TV Highlights

CRIME & INVESTIGATION – Mondays and Tuesdays from 21 January, 7.30pm

Every city has its secret. Every city has a dark side. Sins & Secrets profiles a notorious crime – one whose unique details exposed the dark underbelly of the community where it took place. As the investigation beats of each episode unfold, the mystery, scandal, and tabloid allure generated both reveal and forever alters the city. Blood has been shed, and the town will never be the same.

ARTS CHANNEL – Sunday 20 January, 8.30pm

On 22 November 1981, in the middle of their mammoth American tour, the Rolling Stones arrived in Chicago prior to playing 3 nights at the Rosemont Horizon. Long influenced by the Chicago blues, the band paid a visit to Buddy Guys’ club, The Checkerboard Lounge, to see the legendary bluesman perform. It didn’t take long before Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Ian Stewart were joining in on stage and later Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Lefty Dizz also played their part. It was a unique occasion that was fortunately captured on camera.

CRIME & INVESTIGATION – Sunday 20 January, 8.30pm

Journey inside the mind of Bobby Joe Long, a serial killer who murdered ten women in seven months. In addition to three highly trained criminal profilers (our tour guides through Long’s dark psyche), this program speaks to the detectives who worked the case, the victim who got away, and in a rare archival interview, the killer himself.

ARTS CHANNEL – Sunday 20 January, 8.45am

From the Rossini Festival in Pesaro comes the first staged performance since 1825 of Adelaide di Borgogna. Set in medieval times, the libretto relates the tale of a king’s widow who is used as a pawn in diplomatic and amorous intrigues. “Adelaide” stars sought-after mezzo Daniela Barcellona as Ottone, and, in the role of Adelaide, young Australian soprano Jessica Pratt, who possesses a natural-born bel-canto voice. Director Pier’ Alli ha devised a modern, stylish look for his production, which interweaves medieval aspects with ironically used elements from the time of the opera’s genesis.

THE HISTORY CHANNEL – Saturday 19 January at 8.30pm

In 1909 two Americans, Commander Robert E. Peary and Frederick A. Cook, each claimed to have reached the North Pole first. This film portrays a major historical controversy and examines the painstaking research of a U.S. librarian who shows that Cook constantly altered and falsified his readings; however, we also learn that Peary had no concrete proof that he was at the North Pole! A thrilling, emotional adventure and detective story with many twists and a sensational conclusion.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC – Saturday 19 January, 7.30pm

A passionate team of Tanzanians brave savannah, mountain and skies in a mission to uncover the mystery behind the demise of Mount Kilimanjaro.

MGM – Friday 25 January, 8.30pm

Science Fiction: On the eve of retirement, Kirk (William Shatner) and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are charged with assassinating the Klingon High Chancellor and imprisoned. The Enterprise crew must help them escape to thwart a conspiracy aimed at sabotaging the last best hope for peace. This film marked the final appearance together of the original series’ cast and introduced new characters and actors.

TCM – Friday 25 January, 8.30pm

Drama: John Huston directs an all-star cast including Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Debra Kerr, & Sue Lyon in a story about a defrocked clergyman working as a tour guide at a resort town in Mexico. On one particular job, Burton’s customers are a group of old schoolteachers accompanied by a young nymphomaniac teenager (played by Sue Lyon) who constantly tries to seduce him. In charge of the group, Grayson Hall is disgusted at what’s happening. She tries to have Burton fired, which forces the nowhere man to purposely have the group stranded at a friend’s hotel. Winner for Best Costume Design in the Black & White film category at the 1965 Oscars�.

RIALTO CHANNEL – Friday 25 January, 8.30pm

Drama: With petrol in short supply in Kinshasa, DRC, Riva and his sidekick J.M. plan to get hold of a secret cache which they can sell for a huge profit. They’re not the only ones who want the liquid cash. Cesar is a ruthless foreigner from Angola thriving in Kinshasa’s lawless streets. A lesbian military officer joins the fray. Even the church will betray its tenets for a piece of the action. But Riva’s main nemesis is Azor, a crime boss in the classic style: big, decadent and brutal. He’s not a man to mess with, but his girlfriend Nora may just be the most seductive woman in all of DRC. Riva catches sight of her dancing at a nightclub and it’s not long before Nora matches the fuel cache as his most coveted target.

SKY MOVIES GREATS – Friday 25 January, 8.30pm

Crime: Ex-villain Gal Dove (Ray Winstone) has served his time behind bars and is blissfully returned to a Spanish villa paradise with a wife he adores. The idyll is shattered by the arrival of his nemesis Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), who is intent on persuading Gal to return to London for one last big job. Desperate not to sacrifice his enchanted existence, Dove is drawn into a shocking and explosive battle of wills with Logan, and takes part in a sensational underwater heist, risking everything to protect the woman he loves.