xtra. Plus a trail for Louis Theroux’s African Hunting Holiday.
Then the recording stops with the start of The Catherine Tate Show.
The next recording starts with a trail for Sacred Music, and for Hughie Green, Most Sincerely.
Then there’s a repeat of last week’s episode of Ashes to Ashes.
Media Centre Description: Drama series following the exploits of Life on Mars DCI Gene Hunt. Thousands of pounds collected for charity have been stolen, and the only lead is Gil Hollis, the man who raised it. Alex is sure that Gil knows more than he realises and that she can coax it out of him. But when Gene is humiliated on a TV appeal, he resorts to his ‘fists first, questions later’ method. Can Alex prevent Gene going off the rails just when she needs to stay on control?
Recorded from BBC FOUR on Thursday 27th March 2008 21:58
BBC Genome: BBC FOUR Thursday 27th March 2008 22:00
After this there’s a trail for Chinese School.
There’s also an iPlayer promo and a trail for Dan Cruickshank’s Adventures in Architecture. Then the recording stops with the start of Mad Men.
Finally today (it’s been a long one) it’s another episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Dungeons and Dragons. As Charley is trying to stabilise him, we get flashbacks to Derek Reese’s life in the future after Judgement Day.
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Charley is digging bullets out of Derek, while catching up with Sarah. “Eight years. It’s how long I’ve been in LA. Eight years since my fianceé ran out on me. Eight years since the FBI informed me that she was a homicidal paranoid schizophrenic with an acute dislike for anything mechanical. For what it’s worth, I didn’t believe them. Then you blew yourself up.”
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Back in the Future, Derek is locked up with a bunch of other people. One of the people there confesses to him that he built Skynet. It’s Andrew Goode, who built the Turk computer and was found dead last week.
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John donates blood to help Derek, who is his uncle.
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Cameron has to dispose of the deactivated terminator they caught last week.
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Derek has met Cameron in the future.
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We see Derek come to the Time Travel lab.
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And when he comes back to our time, we see him kill Andrew Goode (which he had denied doing).
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Media Centre Description: Explosive, gritty new action series based on the blockbuster Terminator films. Sarah Connor battles to protect her son John, a future leader in the war between humans and machines. Derek slips in and out of consciousness as Sarah fights to save his life.
Recorded from Virgin1 on Thursday 27th March 2008 22:05
After this, the recording stops with the start of The Unit.
Here’s the ad breaks from Terminator.
Adverts:
- trail: Chuck
- trail: American Inventor
- Bingo Lotto – Joe Pasquale
- Peugeot 207
- L’Oreal Recital Preference – Linda Evangelista
- John Frieda Weather Works
- Tropicana
- Chaos and The Condemned on DVD
- Pringles Rice Infusions
- Lovefilm
- Think! Always wear a seatbelt
- Bingo Lotto – Joe Pasquale
- Fosters
- trail: Chuck
- trail: The Unit
- trail: Chuck
- VW Polo
- Think! Always wear a seatbelt
- John Frieda Weather Works
- PS3 + Gran Torino 5
- WKD
- Pringles Rice Infusions
- Lovefilm
- Febreze
- Shell
- San Miguel
- trail: American Inventor
- trail: Chuck
- Renault Clio
- PartyCasino.com
- Garnier Dry Body Mist
- Love Cyprus
- Premier Inn – Lenny Henry
- Army
- The Very Best of Deep Purple
- Visa
- iPhone
- trail: Chuck
- trail: The Unit